Marketing isn’t a vending machine—and Kathleen Schaub wants leaders to stop treating it like one. In this episode of Tomorrow’s Best Practices Today, host Clark Newby sits down with Kathleen Schaub, author of Marketing in the Great, Big, Messy, Real World, to unpack why deterministic thinking fails and what modern CMOs must do differently.Kathleen draws on decades of experience advising global marketing leaders and shares insights from her new book, including four key mindset shifts:- Budgeting like an investor rather than an accountant- Planning like a navigator who adapts to changing conditions- Deciding like a statistician who understands probabilities, not certainties- Leading like an ecologist who creates thriving team ecosystemsTogether, Clark and Kathleen explore why the obsession with ROI as a vending machine input-output model is misguided, how marketing metrics should spark dialogue—not dictate it—and why agility at the “edges” of the business is where real progress happens.Order Kathleen's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Great-Messy-Real-World/dp/1632999862/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BSH939U2QNL1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QsAFE2-s7Vf4DwX3HtjKPD-5jwgkt-_m9H2efEkaqOg.YKXKMuYL6Vc-3NhSIB4d2LGEsMAmQYvPF6gzhQfuY5U&dib_tag=se&keywords=marketing+in+the+great%2C+big%2C+messy+real+world&qid=1756933798&sprefix=marketing+in+the+great+messy+%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1-----CONNECT with us at:Website: https://leadtail.com/Leadtail TV: https://www.leadtailtv.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lead...Twitter: https://twitter.com/leadtailFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Leadtail/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadtail/----0:00 – Introduction and Guest Overview1:19 – Why Marketing Is Not a Vending Machine2:24 – Complexity and the VUCA World of Marketing3:16 – Moving Beyond Deterministic Models5:00 – Four Mindset Shifts for Marketing Leaders6:29 – Budgeting Like an Investor6:41 – Planning and Measurement: Think Like a Navigator7:47 – Decision-Making: Think Like a Statistician9:12 – People and Ecosystems: Leading Like an Ecologist17:01 – Rethinking Metrics and Board-Level Conversations22:10 – Overcoming Resistance and Gaining Executive Buy-In26:18 – The Role of Data, Analytics, and AI in Complex Systems29:26 – Structuring Teams for Agility and Integration33:01 – Kathleen’s Personal Reading List35:15 – Closing Thoughts and Book Information#b2bmarketing #b2b