Leadership and Talent Challenges for Madison Avenue’s Makeover

When IBM was headed to insolvency in 1993 its proprietary mainframe revenue had nearly halved from 13 billion 1990 to 7 billion 1993 in the face of competition from opensourced software the board turned to an outsider Lou Gerstner to lead the company amp160Gerstner had no experience in the industry but the board reasoned that an outsider would be better at defining a new strategy in an industry whose rules for success were changingamp160Gerstner was initially reluctant to take the job putting the odds for success at only oneinfive amp160It took the persuasion of a key board member to sign him upamp160amp160amp8220You owe it to America to take the jobamp8221 the board member said amp160amp8220IBM is such a natural treasure that you have an obligation to fix itamp8221Gerstneramp8217s biggest fight was with the existing IBM culture which battled and resisted to preserve IBMamp8217s organization skills proprietary products and ways of doing business amp160even though these amp8220waysamp8221 were clearly failing in the marketplace amp160Ultimately Gerstner prevailed and transformed IBM into an integrated consulting service provider but not before neutralizing or firing many whose resistance stood in the path of changeWhat about todayamp8217s advertising agencies amp160They are led by insiders experienced industry leaders who have personally experienced the ravages of Madison Avenueamp8217s Manslaughter amp160They are not unaware of the need for change amp160Unlike Gerstner though they tread a delicate line between continuity and change while trying to articulate a new vision with clarity and conviction amp160Sometimes they draw on the past amp8220we need to become more creative and win more awardsamp8221 and other times they speculate about an entirely different industry future amp8220advertising as we know it is deadamp8221 amp160Does this sound confusing amp160It surely is which is why those of us who work in the industry are often puzzled by where its leaders are trying to take itAgency executives who lead transformations need strong executive allies new types of talent and the elimination of resisters amp160Inevitably senior executives will need the help of cluedin executive search firmsNot all search firms see their challenges in the same way amp160Most executive search firms are prepared to amp8220fill needed positionsamp8221 in accordance with client job descriptions much as they have in the past amp160Others see themselves as having to become part of the transformation effort itselfamp8220When agencies transformamp8221 stated Raj Das Head of Digital at Buffkin Baker amp8220they need executive partners who understand the new requirements and challenges amp160and the difficulties that new executives may have integrating into an old but changing culture amp160Itamp8217s not enough to find new executives who have certain skills and experience amp160Itamp8217s about thinking through what it will take to make them successful once they land in their new jobsamp8221 amp160To this end Buffkin Baker spends as much time educating itself in the amp8220transformation situationamp8221 as it does in conducting actual searches amp8220Thereamp8217s a amp8216beforeandafteramp8217 aspect in any of todayamp8217s complicated searchesamp8221 said Das amp160amp8220We have to understand the transformation challenges as well as our clients amp160Since there are uncertainties in any transformation this means assessing risks and making reasoned judgments in partnership with our clientsamp8221Agencies are not the only organizations that need to transform amp160Advertisers too need to rethink their marketing and procurement practices particularly in the ways they think about how they plan their marketing spendmix design their Scopes of Work and how they use and remunerate their agencies amp160Unarguably the trends of the past decade have turned agencies into commodity suppliers of lowcost clientdetermined marketing deliverables and although costs have been reduced brands have gone stagnant amp160The shift in power from agencies to advertisers has not been a slamdunk successIn this age of disruption transformation is the amp8220new normalamp8221 putting a strain on those who wish they could fall back on the comforts of the past Whether youamp8217re an ad agency executive search firm or advertiser you probably need to up your game to be capable of working in more meaningful ways with your customers and suppliersEven the consulting firms who have had four decades of astonishing success need to rethink how they work with their advertiser clients and how to use the creative assets that many of them have accumulated in the past few years No one escapes from the need to transformCartoon creditamp160David Sipress The New Yorker The Cartoon Bank With permissionClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Leadership and Talent Challenges for Madison Avenue’s Makeover

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Michael Farmer

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Leadership and Talent Challenges for Madison Avenue’s Makeover

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