So what does one of the world's most powerful media moguls believe are the essential leadership ingredients to make it to the top?
I was fortunate enough to spend some time recently with Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP, one of the most influential figures in global business.
More significantly, since 1985 his successive acquisitions, together with significant organic growth, have made the company one of the four biggest advertising and communications giants in the world. Among its stable of household names are Ogilvy and Mather, Kantar, Young & Rubicam, J Walter Thompson and Group M.
With reported billings of £47.6 billion and reported revenues of £12.2 billion, the stockmarket cap of WPP is currently at just over £20 billion.
Even though the search for his successor has recently been announced, Sir Martin shows little signs of easing up, and an hour spent in his company provides an incredibly valuable insight into how he thinks, what motivates him and how the media can work better. Here, in his own words, are some of those key leadership insights…
Never Underestimate Motivation
"When the West Indies won the 2016 World T20 cricket final in the last over, it showed what motivation can do. The West Indies wanted to win that game. This was settling a debt – they’d been written off, were upset and almost had to cancel their attendance. But they wanted to prove everyone wrong. That’s motivation."
Don’t Waste Time
"Cambridge University was a wonderful place to study, but my big regret is that I didn’t use the three years there as effectively as I used the two years of business school. I tried hard to get a 2:1 in each year and failed miserably in getting a 2:2. I wasted too much time. Kids are much better today at managing time than we were. Perhaps that’s to do with electronics. I’m not prone to wasting time like that anymore."
Age Is Meaningless
"You’re never too old to reinvent yourself. 40 is the perfect age to do so, it’s the mid-point of your life. You’ve done 20 years and can look back at what you’ve achieved and experienced, and then look forward to the next 20 years to see what you can achieve before you retire. Or not retire as the case may be! In fact, don’t retire. I’m 71 now which might be 81 for someone else or 61 or for another person. It’s all about how you feel. I couldn’t imagine not coming in on a regular basis because I would just mentally decay."
Stay Joyful
"Always do something you enjoy. My dad said that to me and so did Mark McCormack – find a job you like within a company you feel comfortable in and build a reputation for yourself. There’s no such thing as stress – it’s just a sign that you’re not enjoying yourself."
Trust Someone
"I think it’s very important to have somebody you can talk to who does not have an agenda but your interests at heart. Two people who fulfilled that role of adviser for me were my dad and a guy called Phil Reiss, who was a senior partner in our law firm, who I was close to. I don’t have anyone like them anymore, apart from my wife."
Look Long-Term
"This is a low growth world so it’s understandable that businesses focus on short-term gains and quarterlies but that doesn’t make it the best system. CEOs are often in their position for around six or seven years so it’s understandable, like politicians, that they focus on the period that they’re in power for. But that discourages people from thinking about long-term. So you need to change the way people are compensated by structuring more long-term deals"
Chinese Takeaway
"Success in China takes time. As WPP, we’ve been there since 1987 building relationships, we’ve worked at it. We haven’t looked at it in terms of two, five or 10 years, we know we have a long way to go. It’s our third largest market. But there’s no such thing as a single market or culture in China – there are 32 provinces or states, it’s not one homogeneous place."
Journalism Is In Crisis
"The era of in depth journalism and investigative reporting is over. It’s all so superficial. Journalists want to be fed something, they’ve got no time, and the editor wants them to get the scoop. And if you don’t get that scoop, you might get punished."
Better To Be In Europe
"If the U.K. comes out of Europe, companies like WPP will be looking at the Continent in a different way. We won’t move our operations away from Britain, but we will be looking to employ more people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. I want people’s Pavlovian reaction – whether they’re a client or a new business or people looking to work within our company - to be: ‘OK then, we’ll come to WPP.’ I wish it was that way but it isn’t, we’ve got to come to Europe not leave like those in the Brexit camp wish.
