Thomas Barta
Global keynote speaker on marketing leadership and business growth
- World authority on marketing leadership and business growth. CEO of the Marketing Leadership Institute. Founder of the world’s #1 Marketing Leadership Masterclass. Author of the world’s #1 leadership book for marketers.
- Former McKinsey partner. Helped businesses grow for two decades, in 14 industries, across 45 countries. Dean of the global CMO Fellowship. Honorary Fellow of The Marketing Society.
- Delivers high-impact keynotes and growth workshops that uniquely combine growth strategy and growth leadership—building Growth Rebels inside!
Full Profile
Growth Keynote Speaker, Marketing Leadership Expert, Workshop Host
Thomas Barta is a globally renowned expert in marketing leadership and business transformation, celebrated for helping organizations tackle real-world challenges such as driving growth, igniting innovation, and leading cultural change in turbulent times. As a former McKinsey partner, bestselling author, founder of the Marketing Leadership Masterclass, and dean of the CMO Fellowship, Thomas combines rigorous research with hands-on experience to inspire leaders and teams to create powerful, customer-focused change that delivers measurable business impact.
Thomas Barta is an organizational psychologist and one of the world’s leading authorities on marketing leadership. He has advised and inspired executives from Fortune 500 companies across 45 countries and 14 industries, drawing on insights from his landmark study of 68,000+ leaders, still the largest on what drives marketing and customer success. His widely acclaimed book, The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader (co-authored with Patrick Barwise), has become an essential resource for CMOs and business innovators globally, earning praise from thought leaders such as Marshall Goldsmith, Seth Godin, Sir Martin Sorrell, and many more.
Business Challenges Addressed
- Driving Business Growth: Thomas delivers actionable frameworks to unlock competitive advantage, helping organizations focus resources where they matter most and navigate the bottlenecks that prevent sustainable growth.
- Leading Digital Transformation: An expert mobilizer, Thomas empowers leaders to break through organizational inertia, embrace digital change, and overcome barriers to innovation, moving teams from knowing what needs to be done to actually making it happen.
- Building Customer-Centric Cultures: Through evidence-based leadership insights, Thomas crafts strategies for leaders to mobilize teams, influence peers, and spark both individual and collective action, with a focus on bridging the gap between customer value and organizational priorities.
- Bravery and Change Leadership: In a rapidly shifting business landscape, Thomas shows leaders how to be brave at the moments that count—moving beyond restrictive job descriptions to drive transformation from within and inspire those around them.
Thomas Barta provides practical, forward-looking solutions for organizations ready to embrace change, build stronger customer cultures, and thrive through disruption.
Talks
Growth Rebel — The keynote for growth leaders
Apple has (almost) almost missed AI. Toyota has (probably) missed the e-car. Nokia has (definitely) missed the iPhone. Why do firms struggle to stay relevant?
Too many executives feel tied to their job descriptions. The silos win. Here’s the brutal truth: no matter what the website says, firms don’t reward people for being brave. Firms reward people for being successful. Your boss may not have the answer.
Time to fight back. “What’s your real job?” How could you help leverage technology, help win new markets, help people live better lives?
But watch out: leading growth is risky. Growth leaders have to be brave. Here’s the good news: you can!
Experience the surprising insights from Thomas’s world’s largest ever study on brave customer leadership*. Learn why, to drive change, leaders don’t have to be brave all the time. Bravery = Purpose – Fear. Learn how to pick the one change that really matters, the one project that can move the needle. Find your moment to be brave!
Learn the Top 10 ways to lead for growth:
- How to IGNITE bigger growth ideas
- How to RALLY people inside the organization
- How to DARE and go ahead while others wait
* Partnering with The Marketing Society and KANTAR TNS
Audience
Executives at all levels of an organization
B2B and B2C companies, consultancies, agencies.
People who want to be a “little braver”
Formats
Onstage, online, 18-45 minutes. Mini-workshops and Q&A’s available.
Positioning
This keynote is particularly powerful at the beginning of a day to set the tone: take initiative, find your moment to be brave!
Trusted Advisor
How to build trusted client relationships in an AI It’s a big question. One I address in my latest client relationship keynote.
We’re in the midst of a seismic shift. It’s like the industrial revolution, but for relationships. AI allows firms to personalize like never before. Real-time. Large scale. Customers love it. They get 24/7 self-service. From banking to flight check-ins.
Now, it’s about to get personal. More personal. Firms are weaving in AI. US banks tailor mortgages in seconds. Salesforce’s latest AI crafts messages on the fly. Complained to American Airlines? You’re probably talking to an AI. This isn’t the future. It’s now.
Traditionally, client leaders have built trust based on experience and knowledge. Clients had issues. Advisors had answers. But today, everyone has the world’s knowledge—in their pocket. Client leaders can’t outsmart AI. The trust equation has just been turned on its head.
The AI era needs new skills. Building client trust now isn’t about the right answers. It’s about the right questions. It’s about understanding. On two levels: rational and emotional. The more clients know, the more they are craving for what machines can’t provide: intimacy. That’s something only humans can give.
Want to know more? In this client relationship keynote, we dive into the latest research. It’s about consumer trust, in our digital world. Learn from the best: the world’s most trusted firms. And learn what it takes to be a client leader in the AI age. Are you ready?
Keynote audiences
- Client leaders, relationship managers, trusted advisors
- The C-suite, top- and middle managers
Keynote formats
18-45 minutes
Positioning
This keynote is particularly powerful at the beginning of a day. Through a mix of facts, stories, and examples, it sets the tone for trusted relationship building.
Keynote: The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Experience the keynote from the world’s largest ever study on marketers’ success.
Blockbusters like the Sony Playstation and KFC vegan chicken only exist because brave leaders have convinced everybody to take a risk. This isn’t a marketing talk. Thomas makes the case why doing marketing isn’t the same as leading marketing.
We are currently seeing the biggest shifts in business since the industrial revolution. From AI to global rifts—almost every firm must change to grow in the new world. This could be marketing’s moment. This could be your moment!
Listen to Thomas’s stories from today’s most successful change leaders. Learn from the world’s largest ever study – involving over 68,000 assessments – on what makes for an impactful marketer. By the way: what’s a marketer anyway? Thomas believes a marketer is everybody in the business of change. So no matter if you market a product, a service, or simply your idea—this keynote is for you.
Based on the #1 marketing leadership book The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader, find out how you can mobilize bosses, peers, clients, teams, and yourself. The prize? More influence, more impact, and – quite simply – more fun!
For the most powerful audience experience, it’s highly recommend to order copies of The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader.
Audience
Marketers, Customer Experience Executives, Digital experts, Innovators.
B2B and B2C companies, consultancies, agencies.
All levels and roles where more leadership an initiative taking matters for success.
Formats
Onstage, online, 18-45 minutes. Mini-workshops and Q&A’s available.
Positioning
This keynote is particularly powerful at the beginning of a day. Through a mix of facts, stories, and examples, it sets the tone for leadership—from the world’s largest ever study on what makes a marketer successful.
What does it take to invent the next smartphone, Post-it note, or ice cream flavor that everyone wants? Business growth requires leaders who spark passion and inspire big dreams. People with fire in their eyes. These leaders ignite innovation and action in the people around them. Hear the success stories of today’s most inspirational customer leaders. Be the spark that lights the fire.