Tom Goodwin, SVP at Havas in NYC, and I have never met, but we’ve disagreed about things publically on Twitter, and been in violent agreement there too.  We share a view that a bit of devil’s advocacy is important to our industry.  Last month he tweeted “Passive agreement is killing vital discussions at conferences in…

On a scale of 1 to 5, how do you feel about your role in the company? Both these questions are lifted from Jeff Sutherland’s new book “Scrum: the art of doing twice the work in half the time”. In many sectors, including media agencies, we need to do more work in less time because…

Why has the term Content roused such fury amongst some in our industry? At Time Inc’s recent Campaign summit exploring the Future of Content there was quite an argument about the term Content itself.  Some say it is yet another way of complicating matters and ask where is the exact definition.  Others enquire whether there…

It’s that time of year when we’re welcoming a whole new intake of talent into MediaCom.  Fresh from academic pursuits.  First jobbers.  Up for anything. All of them have survived at the time of writing.  There are precedents here.  I worked somewhere once where a new graduate didn’t make it through the first day –…

Nearly 15m viewers for the Great British Bake Off Final on the BBC.  More than a quarter of everyone in the UK tuned in to Nadiya’s heartfelt speech (all audience figures used in blog are Source: AdvantEdge (BARB) – Individual Max TVRs). I personally have my doubts about marshmallow fondant with lemon drizzle but none…

“I would rather be a devil in alliance with truth, than an angel in alliance with falsehood.” ― Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity Sky One’s new comedy drama, “You, Me and the Apocalypse” gives a starring role to Rob Lowe as the Devil’s Advocate. What a job, I mean the actual job.  I hadn’t realised until…

“Friendly is the new cool” Journalist Jess Cartner-Morley is talking about Fashion. “Smiling is the new pouting, friendly the new cool and softly-softly the new sell.” She calls Instagram the new heart of fashion, replacing the catwalks of London, Milan and New York.  She comments that to shine on Instagram a fashion brand needs to…

The nation is hooked on watching people watch TV.  Once you start watching Gogglebox, it’s hard to stop.  Do we even know how we feel about XFactor, The last night of the Proms and This is England until we’ve heard from Sandy and Sandra, June and Leon and the inimitable, and wise beyond her years,…

In a recent Sunday Times article business writer Adrian Furnham proposes the idea of a “Restoration Day” at work.  A time when the wronged confront those that have acted against them.  A day every year when the wrongdoers make things right. According to some surveys three quarters of people who leave their jobs do so…

Last week I was videoed answering a set of questions aimed at giving advice to this year’s delegates at The Media Business Course. Who know what will survive the edit? In case of harsh editing I will say here that I mentioned the need to follow the money through the planning process in answer to…

The new president of the British Science Association, Dame Athene Donald, has suggested that girls’ toys are reinforcing gender stereotypes.  Barbie leads to “passivity – combing the hair of Barbie for instance – not building, imagining or being creative with Lego or Meccano.” Gender stereotypes are very hard to shift. Every effort to do so…

Good leaders have good communication skills; that goes without saying.  Yet anyone can learn to repeat a well written speech or to spout positive management cliches.  Communication does not just lie in conscious verbal speech.  Truly great leaders have the skill to understand, interpret and communicate not just what they hear, but also what they…