Latest

Growth Colony podcast: If AI had the answer, what’s your question?
What makes or breaks marketing leaders? The ability to lead the growth agenda.I recently joined Vinnie Romano's Growth Colony podcast to talk marketing leadership. Three insights we've covered:1. AI can’t lead change—you can. AI is a powerful tool for efficiency,...
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Essential reading

What is Marketing Leadership?
Insights from the world’s largest ever study on CMO impact and success.

The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise decode the secrets of marketing leadership success.

Take the Marketing Leadership Test
Within 5 minutes, find your Marketing Leadership strengths. Free. Anonymous. Fun!
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CMO Central
How global senior marketers drive business and shape their own careers.

CMO Strategy Insights
Successful CMOs master strategy beyond just marketing. This list? It’s all about higher-level CMO strategy: investments, budgets, organization.

CMO Leadership Insights
Successful CMOs are skilled leaders. Here’s a “cheat sheet”. After 15 years of digging through research and insights on CMO leadership, I’ve found a few standout pieces

Japanese marketing leadership articles / マーケティングリーダーシップに関する記事
Japanese marketing leadership articles by Thomas / マーケティングリーダーシップに関する記事

What makes a CMO successful? Lessons from over 300 Interviews
What author and podcast hosts Drew Neisser learned from interviewing over 300 chief marketing officers.
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Tools & Workshops
Level up your growth leadership game.

The Marketing Leadership Masterclass
The Marketing Leadership Masterclass is the complete toolkit to help marketers build their influence and boost their career.

The Global CMO Fellowship
Applications for the European CMO Fellowship 2024 are now open (and close 16 October)!

The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise decode the secrets of marketing leadership success.

Take the Marketing Leadership Test
Within 5 minutes, find your Marketing Leadership strengths. Free. Anonymous. Fun!
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Keynotes
Change leadership keynotes by Thomas.

Keynote: The Wingmate Effect—Collective Leadership in Turbulent Times
Successful leaders rally their teams, drawing from the collective strength of their crew. I’ve come to call them Wingmates.

Keynote: Still Trusted Advisor—Building Client Relationships in a New World
In the era of AI, great client leaders provide more than just the right answers. It’s about the right questions. It’s about understanding. On two levels: rational and emotional. The more clients know, the more they are craving for what only humans can give: intimacy.

Keynote: When is Your Moment … to be Brave?
Thomas’s new research unveils a profound truth: transformation begins when talented dare to leave their comfort zones—and go big!

Keynote: The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Experience the keynote from the world’s largest ever study on marketers’ success.
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Interviews
Dialogues with global change leaders.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Boutros Boutros, Emirates
For my Forbes CMO column, I sat down with Emirates’ marketing head Boutros Boutros. Together with his team Boutros has built one of the world’s most admired airline brands. Here are three nuggets you might find interesting:

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Greg Lyons, PepsiCo
Greg Lyons, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo Beverages North America and I spoke about marketing leadership and empathy.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Virginie De Beco, Sennheiser
For my Forbes column, I have spoken with Virginie de Beco, Sennheiser’s Global Head of Consumer Marketing. Virginie.
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Podcasts
In conversation with Thomas Barta.

Growth Colony podcast: If AI had the answer, what’s your question?
What makes or breaks marketing leaders? The ability to lead the growth agenda.I recently joined Vinnie Romano's Growth Colony podcast to talk marketing leadership. Three insights we've covered:1. AI can’t lead change—you can. AI is a powerful tool for efficiency,...

Podcast: Marketing Leadership Powers
What are the challenges for marketers this year? Conor Byrne and Thomas explore.

Podcast: Getting your CEO to buy in
Jeff White and Thomas discuss how leaders can get buy-in at the top—and enjoy the journey.
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In case you missed it …
Every article? In perfect chronological order.

Growth Colony podcast: If AI had the answer, what’s your question?
What makes or breaks marketing leaders? The ability to lead the growth agenda.I recently joined Vinnie Romano's Growth Colony podcast to talk marketing leadership....

