From our Harvard Business Review article: Brand activism’s tricky. You care about a cause. Your customers want action. You’re ready to dive in. But hold up.

CMOs already know: The Marketing Academy CMO Fellowship is one of the top leadership programs out there. And here’s the thing—it’s closing soon.

The Marketing Leadership Masterclass is back! Starting September 2023, the next global group of marketing leaders will get together to learn the secrets of...

Five separate studies leave no doubt: CMOs and strong marketing teams are essential for company success.

マーケティングリーダーシップテスト:あなたの強みを見つける

マーケティングをリードするのはマーケティングをすると同じではありません。世界最大のマーケティングリーダーシップ調査では、マーケティングをリードすることは360度のタスクであることがわかりました。世界で最も成功しているマーケターは、上司、同僚、チーム、そして自分自身を巻き込む方法を知っています。

For marketers, a massive window for change has just opened—and the prize is big.

Marketers are facing a major problem. Post-virus, how will markets change? What are the trends? 

Making change happen is tough. New products? Too risky. Agile working? Maybe next year. Better digital tools? We’ll look into it. Why change when life is good? 

When the world suddenly stops for 90 days, could you use this time well?

Creative accumulation leads to better things. Creative destruction leads to new things. One isn’t better than the other. Both innovations matter.

Fran Crippen loved the water. The US long-distance swimmer had beaten his competition many times. 7 medals in 6 years—one gold, four silver, two bronze. Olympic...

A few days ago, The Marketing Society asked me to share with their senior marketers the insights from the largest ever study on marketer success. Seats were...

Making it to the next level can be exciting. More responsibility, more options, more pay. But how to get promoted? Perhaps your firm has a fixed promotion...

When the numbers don’t add up, business dreams evaporate, change movements stall, projects die. Perhaps people love your idea....

Last weekend, my partner and I took a bicycle tour to a small village near our home, called Adendorf. Each year, it hosts an iconic garden exhibition – a sales...

As a marketer, people are paying you for the firm’s most important job (next to innovation): finding customers – at the lowest possible cost. Finding customers is...

I love the Airbus A380. It’s an engineering masterpiece. The world’s largest airplane. Quiet. Spacious. Loved by passengers. Yet the A380 demonstrates what happens...

Who’s the most powerful person in a firm? The CEO? No. The CFO? No. The head of sales? No. It’s the customer. When a customer complains, the CEO sits up. When a...

“You can help us build a love brand. I want to hire you,” the CEO said. Nina was thrilled. Her last years in consumer goods had been tough. Tight margins....

Who wants to be a middle manager? Not many people. It’s nice to be the trainee – young and cool; it’s nice to be the CEO – with all the power. But the rest? Stuck...

Everyone in the boardroom turned to me in anger. I spent much of my former career doing two jobs: leading large brands and running major marketing transformation...

We love the familiar, the recognisable, the known. And when it comes to picking a team member, many people are looking for a clone. Men recruit men. Creatives...

Do you thrive in a matrix organisation? In a matrix, everybody is in charge--and nobody has all the power. The person who can tell sales what to do, doesn't exist....

Trust in politicians has evaporated. Consumer trust in brands is at an all-time low. And too many executives don’t trust their bosses. What’s the problem? Perhaps...

The internet is great. If you know something and you want to write a blog that 100,000 people read, you can. If you want to do a podcast that 100,000 people hear,...

Brave leaders change the world. Air traffic controller Anthonius Gunawan saved the 160 souls on board Batik Air 6231, by staying in the tower, so the plane could...

You are in the business of change. In fact, we are all in the business of change. We try to get customers to accept our offer. We try to get colleagues to support...

Marketers are more emotional than many of their colleagues, which makes earning respect difficult, but they can gain influence by speaking the language of logic.

Hard work is appreciated. Or so people hope. That’s why they put in the long hours, go the extra mile, give their best. But then, things go nowhere. The big...

To make change happen, shed light on the issue. Measure customer feedback, costs, time wasted – whatever your currency is. Make sure your data is solid. Praise those in the top left corner who are doing well; no need to shame those in the bottom right-hand corner – the chart will do it for you.

Tell people how you got to where you are. Talk about the hurdles. Share your tricks. Give hope. As a leader, the most precious thing you can help others build is confidence. And it’s free.

If you want dissatisfied customers, lock them in.

