Marketing’s Identity Crisis & Unified Revenue Leadership with Emma Clayton

The CRO Spotlight Podcast

In this episode of CRO Spotlight, host Warren Zenna welcomes Emma Clayton, C-Suite Strategic & Commercial Leadership Consultant at Be Brilliant Consultancy. With 27 years in marketing, Emma reveals the origin of her provocative LinkedIn musing on B2B marketing’s fragmentation and leadership vacuum. She shares why she left a prominent community, how her spontaneous critique went viral, and its implications for today’s revenue leaders.

Emma dives into her ongoing “Who Shot Marketing?” narrative, personifying the profession’s decline through the suspects: VCs treating CMOs as disposable, CFOs overlooking marketing’s strategic role, and recruitment firms fueling tactical specialization. She argues that marketing’s erosion stems from professionals losing their strategic identity and defaulting to siloed, short-term tactics instead of holistic business leadership.

Warren and Emma explore the Chief Revenue Officer role as a remedy for fragmented revenue functions. They debate why CMOs often switch to CRO titles for prestige and survival, and how genuine CRO leadership demands a business-centric mindset that integrates marketing, sales, and customer success. Highlighting cross-functional alignment and strategic vision, they offer a blueprint for CROs to unify teams and develop the competencies needed for a coherent revenue engine.

In closing, Emma urges listeners to channel their expertise into shaping the next era of marketing and revenue leadership. She calls on CEOs and aspiring CROs to end silos and collaboratively redefine marketing’s role within the revenue engine. Listeners are encouraged to share insights and drive positive change. This episode equips leaders with fresh perspectives on strategic marketing, revenue alignment, and building resilient organizations ready for tomorrow’s challenges.