CMO Strategy Insights
Successful CMOs master strategy beyond just marketing. This list? It’s all about higher-level CMO strategy: investments, budgets, organization.

Is brand activism endangering your business?
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.

Apply now for the 2025 CMO Fellowship
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.

CMO Leadership Insights
Successful CMOs are skilled leaders. Here’s a “cheat sheet”. After 15 years of digging through research and insights on CMO leadership, I’ve found a few standout pieces

Japanese marketing leadership articles / マーケティングリーダーシップに関する記事
Japanese marketing leadership articles by Thomas / マーケティングリーダーシップに関する記事

Keynote: The Wingmate Effect—Collective Leadership in Turbulent Times
Successful leaders rally their teams, drawing from the collective strength of their crew. I’ve come to call them Wingmates.

Keynote: Still Trusted Advisor—Building Client Relationships in a New World
In the era of AI, great client leaders provide more than just the right answers. It’s about the right questions. It’s about understanding. On two levels: rational and emotional. The more clients know, the more they are craving for what only humans can give: intimacy.

The Marketing Leadership Masterclass
The Marketing Leadership Masterclass is the complete toolkit to help marketers build their influence and boost their career.

The Global CMO Fellowship
Applications for the European CMO Fellowship 2024 are now open (and close 16 October)!

Keynote: When is Your Moment … to be Brave?
Thomas’s new research unveils a profound truth: transformation begins when talented dare to leave their comfort zones—and go big!

What is Marketing Leadership?
Insights from the world’s largest ever study on CMO impact and success.

The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise decode the secrets of marketing leadership success.

Take the Marketing Leadership Test
Within 5 minutes, find your Marketing Leadership strengths. Free. Anonymous. Fun!

The Marketing Leadership Masterclass: Sep 12, 2023
The Marketing Leadership Masterclass is back! Starting September 2023, the next global group of marketing leaders will get together to learn the secrets of...

Does the CMO matter? 5 facts every CEO must know
Five separate studies leave no doubt: CMOs and strong marketing teams are essential for company success.

What makes a CMO successful? Lessons from over 300 Interviews
What author and podcast hosts Drew Neisser learned from interviewing over 300 chief marketing officers.

Marketers need more sense to stem the tide of CMO firings
CMO Transitions are happening at an unprecedented rate. What to do?

Podcast: Marketing Leadership Powers
What are the challenges for marketers this year? Conor Byrne and Thomas explore.

Keynote: The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Experience the keynote from the world’s largest ever study on marketers’ success.

If CMOs don’t stand for growth, they stand for nothing
Coca-Cola’s ditching of its chief marketing officer role for a chief growth officer is a clear warning to CMOs: stand for growth, or lose it all.

Why CMOs are always the first to go
The average chief marketing officer in large U.S. firms leaves after just 4.1 years, while the CEO stays around for eight. It is not good for business.

Why CMOs must side with the revenue camp
Influential CMOs are associated with revenue, yet too often marketers are not. They’re missing the point. It’s time for CMOs to get into the revenue camp.

CMOs: it’s time to up the game in team skills building
Every CMO agrees: skills are central for marketing teams’ business impact and internal standing. But when it comes to building those skills, the marketing department is too often undermanaged and underfunded. It’s time for CMOs to catch up.

CMOs and the ‘confidence thing’
Marketers often ask: “Do I have what it takes to step up and shape my company’s customer agenda?” But when good marketers hold back, companies may struggle to grow and customers are worse off. That’s when it’s time to add more fuel into marketer’s tank: confidence.

Why open books give you more power in the C-Suite
Why are CFOs so powerful? They have crucial and credible financial data every CEO wants to see. Competing with a CFO’s credibility can be hard if your own data is forward looking—or if your work’s impact is hard to measure. Don’t try to compete—change the game. Open the books!