For breakthrough results, harmony isn’t the recipe. Fighting is. Under one condition: the fight has to be constructive.

Tell customers it’s a middle seat upfront. Then, be generous. Give people a free drink, more air miles, a discount coupon, an extra report, your premium service package. Make the middle seat wider.If people feel good about your middle seat, they may come back. For sure, it’s fair.

Sheryl Sandberg has a point. In her book ‘Lean In’, Facebook’s current COO asks women, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” Sandberg is a public role model....

“What’s the point of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)?” I asked Marketing Week readers that question. Why? Well, here is a baffling paradox: Each day, the world’s...

Use the power of travel for change. In organizations, get people to meet customers, switch departments, take on cross-functional work. Do the same yourself—and leave your country now and then. That one new perspective, that one new idea, that one new priority that you acquire can make all the difference.

Elvis didn’t invent rock 'n' roll. Steve Jobs didn’t invent the smartphone.* Google didn't invent web search. All three took an idea, twisted it, made it...

Reach out to three people who disagree. With your project. With your political perspective. With your moral view. Listen and say: “Thank you.” It’s not about making promises. It’s about genuinely learning what it will take to bridge the gaps.

I've got good news. Until December 1st, our publisher, McGraw-Hill and 800-CEO-READ offer a 40% bulk discount for our marketing leadership...

To fix marketing’s perception problem, marketers must overcome the fear of forecast, measure what matters, and make selling a purpose again

Many leaders still spend most of their time in the office, but the most important part of their role – creating organizational change – requires face-to-face contact with those outside their department

Want to lure the world’s best talent into marketing? We need to step up the profession’s standing first

Marketers want a positive, do-good brand purpose but if they do harm before doing good, all integrity will be lost and brand purpose will go straight out the window

Agencies, like brands, need consistency. Agencies used to have access to the C-suite within brands but that’s no longer the case. It’s time for agency leaders to step up and rebuild agency C-suite relevance again

Facebook’s current data woes point to a bigger challenge: leaders must stop delegating responsibility and take charge of marketing communication again (from my Marketing Week column).

The recent #MeToo campaign is a reminder of the important role we all have as leaders: building confidence.

When marketers fail, both they and their organizations suffer. Yet many marketing officers still haven’t built the key foundation for success: alignment with the CEO. That’s perplexing.

Have you ever experienced reduced budgets, a loss of career momentum, or a lack of traction in your company? If so, you could be at risk of a serious career disease

What a Super Bowl night! In the end, it was a hard-fought victory for the Eagles. Off the field, another battle raged on between Budweiser, Coke, Kia, Pepsi, Squarespace, P&G, and many others: the nation’s top brands fought for customers’ attention. But after the dust settles, many CEOs, CFOs and shareholders will ask: Was it worth it? Can I trust my marketers? This year, again, they’re short of good answers.

Success in a customer-facing role is all about mobilizing two groups of people that most leaders overlook: their bosses and their colleagues.

The digital future is bright—but it’s complex and it nags on executives’ confidence. The new currency of expertise is having an overview

The best marketers are masters of branding, pricing and communication. But pulling off a great marketing career is a whole other story ​

Unless executives step up and take the lead, great customer experiences will remain a corporate fantasy.

Many executives are keen to inspire customers. But to actualize great customer experiences, inspiring the organisation may just be as important.

The best marketing strategy will go nowhere if leaders can’t convince colleagues about the right course of action. Some time ago, a CMO asked me to assess his...

Too many executives ask for promotion based on tenure or their employer’s generosity. A better approach is to help solve a real company problem.

How to mobilize colleagues for large-scale change—especially if that change might be seen as unpopular?  Use your secret weapon: “Listen, Decide,...

When it comes to marketing, everyone from the junior IT recruit to the chairman’s spouse seems eager to pitch their take. So, what’s the playbook when you’re on the receiving end of these ideas

Customer focus is a honorable thing. But it can be tricky–in part because of the three main gaps that every customer leader* faces. 

Every firm needs customer-minded leaders. New research shows: these customer leaders*do better when they serve both customer needs and company needs.

Influential leaders are associated with profitable revenue. Too many executives aren’t. They’re missing out. Time to get into the revenue camp. Profitable growth...

Authentic leadership is a powerful idea. But if you believe authentic means ‘just being yourself’, you may end up in a mess.

