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8 Skills of True Marketing Leaders

Solvay Brussels School

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Marketing jobs have a bright future! As our economy starts to recover, many companies realize that they are lacking marketing resources and skills for facing tomorrow’s challenges.

Future is different

Yesterday’s consumers purchased from a set of limited offerings, and communication was a one-way street, controlled by the power of marketing and advertising agencies. Today’s consumers are much more aware, more informed and more sceptical. They can start with an idea, a need, or a desire and browse online to find exactly what they want; if they can’t find it, many times they can merely create or commission it for themselves. The business future in which companies operate is much more volatile, uncertain and complex than ever before.

Firms’ profits, image and reputation are under extreme pressure!

In a CEO study commissioned by IBM, “More than two in five CEOs now expect their next competitive threat to come from organizations outside their industries. These new competitors aren’t just set to steal market share. They are upsetting whole industries; reinventing how value is created; and redefining what constitutes value.” To understand this concept, just think of what TESLA has accomplished in automobile manufacturing and sales or what Uber has done to the taxi industry!

If you intend to apply for a Marketing job, you must ask yourself:  Do I understand these changes? Am I ready to cope with the challenges? Am I skilled enough to handle them? Do I have the resources and techniques necessary to become a true leader of change in the modern world?

Creativity as a solution

As a member of Generation Y or Z, turbulence, volatility and technology are in your DNA. However, it is not a sufficient for converting it in value. Ultimately, as future marketing leaders, your primary role will be to shape, build, maintain, and grow revenue streams (CEOs rely increasingly heavily on CMOs for strategic input). This can only be accomplished through creating intriguing brand experiences, generating brand magic and providing meaningful value to customers.

Do we know a magic recipe that you can easily apply in your job for achieving these goals? Unfortunately not! There is, however, a strong consensus that creativity, and more specifically creative leadership, can unlock profitable growth for all companies.

But what is creativity?

Creativity is not funky fonts or photoshopped pictures. Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new and different ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to then generate relevant solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, and then producing. If you have ideas but don’t act on them, you are imaginative, not creative.

True marketing leaders embrace uncertainty and complexity as creative catalysts that invite and demand innovation. Creative leaders should view constraints as exciting challenges that promote creativity, not restrict it. Additionally, a creative leader doesn’t fear failure despite recognizing the inherent risk of trying new things.

As future marketing leader, you will be involved in creative problem solving and creative expression. So my question to you is:

Do you have the skills for being a true marketing leader?

  1. Confidence: ability to question without fear
  2. Observation: Seeing problems and ideas
  3. Humility: knowing you don’t know everything
  4. Mindfulness: thinking on how to think
  5. Curiosity: exploring and experimenting
  6. Resourcefulness: something to tinker with
  7. Energy: to explore and tinker
  8. Action: not just thinking, but doing.

In our Advanced Master in Creativity and Marketing, our objective is to unlock your creative leadership potential for being a true marketing leader.
Laurent Bouty, Academic Director the Advanced Master in Creativity and Marketing

Solvay Brussels School
Contact: [email protected]

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