How the CMO can add most value
In theory, the CMO role should be exalted, but reality is different. New evidence suggests many CMOs are missing the needs of an important customer: their own company. It’s time to change this.

Keynote: Customer Freak
How can CEOs build organizations that grow in times of rapid change and disruption? Hire more customer freaks.

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。

McKinsey: Can CMOs and CFOs be friends?
CMOs and CFOs always had a special relationship. Five steps can strengthen the ties between the two.

Podcast: Getting your CEO to buy in
Jeff White and Thomas discuss how leaders can get buy-in at the top—and enjoy the journey.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Boutros Boutros, Emirates
For my Forbes CMO column, I sat down with Emirates’ marketing head Boutros Boutros. Together with his team Boutros has built one of the world’s most admired airline brands. Here are three nuggets you might find interesting:

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Greg Lyons, PepsiCo
Greg Lyons, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo Beverages North America and I spoke about marketing leadership and empathy.

Time For A Reset: Podcast
Paul Frampton and Thomas talk about bravery, leadership—and why it’s time to reset.

The Whole Marketer: Podcast
Abby Dixon of the Whole Marketer Podcast and I spoke about knowing how to influence, having a dream and building credibility.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Virginie De Beco, Sennheiser
For my Forbes column, I have spoken with Virginie de Beco, Sennheiser’s Global Head of Consumer Marketing. Virginie.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Ellie Norman, Formula 1
Recently I sat down with Formula 1 CMO Ellie Norman to talk about the F1 transformation, and what happened to the famous lycra Grid Girls.

The time for marketing is now (again)
For marketers, a massive window for change has just opened—and the prize is big.

How will life look after the crisis?
Marketers are facing a major problem. Post-virus, how will markets change? What are the trends?

Never let a good crisis go to waste
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?

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

Complete this sentence about the future
Creative accumulation leads to better things. Creative destruction leads to new things. One isn’t better than the other. Both innovations matter.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Katharyn White, T-Systems
Why Katharyn White wants to redefine the collective impact as marketers.

Look beyond performance
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...

Five secrets of marketing career success
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...

How to get promoted
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...

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Mika Yamamoto, Marketo
How can CMOs get a strong voice in the boardroom? Marketo’s Mika Yamamoto shares her views

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

The hidden power of the marketing funnel
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...

Apply for the EU and US CMO Fellowship 2020
For the sixth year in a row, I'll work with The Marketing Academy, McKinsey, and Wisdom to help 40 blue chip marketers on the way to CEO. This year - for the first...

Marketers: Don’t lose sight of the fact your job is to find customers
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...

For career success, being relevant trumps being cool
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...

Ask customers for feed-forward, not feedback
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...

To instigate change, first build credit
“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....

Make the middle manager cool again
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...

Have more skin in the game
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...

Don’t recruit yourself
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...

Thrive in a matrix organisation
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....

To make change happen, ditch your ego
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...

Beware the ‘binfluencer’
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,...

Three ways to be a bolder leader
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...

To drive change, walk the halls
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...

Why marketers struggle in a rational world
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.

Tackle big issues
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...

Use the power of the bottom right-hand corner
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.

Build someone’s confidence
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.

Set customers free
If you want dissatisfied customers, lock them in.

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

Make the middle seat wider
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.

Lean in, really
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....

Find your proper shoe size
“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...

Travel more
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.

Make something better
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...

Meet the skeptics
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.

The 12 Powers: Limited Time Bulk Deal
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...

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Yukiko Yamaguchi, Panasonic
In this interview, I spoke with Yukiko Yamaguchi, the global CMO of Panasonic’s Connected Solutions Company, to explore the practical secrets of CMO leadership.

