Here’s Sir Martin Sorrell telling The Drum what it takes to be a good/great agency network CEO. and, not surprisingly, it’s a version of him; as he says, the big agencies are still like mini holding companies in many respects.
What else do we notice? He does sport a lot of baubles, bangles and beads these days, as my friend George Parker has noted. Is the other watch an Apple watch?
He also says that emotional intelligence is just as important as the other sort, which may bring a wry smile to those many executives and rivals who’ve been chewed up and spat out over the years.
Does it hold any clues about his likely successor? Not really although, presumably, is means one of the people running a big WPP network is in with a chance.
Successor… Successor… You jest. Like me, he has a picture in the attic. When I moved to the Fourth Reich from NYC, I said that to someone… What do you mean they asked… You know, I replied, “A picture of Dorian Grey.” “Dorian who?” They said… By Oscar Wilde, I said… “Oscar who?” They said… Welcome to Idaho. The potato vodka is good though! Surely His Gnomeship would have the $14,000 gold Apple watch. The bangles and thongy bits are to ward off evil spirits… ‘Cos he’s made a few of those over the years.
Cheers/George