The fastest way to shrink marketing’s influence, according to AT&T chief marketing and growth officer Kellyn Smith Kenny, is to run it as just another unit in the org chart. In a recent episode of Adweek’s Marketing Vanguard, she told Jenny Rooney that the CMO role has to be anchored in how the whole business creates value, not only in campaigns, brand and customer communications.
Smith Kenny has worked across Capital One, Uber, Hilton and AT&T, and her argument reflects that range. Marketing leadership looks different in established companies and in businesses going through change, but the core test is the same: a marketer who does not understand the economics of the company cannot credibly claim to be driving its growth.
Marketing as a growth engine
Smith Kenny strips the CMO mandate back to a simple starting point: the function exists to help the company grow. That means finance and operations should be treated as allies rather than neighboring departments, and the CMO should know where time, money and influence actually flow across the organization.
The reframe matters for every mid-level and senior marketer. Growth conversations are won by people who can connect marketing investment to business outcomes, not by people who only report on reach and engagement.
- Learn how the company makes money before pitching a bigger budget.
- Build relationships with finance and operations to understand what the business is optimizing for.
- Talk about marketing’s contribution in revenue, retention and efficiency terms, not just brand metrics.
Company leader, not marketing manager
One of the sharpest distinctions in the interview is between being a leader and being a manager of the marketing organization. Smith Kenny deliberately chooses the word “leader,” and the meaning is practical: responsibility should not stop at the edge of the marketing function.
A senior marketer who is only trying to optimize the marketing team has made the role smaller than it needs to be, she argues. Company leaders help create a clear purpose for the entire organization and create conditions for talented people to do the best work of their careers. That includes letting the bar keep rising instead of protecting a team from higher expectations.
Patience is part of conviction
Raising standards requires two things at once. Leaders need the conviction to describe what good looks like and the patience to bring people along while the organization changes. Smith Kenny says conviction without the patience to bring people along is not leadership; the hard part is holding both without diluting either one.
That runs against the temptation to arrive, announce the answer and demand instant transformation. For marketers, it is a useful reminder that changing how a company sees marketing is an organizational change problem, not just a messaging problem.
AI starts with data, not prompts
Smith Kenny’s warning on AI is direct: the first step is not a prompt. World-class marketing depends on high-quality information underneath every investment decision, and AI can only accelerate what sits on top of that foundation. A weak data layer will not be repaired by faster tools.
For Smith Kenny, the sharper question is not “How are we using AI?” but “What are we feeding it?” Human insight still belongs at the center of strategy and creative judgment, she says. AI should support that judgment, not replace it.
What to take from it
For marketing students and professionals, the episode offers a practical leadership brief: understand the P&L, partner outside the function, raise the standard with patience, and fix data quality before chasing AI. Those moves are less glamorous than a flashy campaign, but they are what make marketing durable.
Source: Adweek