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

For influence, abandon your desk
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

If marketing were a brand, you would fire the CMO
Want to lure the world’s best talent into marketing? We need to step up the profession’s standing first

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Alicia Tillman, SAP
In this Forbes interview with Alicia Tillman, CMO of SAP, on key insights into successful CMO leadership were discussed

Never forget brand purpose rule #1: “do no harm!”
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

Apply for the European CMO Fellowship 2019
For the most talented global marketers—with clear board potential, applications are now open for the 2019 Fellowship, a (free) 9-month mentoring, coaching and...

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Kristin-Kelley, Randstad
In this interview with Kristin Kelley, CMO of Randstad North America, several key insights into successful CMO leadership were discussed:

Ogilvy’s rebrand reveals an ad industry in confusion
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

If data were a drug, brands would be the cartel bosses – not Facebook
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 #MeToo movement should be a wake-up call for all leaders
The recent #MeToo campaign is a reminder of the important role we all have as leaders: building confidence.

The number one reason why marketers fail
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.

Five common career diseases and how to cure them
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

Why effective leaders must manage up, down, and sideways
New research shows: successful executives know how to lead their bosses and colleagues.

Why this year’s super bowl ads point to marketing’s biggest leadership issue
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.

Lead your boss and colleagues–not just your team
Success in a customer-facing role is all about mobilizing two groups of people that most leaders overlook: their bosses and their colleagues.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Arnd Pickhardt, Lidl
In this Forbes CMO leadership interview, I explored the secrets of successful marketing leadership with Arnd Pickhardt, former CMO of Lidl

Don’t let technology become a confidence-drainer
The digital future is bright—but it’s complex and it nags on executives’ confidence. The new currency of expertise is having an overview

Marketing career success: 5 enduring secrets
The best marketers are masters of branding, pricing and communication. But pulling off a great marketing career is a whole other story

Customer experience is a marketer’s biggest leadership challenge
Unless executives step up and take the lead, great customer experiences will remain a corporate fantasy.

CMO Coaching
Each year, I personally coach a select groups of international CMOs and change leaders.

A leader’s biggest asset is their ability to inspire
Many executives are keen to inspire customers. But to actualize great customer experiences, inspiring the organisation may just be as important.

Strategy means nothing without leadership
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...

Don’t ask for a promotion–ask to solve a problem
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.

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

Smart Strategies for Handling ‘Get Me One Of Those’ (G.M.O.O.T.)
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

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

The power of working inside the “Value Creation Zone”
Every firm needs customer-minded leaders. New research shows: these customer leaders*do better when they serve both customer needs and company needs.

Getting Inside the Revenue Camp
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...

Being an ‘authentic leader’ may be harder than you think
Authentic leadership is a powerful idea. But if you believe authentic means ‘just being yourself’, you may end up in a mess.

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

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Andrea Sullivan, Interbrand
In this interview with Andrea Sullivan, Global CMO of Interbrand, several key insights into successful CMO leadership were discussed

Storytelling is a marketing leader’s most important skill
Marketing is only one piece of the customer experience puzzle. To create a truly remarkable experience, other departments must also be heavily involved.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Aniko DeLaney, BNY Mellon
In this interview with Aniko DeLaney, Global Head of Corporate Marketing at BNY Mellon, we explored several essential aspects of successful CMO leadership:

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Lizzy Johnson, Quintessential Brands
In this interview with Lizzy Johnson, Global Brands and Marketing Director of Quintessential Brands, we delved into the key elements of successful CMO leadership:

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Nina Bibby, Telefónica
In this Forbes interview with Nina Bibby, CMO of Telefonica UK (O2), the discussion revolved around the qualities and strategies that contribute to the success of a CMO:

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: CMO Suzi Watford, The Wall Street Journal
In this interview with Suzi Watford, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of The Wall Street Journal, the discussion highlights key aspects of what makes a successful CMO:

Facts alone aren’t enough to change people’s minds
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?”

