I sat on a panel recently titled Austin AMA Executive Advisory Board Panel discussion: “Does Marketing Deserve a Seat at the (Corporate Boardroom) Table?”

It was interesting to note that we fundamentally in the business world don’t know how to define the role of a CMO/VP of Marketing. The best description was given by Mike Shultz CEO of InfoGlide, he said Marketing’s role is to explain to the company “where we are now and where we are going” and in his view, marketing leadership does not have to be a job but a role played by one of the key executives – CEO, VP of Products, someone or as he put it, “someone better play it” or we are in trouble.

It seems like a lot of people are stirring the debate on my favorite topic “revenue impact of marketing”:

• A piece on Marketing’s lack of impact on Sales that I read recently in AdAge
• Fast Company did the same, calling the CMO’s job the most dangerous job in business

So is it the measurement instrument or the person or the heritage of the marketing function to blame? What do you think?