The role of Marketing has diminished in Business

In the 1970s more CEOs came up the Marketing ranks than today. These days more CEOs have financial backgrounds. The latest issue of Business Weeks talks about the state of customer service and calls for a Chief Customer Officer. Now this should be the role of the Chief Marketing Officer. That it is not obvious speaks to the credibility of the discipline. Furthermore, too few CMOs can talk to the CEO and CFO in the language of business - finance. Marketing needs to re-invent itself to regain credibility, and then it can do what clearly still needs to be done.