A few minutes with Thomas Barta

Ahead of him speaking at our workshop in India, we caught up with the former McKinsey partner.

What does bold marketing leadership look like?
Think firmly about customers, scrap your job description, do what’s right.

What’s the bravest thing you have done in your career and what did you learn from it?
Standing up for something I truly believe in—and living with the uncomfortable consequences. In my case, pushing customer satisfaction—even as important supporters disappeared. I had to leave a role as a result — that was tough but ultimately it was the right decision. It’s always worth fighting for what you believe in.

What is the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity for our industry today?
Technology is our biggest tactical marketing opportunity. Digital means we can understand and serve customers better than ever before. But technology is also our biggest risk. Too many marketers get lost in technical details—and spend even less time leading. We need to get out of the weeds — and it’s urgent.

If there were three insights you’d like people to take with them from the event what would they be?

• Doing marketing isn’t the same as leading marketing
• It’s normal for people in organisations not to buy into marketing’s priorities — it’s our job to turn that round
• Leading marketing can be learned — you can do it

What’s the one piece of advice on marketing leadership you’d like to pass on?
To find out how strong your leadership skills are: take the test on www.marketingleader.org.
I leave the advice to George Addair: “All you ever wanted is on the other side of fear“