On the Through Line Between Marketing, Leadership and Investing

Some conversations feel like catching up with an old friend who also happens to ask the best questions. My time on Unmasked: The CEO Files, the podcast from STRATA Originals, was exactly that. My thanks to host Alan McLaren, a friend from our YPO journey, for an unfiltered conversation that ranged from marketing and AI to investing, leadership and the growing trust gap in business.

Alan opened with the show's signature question: if you really knew me, what would you need to know? My answer was simple. Inside, I'm an engineer. "I'm always kind of seeking the science first, and then that leads me to the art." That instinct runs through everything below.

1. Treat marketing as an investment, and give the story a strategy

Early in my career I was frustrated that marketing seemed to play by its own rules. If we need a business case to buy a truck or build a factory, then "if I'm going to spend $4 million on a Super Bowl ad, I should be able to build a business case and demonstrate the ROI."

Data alone does not move people, though. Story does. That is why the 3S Playbook we built started with storytelling grounded in a real understanding of the customer. As I put it to Alan: "Stories without strategy are entertainment... Stories with strategy are marketing."

2. AI rewards redesign, not speed alone

Many early adopters are still not realizing the full value of AI, and I think I know why. They are "paving the cow paths": taking the same old process and adding technology to it. The bigger opportunity belongs to leaders who start with a blank sheet of paper and remove the steps that only existed because of old constraints.

AI is also collapsing the old divide between data people and creative people. "AI can be a whip smart CFO and a whip smart CMO in the same sentence." I remain the optimist. The real win is taking mundane tasks off people's plates so they can spend more time closer to the client, in more strategic, higher-value work.

3. Defensible value still starts with what you own

Alan asked how I evaluate companies when one model upgrade could wipe out a business. My investment mentality hasn't changed. The first question is still: "is there a core asset that is ownable?" The second is whether real expertise is embedded in the product, the kind of know-how that makes switching expensive.

Then there is goodwill. Customers who love their rep and their support will stay loyal through disruption. "That goodwill has value," and while it may not be a moat, it buys time. "Time in the AI world may be the biggest asset" some enterprise software companies have.

4. Leadership comes down to people and how they experience you

When I advise CEOs, the most common topic right now is human capital: attracting, retaining, motivating and developing great talent. The best leaders think like a coach managing the long-term health of the whole system, including where people go next.

We also have to look at leadership from the other side of the table. "We get very wrapped up in what other people think about us," yet we rarely ask how we make people feel. If you aren't thinking about how you show up in a room, "you're kind of missing half, at least half the story."

5. Trust is the asset worth building on purpose

YPO showed me how valuable trust can be. "YPO is in the trust business," and it creates a safe haven where people get to trust very quickly. Outside that circle, "I see trust fragmenting everywhere": consumers, brands, regulators, platforms. "AI is making it happen faster." And when systems "reward outrage" and critical thinking fades, those fractures widen.

That concern is the heart of my forthcoming book, Built for Trust (Greenleaf, 2027). In it I describe the Five Fractures of Trust™ and argue that the answer is designing trust into how an organization actually operates, so people have good reason to believe it.

Coming Up: Trust Under Transformation

I’m heading back to STRATA’s Unmasked: The CEO Files on October 20 for a new conversation, Trust Under Transformation. This episode explores two distinct layers of trust that meet in the same consequential room: organizational trust architecture and Leadership Signal. Follow Unmasked: The CEO Files so you don’t miss it.

Listen and take the next step

You can hear the full conversation here: The Through Line Between Marketing, Leadership and Investing With Guest: Dave Sutton on Unmasked: The CEO Files.

If this conversation has you wondering how ready your own organization is, start with a quick look in the mirror. The Trust Maturity Diagnostic™ shows where you sit today on the Trust Maturity Model™, from Trust Theater to Trust Capability, and Trust Architecture™ is the method for moving up it.

And if you'd like the full playbook, Built for Trust is available to pre-order below.

Source: Unmasked: The CEO Files (STRATA Originals), Episode 72, "The Through Line Between Marketing, Leadership and Investing With Guest: Dave Sutton," hosted by Alan McLaren, released June 4, 2026. Quotes are from a local transcription of the public episode audio.