The best marketing leader marries both the art and science of marketing, the creative and the analytic. They also excel and demonstrate a proven track record in three distinct areas:

• Marketing leadership – the ability to generate buy-in and followership from peers, direct reports, and superiors.
• Marketing management – managing the marketing function and rhythm through the use of KPIs, OKRs, daily stand-ups, etc.
• Marketing ROI – at the end of the day, all the of the work and all of the skills above are important because they help drive ROI. Whether it's revenue, number of leads, a specific award or feature in a publication, strong leadership and management and leveraging of the art and science of marketing all serve that one purpose.

A key insight worth keeping in mind is that your company's marketing is only as good as your marketing team, so a strong marketing leader is one that will know how to form the best team by finding, attracting, developing, and retaining the right talent. With that core condition satisfied, proper ROI usually follows.