According to a survey of U.S.
senior executives, marketing will be the most important area of expertise
for the next-generation of leaders.
The study, commissioned by the
Institute of International Research, sought to identify key areas for
leaders. Marketing was the clear choice, with 31 percent of votes,
followed by 20 percent for operations and 16 percent for financial
expertise. Sales and engineering were deemed least critical to leadership
with 11 and six percent respectively.
While marketing departments are
often struggling to effectively measure effectiveness and the related
battle for internal credibility, studies such as this provide evidence
that marketing is making significant headway in proving its value within
organizations.
Marketer Seth Godin attributes the
rising recognition of marketing to fierce marketplace competition. “Being
good enough is no longer good enough,” said Godin. “This is the most
cluttered marketplace in history--just about everything is available
everywhere, all the time. Leaders understand that spreading the word about
their offerings is the only path to success. This survey hammers home that
point--the success of an organization is driven by one thing: whether or
not people choose to buy what you've got to sell.”
