At more and more organizations, marketing has become firmly established as a C-suite function.

“Cladogenesis” is a term used by evolutionary scientists to describe the relatively sudden division of an existing species into two or more separate lines – thus creating new species – often in response to radical change in the environment.

“A Framework for Leadership” was the topic of Gizem Weggemans’ presentation at The Indie Summit at the Royal College of Physicians on 14th June in London. The Indie Summit is the only large-scale global conference and networking event exclusively for Owners, CEOs and Senior Directors of the world’s leading independent marketing and communications agencies.

The combination of overlapping social media networks with passionate and vigilant consumers means that chief marketing officers and chief communications officers are never more than one errant tweet or unflattering video away from a crisis. But while crises generate urgency and headlines, managing a brand today is a 24/7 operation of monitoring, messaging and refinement.

We recently held a private dinner for 20 CMOs from some of San Francisco’s most disruptive companies in the hospitality, food, insurance, financial services and media sectors.

Virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize digital marketing, write Egon Zehnder consultants Amanda Roberts and Sarah Van Dyck for CMSWire.

In an increasingly disruptive world the key challenge facing CMOs is to create an agile organization that will help individuals to leverage their full potential.

It should not be controversial to say that all organizations must be capable of some degree of innovation.

For some time now, leaders from across industries and geographies have been operating in an uncertain and volatile environment. And while we watch the entrepreneurial disruptors experiment their way to success, legacy organizations must also adopt this “try and fail” mindset and learn to take risks in order to survive.

Egon Zehnder was privileged to be part of the 60th annual Consumer Goods Forum global summit on 15-17 June 2016. Held in Cape Town, South Africa, the summit provided a window onto the energy and opportunity of Africa— the world’s youngest continent and one of the fastest-growing consumer markets.