My teacher and mentor Peter Drucker used to say that the only functions in a corporation are marketing and innovation – everything else is overhead. My friends in manufacturing will argue this endlessly but I think the point is that marketing is often a company's most essential function. Choosing somebody to lead that team might be a CEO's most important – and perilous – decision. By the time somebody is in line to be considered for a Chief Marketing Officer position, they should have amply demonstrated the following key traits that make a successful marketing executive.
