Joonas Hakkarainen
Our first Executive Roundtable of the year brought together 10 senior marketing executives for a dynamic discussion on a crucial topic — how to thrive in a management team and with key management stakeholders. As always, the session was packed with insights, sparring, and real-world experiences. Here are the key takeaways to inspire you in 2025.
What is the management team for?
Let’s take a moment to reflect on this. A management or leadership team isn’t just a forum for reporting. It’s a strategic tool for steering the business. Those in the roundtable who are part of their company’s leadership team highlighted that one of the biggest advantages is the ability to influence beyond marketing. Leadership teams are for solving challenges, seizing opportunities, and contributing through diverse perspectives.
However, not all management teams operate the same way. Some are purely reporting forums, leaving little room for discussion. In these cases, the way a marketing leader presents their story becomes even more critical.
No matter the setup, it’s essential to understand marketing’s perceived role among leadership and board members. What do they expect from marketing? And how closely does this align with marketing’s actual role? Misalignment often leads to friction and frustration. Identifying and addressing these gaps is key to making a real impact and strengthening the role in the future.
Making your message relevant – avoid the tactical trap
Marketing is one of those functions where everyone seems to have an opinion. Based on the conversations in the roundtable, this often leads to leadership discussions being dominated by tactical details, such as color choices in materials, trade show stand design, or the music in a social media ad.
While tactics matter, they don’t belong in leadership team meetings. Instead, marketing leaders should anchor discussions in a clear, long-term vision (3–5 years) and big picture targets, aligning marketing with business priorities. This approach not only keeps conversations at the right level but also gives marketing leaders the authority to say no to distractions. It takes courage and experience to steer the conversation: “Let’s have a separate discussion of that topic. Right now, we need to focus on the bigger priorities and business impact.”
Another challenge for some marketing leaders is when leadership stakeholders show little interest in marketing’s story. How do you make it compelling? If it’s not the tactics, what is it? According to the participants, topics and areas that typically resonate with leadership stakeholders include:
- Customers: The whole customer landscape, understanding their buying behavior, satisfaction levels, and journey touchpoints. How order-to-cash process has progressed and where are the gaps if there are any? Consider building this story together with sales next time.
- Markets: Competitive dynamics, challenges, and industry maturity.
- Brand: How the brand is perceived, how our brand position is helping us get on tenders and RFPs more efficiently, and what's the role of the brand in trust-building with customers?
- Make it personal: Not just for the company, but for individual leaders. How can marketing elevate key executives thought leaders and famous in their industry?
It’s all about connections and relationships
At the end of the day, thriving in leadership circles is about people. True connections are built outside formal management team meetings: through 1-on-1 discussions, casual workplace interactions, and even off-work activities. These moments help marketers better understand other functions’ priorities and position marketing’s value on a right level in a way that resonates.
The consensus among roundtable participants was that marketing leaders should proactively integrate themselves across the business, learning what makes different functions tick. This allows them to craft a narrative that demonstrates how marketing supports broader business goals. Connect, understand, and succeed.
Does marketing belong in the management team?
A thought-provoking discussion emerged on whether marketing must have a seat at the leadership table. We marketers see the value of it. But at the same time the consensus was that no function has an automatic right to be there.
In some companies, marketing is represented by another function like sales or HR. In others, brand and communications have a leadership presence, but marketing doesn’t. This setup can work as long as marketing’s priorities are effectively brought to leadership discussions, and key decisions are communicated back to the marketing team.
But what does the leadership team miss if marketing isn’t at the table? Three things stood out from the discussion:
- Understanding of the customer insights and the full customer journey
- Employer branding and internal engagement
- Competitive positioning and market intelligence
On the other hand, not being in the leadership team has advantages. It allows more focus on leading the marketing function itself. While contributing at the leadership level is valuable, it also takes time away from leading the team and improving marketing initiatives.
Regardless of structure, the priority is understanding marketing’s role and how it’s perceived. Whether aiming for a leadership seat or influencing from the outside, marketers need to connect with stakeholders, shape their story, and align with business priorities. At the end of the day, it’s not just about saying marketing deserves a strategic role — it’s about demonstrating its impact and educating the audience.
Interested in joining our next Executive Roundtable? Read more about the concept or reach out to us directly.
