According to a survey of U.S. senior executives, marketing will be the most important area of expertise for the next-generation of leaders.

The study, commissioned by the Institute of International Research, sought to identify key areas for leaders. Marketing was the clear choice, with 31 percent of votes, followed by 20 percent for operations and 16 percent for financial expertise. Sales and engineering were deemed least critical to leadership with 11 and six percent respectively.

While marketing departments are often struggling to effectively measure effectiveness and the related battle for internal credibility, studies such as this provide evidence that marketing is making significant headway in proving its value within organizations.

Marketer Seth Godin attributes the rising recognition of marketing to fierce marketplace competition. “Being good enough is no longer good enough,” said Godin. “This is the most cluttered marketplace in history--just about everything is available everywhere, all the time. Leaders understand that spreading the word about their offerings is the only path to success. This survey hammers home that point--the success of an organization is driven by one thing: whether or not people choose to buy what you've got to sell.”