The label ‘digital’ makes marketers throw all leadership rules overboard (from my Marketing Week column). I love technology. When new tech stuff comes...

Marketing is only one piece of the customer experience puzzle. To create a truly remarkable experience, other departments must also be heavily involved.

For marketers to overcome strong beliefs inside the company, showing facts may not be enough. Your better bet is to ask a powerful question: “How, exactly?”

Marketers have a reputation for being overwhelmed and always late, but it does not have to be that way.

What’s the best tool for recruiting the wrong people? A long competency list. If you want too much, you may simply not spot the best marketing leaders. Cut to the chase and ask yourself a simple question: “What distinctive skills do we need?”

Why do so many marketers believe using marketing jargon inside their company is okay? It’s not. It’s a career killer.

As a customer-focused leader, you are in the inspiration business. The biggest part of your role is to mobilize people in your company to make a great customer experience happen. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just issuing orders to those around you. Your best bet is to inspire them. But how?

It’s funny, shaping a company’s customer experience (CX) is, perhaps, the biggest challenge of a business. Yet the leaders in charge of this crucial endeavour rarely receive targeted leadership training. It’s time to change this.

In a marketing team, trust is the foundation for everything. No matter how good your team’s marketing skills are, they won’t make a dent in the market unless people give their best and take some risks.

Hand over heart: What do you think of marketers? Many CFOs think that marketers talk bollocks, don’t understand the company, and simply can’t be trusted. To be fair, they sometimes have a point. But most of their perceptions are wrong—there’s more common ground than they may think. In fact, marketing most likely determines the fortunes of your company.

Marketing leaders must constantly show that marketing delivers financial returns. Why? If the organization knows your work delivers a return, the decision makers will give you the resources and support you need for your important marketing projects.

Think about it: you want to change the customer experience that large numbers of people in your company create each day — most of whom don’t work in marketing. The only way to succeed is to become a “leader of leaders.”

As a marketing leader, customer knowledge is key for your business success—but it won’t get you promoted. In my research, what mattered more for marketer’s career success, were product and market knowledege. A good way to gain these insights is to step out of your role.

Many non-marketing leaders don’t fully understand why marketing is essential for the company. That’s why making the case for marketing to them may be more important than you think.

Too many leaders still believe diversity doesn’t matter for company performance—or they can’t improve top team diversity anyway. Publicly firing a chairman won’t change these beliefs. What’s needed are facts that no C-suite leader can ignore. Let’s make the case.

Leadership means sticking to decisions unless there’s a very good reason to change or stop. If you’re leading these meetings, stay calm, refer to the old plan, raise the issues, and suggest solutions. Successful CMOs are great consensus-builders. But at times, “renting a bulldozer” comes in handy.

There’s lots of encouraging news coming out of Cannes. While marketing still faces tactical challenges—social media, big data, ROI, to name just a few—the prevailing belief is that CMOs are back in the driver’s seat. They’re cutting through the clutter and refocusing their attention on what really matters: great work that drives the business.

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....

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...

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 ways to mobilize them, starting with sharing your vision through a powerful story.

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 attention. Perhaps their work isn’t seen as critical for the company.

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...

To start a movement, you as leader must take a risk, try something new, and show its effect. Then it’s all about finding your first followers.

WHY LEADING MARKETING IS HARD. Marketers face three crises: trust, control and skills. Leadership is the way through all of them.

“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 have to be like this.

Consumers’ lives wouldn’t be the same without Diet Coke, the Swiffer, or Red Bull. CEOs would certainly miss telling the success stories behind how these brands were created and marketed. But the real key behind many successful products is innovation. And to truly innovate, marketing teams need constructive conflict.

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.

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.

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...

Inspiring people starts with one person: yourself. If you have the spark of inspiration, you can inspire others. That’s the key.

Millions of marketers master the famous 4Ps of marketing: product, price, place and promotion. But if you’re a marketing executive, you won’t get very far without also tackling the 4Ps of marketing leadership: productivity, purpose, pull and power.

There’s no doubt a company can survive the digital revolution intact without expertise–a la Steve Wozniak. At the same time, however, there is a need for marketing leaders to see the big picture and develop strong leadership skills–a la Steve Jobs. So how can marketing leaders gain more influence?

Digital media and systems determine future marketing. Many leaders in marketing are worried about the changes. Yet you do not need to be a digital high flier to occupy this position. Three steps to get on top of digitization.