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Dan Ramsay, BT
In this Forbes interview, Dan Ramsey, Consumer Marketing Director of BT, shares insights on successful CMO leadership:

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Paul Gottsegen, Mindtree
In this interview with Paul Gottsegen, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer of Mindtree and former top marketer at Infosys, HP, and Dell, several key insights on successful CMO leadership emerge:

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Claire Cronin, Virgin Atlantic
In this interview with Claire Cronin, CMO of Virgin Atlantic, several insights into successful CMO leadership are highlighted:

Being late makes marketers look like overwhelmed leaders
Marketers have a reputation for being overwhelmed and always late, but it does not have to be that way.

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Syl Saller, Diageo
In this interview with Syl Saller, Diageo’s Global CMO, we discussed several insights into successful CMO leadership—from her remarkable career:

How to recruit the wrong marketers?
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?”

Forbes CMO Leadership Talk: Rashmy Chatterjee, IBM
In this interview with Rashmy Chatterjee, IBM’s North American CMO, several key insights into successful CMO leadership are highlighted:

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

Inspiration is a leader’s most powerful weapon
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?

Three leadership skills every customer experience leader needs to master
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.

Trust and how to build it
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.

Dear CFO: Trust your marketer!
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.

Make your marketing team a revenue center
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.

Marketing team-skills: Simplicity matters!
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.”
5 facts about marketing every CEO (and CMO) needs to know
Even decades after leadership thinker Peter Drucker said his famous sentence “the business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation” there’s still a—surprisingly lively—debate as to whether marketing’s (and marketers’) role should be exalted. Here are five research-backed facts that prove all marketing skeptics wrong. Marketing and CMOs are crucial for company success! Full stop.

To thrive as a marketing leader, step out of your role
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.

Two ways to prove that marketing works
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.

The real reason for marketing’s diversity problem
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.

When leaders need a bulldozer
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.

Cannes 2016–Five takeaways for CMOs
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.

How marketers can help the company change
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....

Success comes from working with the best
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...

Storytelling is a marketing leader’s most important skill
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.

Why bosses don’t listen to marketers
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.

Can’t be in charge? Start a movement
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...

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

3 digital traps for marketers–and how to avoid 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.

Great marketing teams love having a good fight
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.

Influential marketers tackle big issues
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.

Marketers: get out of the office!
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.

Why skilled marketers fail – and how to fix this
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...

Apply for the European CMO Fellowship 2015
Apply now: CMO Fellowship Programme 2014. The Marketing Academy, McKinsey & Company and actvance Leadership Advisors help CMOs become CEOs

Want to Inspire ? Show the fire in your eyes
Inspiring people starts with one person: yourself. If you have the spark of inspiration, you can inspire others. That’s the key.

Apply for the European CMO Fellowship 2013
CMO is a wonderful role. But some marketing leaders want to go to the very top. The Marketing Academy’s new Fellowship Programme is helping CMOs on their way to CEO.

The 4Ps of marketing leadership
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.

Are you a Jobs or a Wozniak?
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 marketing: No need to be a high flier
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.
Insurance marketing: Springboard or career break?
Egon Zehnder: Can a management position in insurance marketing act as a springboard for a career leading to the top? Egon Zehnder International took a deeper look.
Customer focus matters most for growth
McKinsey: 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.

Egon Zehnder: The CMO, architect of consumer centricity
Egon Zehnder: Markets are merging; smart, self-confident consumers are sharing their views. As the voice of the consumer in the executive suite, today’s CMO must drive customer orientation and innovation, build bridges and bring skills.

CMO 2.0
A new study shows that the CMO role is now becoming an essential function in companies, but there is still a long way to go to achieve influence and control. Spurring CMOs on to take charge!

Future CMO challenges
What are the challenges facing CMOs? What are their worries? What ideas are available to help with these? IBM brings us the latest.
Is there a payoff from top-team diversity?
McKinsey: Between 2008 and 2010, companies with more diverse top teams were also top financial performers. That’s probably no coincidence.

Do firms need CMOs?
A US study has caused a stir: firms with a CMO on the management team are not more successful than firms without a CMO. Do we need CMOs? CMOs now need to prove their worth.