Rob Talbot

Picture of Rob Talbot
Rob Talbot possesses more than two decades’ experience in leading creative and pragmatic teams that deliver revenue- driving solutions for Fortune 500, mid-sized and growth companies in the entertainment, e-commerce, real estate and technology verticals. His leadership positions included roles at RealtyTrac, Move Inc., Sony Pictures Digital Network, Lifetime Television and HBO. In each, Talbot was regarded for solving complex problems by employing inventive business solutions.
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Recent Posts

What Is Marketing, Really? Why Founders and CEOs Must Lead the Most Misunderstood Function in the Business

What Is Marketing, Really? Why Founders and CEOs Must Lead the Most Misunderstood Function in the Business

Thu, Jul 9, 2026 | Posted by Michael Lang

 

Executive Takeaways

  • Marketing is a core enterprise capability, not a support function, and deserves the same CEO-level engagement as Finance and Operations.
  • Without a unifying system, individually reasonable decisions accumulate into random acts of marketing.
  • Modern tools make execution faster, but they don't create strategic clarity, so the gap between activity and alignment keeps widening.
  • CEOs can't delegate marketing entirely. Leading it means ensuring insight, strategy, and execution stay connected.

This blog is part of Chief Outsiders’ Marketing Leadership for CEOs series, an ongoing examination of the critical dimensions of Marketing (the capital “M” is intentional, as you’ll see) that every CEO needs to understand.

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