by Thomas Barta | May 23, 2016 | Marketing Leadership
Delighting customers is high on every CMO’s agenda. This often means building capabilities to serve customers faster, better, or in a more personalised manner. Technology isn’t the hardest part, however; what’s really tough is driving changes within a company. It’s...
by Thomas Barta | Dec 4, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
People will forget the price, but they’ll never forget the quality, famous designer Jil Sander was once quoted. For marketers, her point couldn’t be more true (from my cmo.com column). Your ideal agency partners may be a six-hour flight away, and expensive. But...
by Thomas Barta | Sep 30, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
Marketing is only one piece of the customer experience puzzle. To create a truly remarkable experience, other departments must also be heavily involved. The challenge is that colleagues in these other departments don’t perhaps report directly to you. You must find...
by Thomas Barta | Sep 4, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
Daniel* is a marketer–and Daniel has a problem: he isn’t getting his boss’s attention. A regional marketing head of a large consumer electronics company, he often finds himself last on his boss’s agenda. Daniel isn’t alone. Millions of marketers struggle to get...
by Thomas Barta | Aug 7, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
Let’s face it: you’re not in charge of it all. Almost nobody is really in charge of it all. Your boss can disagree with you. Your colleagues can push their own agendas. Even your team members can push their will over yours. We are in the 21st century. The old...
by Thomas Barta | Jul 20, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
Did you ever wonder how to start a movement within your company? This video has some powerful insights for you! It takes three to fill the dance floor. At the 2009 Sasquatch outdoor music festival, one guy got up and started to dance. Hundreds of spectators wondered,...
by Thomas Barta | Jul 3, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
Normally, I write about how to succeed as a customer leader. But often, after a talk or a workshop, someone comes to me and says: “Come on, you must admit that leading marketing is hard” (from my cmo.com column). Okay, let’s–for once–do some moaning....
by Thomas Barta | May 22, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
“Who should lead our digital marketing transformation?” Many CEOs are looking for leaders to move the company’s marketing into the future. Too often, however, top marketers don’t make it onto the CEO shortlist because they’ve fallen into a digital CMO trap. It doesn’t...
by Thomas Barta | Apr 9, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
Consumers’ lives wouldn’t be the same without Diet Coke, Swiffer, or Red Bull. The key to market success is innovation–and a fair amount of constructive conflict (from my cmo.com column). When A.G. Lafley took over as CEO of Procter & Gamble...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 27, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
How to claim your marketing seat at the company’s top table? Many marketers work hard but struggle to cut through internally. Why? Because they don’t tackle issues that really matter for the CEO. Don’t let that happen to you (from my cmo.com column). “What...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 20, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
How to find the time to get closer to your customers? Meeting customers is a great source of insight. Too busy? You may have more time than you think (from my cmo.com column). A recent study found that just half of employees’ work hours in large US companies are...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 13, 2015 | Marketing Leadership
Seventy one percent of CMOs have strong top- and bottom-line impact, but over half are struggling in their careers. Better leadership skills would up the career prospects of many marketers. For our new book The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader, Patrick Barwise and I...
by Thomas Barta | May 20, 2014 | CMO Central
CMO is a wonderful role. But some marketing leaders want to go to the very top. The successful Marketing Academy’s Fellowship Programme (launched in 2013) is helping CMO’s to become the CEO’s of tomorrow. Participants will receive personal leadership...
by Thomas Barta | Dec 6, 2013 | Marketing Leadership
Inspirational people are everywhere. On a recent visit to Singapore, my cab suddenly stopped just short of the hotel. It was raining and the area in front of the hotel was gridlocked. Taxis, buses and limousines were all blocking each other — it was...
by Thomas Barta | Jun 18, 2013 | CMO Central
The Marketing Academy’s new Fellowship Programme is helping CMO’s to become the CEO’s of tomorrow. Participants will receive personal leadership coaching by McKinsey and myself. Application deadline for the first programme was July 15, 2013. Great...
by Thomas Barta | Mar 4, 2013 | Marketing Leadership
Millions of marketers master the famous 4Ps of marketing: product, price, place and promotion. But as a marketing executive, you won’t get very far without also mastering the 4Ps of marketing leadership: productivity, purpose, pull and power (from my cmo.com...
by Thomas Barta | Jan 8, 2013 | Marketing Leadership
Apples former boss Steve Jobs still gets many more Google hits than Steve Wozniak, his former partner and ingenious developer of the legendary Apple I computer of 1976. Why? Because expertise is not enough to inspire people and excite markets. Jobs succeeded in taking...
by Thomas Barta | Dec 20, 2012 | Marketing Leadership
Harvard Business Review recently presented the top 10 medical innovations, including regenerative and genetic medicine, surgical robots and virtual visits. In the new millennium, doctors are faced with a flood of possible new treatments. A consultation room with no...
by Thomas Barta | Dec 3, 2012 | Marketing Leadership
The meaning of marketing in the changing insurance sector. Like other industries, the insurance sector recognizes the rising power of consumers and the individualization of their demands. It has responded by boosting its marketing activities and enhancing customer...
by Thomas Barta | Oct 20, 2012 | Marketing Leadership
It takes a mix of talent to pursue a variety of growth strategies simultaneously. Companies looking for growth should focus on leaders with a capacity to understand customers’ evolving needs. Is there a link between growth and specific leadership traits? McKinsey and...
