Chapter 6: Scene Two. The Professional Institutions. The Absent Guardians.
Scene: The Boardroom, 2025. The Interrogation Continues.
The file from Exhibit B had been closed, but its implications still hung in the air.
The marketing institutions had been confronted, exposed for their failure to modernise, train, and evolve.
Ivor had uncovered the cracks in the curriculum. He had followed the trail through a labyrinth of Martech distraction. He had shown how Mary Marketing was left to fight with blunt instruments in a high-speed, AI-driven world.
But as he continued, he wasn’t focusing on the tools. Or the training.
He wanted to explore the title. Mary’s role itself.
And how, in the scramble for influence and revenue, no one had stepped in to defend the very position Mary once held.
Because when the walls closed in on the CMO…the institutions didn’t speak up.
They stood back and watched her disappear.
Now, the interrogation turned to power.
And who gave it away.
Exhibit C: The Failure to Defend the CMO Role
The file was thinner. But that made it more dangerous. Because this wasn’t about oversight or irrelevance, but abandonment.
Ivor placed it gently on the table.
“The Vanishing CMO.”
Mary Marketing had been under-skilled and outmanoeuvred.
“The CMO role,” Ivor began, “has been carved up, restructured… and in some cases, eliminated altogether.”
The room shifted. You could hear a cuff adjust, a throat clear, small movements that gave away discomfort.
“And the institutions that were supposed to advocate for her?” He paused.
“Silent.”
He looked up, a tired look on his face. He was tired of the pretence. Tired of the empty mission statements. Tired of watching the slow erosion of a role that once shaped strategy.
The rise of the Chief Revenue Officer has been a quiet coup.
Revenue had become king.
Pipelines had become power.
And marketing, once a strategic force, had been reduced to execution.
The CRO claimed the commercial agenda.
And Mary? She was handed the crayons.
“The CMO had become disposable,” Ivor said, his voice low. “And no industry body fought to prove her value.”
The title “Chief Marketing Officer” was disappearing from executive job descriptions. In its place? Growth Officers. Demand Officers. Revenue Leaders.
New names. Narrowed mandates. Shorter leashes.
And still there was silence in the room.
From Mary’s diary:
“The industry talks about ‘elevating marketing,’ but where was the advocacy when our role was being split apart? Where was the fight for marketing’s seat at the table?”
Ivor let the quote hang.
The question wasn’t rhetorical. It was a charge.
Because when CMOs started disappearing from leadership teams, the CIM could have responded. They could have launched a global campaign. Commissioned research. Mobilised members. Educated boards.
They could have reminded CEOs what marketing really is: the discipline that understands markets, moves demand, and creates value long before the first sale.
But instead?
Nothing.
Not even a whisper.
Meanwhile, Marketing Week, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review had already lit the signal fires, publishing articles openly questioning whether the CMO role was needed at all.
The institutions didn’t fight the narrative.
They allowed it to settle.
Example: The CIM’s Failure to Protect Marketing as a Profession
Ivor flipped to the final page of the exhibit.
The contrast was brutal.
“The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) ensures that finance professionals are qualified and accredited before they can operate as CFOs.”
“The Bar Council protects legal professionals from unqualified individuals claiming to be lawyers.”
“These bodies defended their professions.” Ivor slowly raised his head and looked diretly into Cedric’s eyes. “They enforced standards. They guarded credibility. They made their titles mean something.”
“Marketing? No such gatekeeping. No governing body enforcing qualifications. No professional standard. No accreditation that boards respected. No criteria for calling yourself a “marketer” at all.
“The result?” Ivor whispered.
“A flood of self-proclaimed “marketing experts.” Influencers. Funnel hackers.
LinkedIn visionaries with no vision, no training, and no real understanding of the discipline.”
They had diluted the profession until no one knew what it stood for anymore.
And without protection, Mary Marketing lost something far more dangerous than her job:
Credibility.
Without credibility, she lost her trust, her influence. And without influence, she lost power.
And without power? Mary Marketing dies.
The room sat motionless.
No rebuttal. No papers shuffled.
Just an uncomfortable stillness.
“You may not have pulled the trigger,” Ivor said at last, “but you stood by while her power was taken. You watched as she was edged out of the room. And when she needed you most…You gave her silence.”
He closed the file.
“And now?” He looked around the table.
“You still claim to lead the profession.”
But no one was following anymore.
Exhibit D: Marketing’s Elitist Leadership Circles
By this point in the day, the boardroom had transformed.
Gone was the confident shuffling of papers.
Gone were the half-smiles and hollow statements.
The Professional Institutions now sat rigid, their silence stretching longer than their legacies could afford.
Ivor opened the final file.
This one wasn’t about skills. Or structure. Or strategy.
This one was about access.
“Marketing,” he said, “is one of the least-mentored professions in business.”
He let the sentence hang like a verdict. Because in most professions - finance, law, operations - there’s a ladder. A path. A system designed to take you from entry-level ambition to boardroom authority.
But marketing?
Fragmented. Tribal. Self-taught. And far too often, left to chance.
Example: The Closed-Door Networking Clubs
Many elite marketing societies required referrals for entry, an invitation-only system that locked out rising talent. Conferences priced at thousands of pounds promised “leadership insight,” but in reality, recycled advice to those who could already afford to be there.
High-profile marketing voices? More likely to appear on a panel than in a mentorship session. They spoke at each other, not to the next generation.
The result?
Bright, ambitious marketers, especially those without pedigree or proximity, were left without guidance.
They learned on the job, or not at all. And strategic leadership? That was for those who could guess their way through it.
“He’s right. Marketing has no clear accessible career path,” said one of the reps in the room. “If you don’t have the right connections, you’re on your own.”
It wasn’t bitterness. It was a matter of fact.
In law, mentorship is built into the system.
In finance, analysts become associates, associates become VPs, and VPs have coaches.
In marketing? Thrown into the deep end. Sink or swim. And most sink silently.
The institutions that should have guided the profession forward weren’t building ladders. They were polishing their own reputations.
And Mary? She didn’t just suffer. She saw it coming.
The final file was closed.
But the case had already been made.
The Professional Institutions sat motionless. Their defence papers untouched.
The charge was not murder. It was neglect.
Systemic. Repeated. Unforgivable.
“You allowed Mary Marketing to become weak. Untrained. Unprotected.” The CRO took her power. The CEO turned a blind eye. The VC and CFO forced her into short-term survival mode. And when she needed you most? You failed to defend her. You failed to evolve. You left the profession to die.”
He gathered the files.
Then paused. Looked up.
“No further questions.”
The room held its breath.
But the Investigation Wasn’t Over…
Because there was one last suspect.
And this time, Mary Marketing wasn’t the victim.
She was the product.
Magnus, the Recruiter had entered the building.
To be continued…
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