Then there’s the famous Picasso quote, “good artists copy, great artists steal.” Offers a sort of moral air cover for those of us who make no claim to greatness, but are in a larcenous frame of mind. Or, at least, its plagiaristic equivalent.

Brings me to this: if you’re in advertising and give even the smallest damn about the future of your industry, you really do need to read Michael Farmer’s latest screed: “Making the Numbers is not a sign of great CEO leadership.” The subhead: “Shareholder value has corrupted long-term strategic thinking and action-taking.”

The link so you can read it in full — https://michaelfarmer.substack.com/p/making-the-numbers-is-not-a-sign?r=br9k8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web  Trust me, it’s not TL;DR, but in case you want the cherry-picked short form, here’s the promised steal—

“Shareholder value has made many corporate executives very rich, and this kind of wealth has had a major influence on the quality of corporate thinking, priorities, and actions.

“….Media holding company CEOs at Publicis Groupe (CEO pay $3.3 million), WPP ($8.4 million), IPG ($13.2 million) and Omnicom ($20 million) have been adept at playing the shareholder value game, but holding companies are very vulnerable today….

“…Downsizing in the name of shareholder value has liquidated much of the talent in the industry, and agencies are now “underpaid sweatshops” where agency personnel struggle to keep up with the work required by their clients. Holding companies have managed to “make their numbers” through this crude and short-sighted way. 

“…What they have not been able to do is maintain their client relationships…

“…The downsizing game cannot continue. The holding company agencies are already on shaky ground, even if Wall Street investors and analysts are not yet aware of the workload versus staffing versus quality problems.

“Holding company CEOs need to personally lead transformations throughout their portfolio of companies. This will create an uncomfortable situation for these CEOs, since they will no longer be able to focus on “making the numbers”…

“…If there were any reason to pay CEOs major amounts of money, it should be because of their successes in taking measured risks for the future rather than relying on the certainty of “making the numbers.”

“…Let’s see how WPP, Publicis Groupe, Omnicom and IPG play the AI hand in the coming years. How will they be led? That’s a fair question for CEOs Mark Read, Arthur Sadoun, John Wren and Philippe Krakowsky.”

Read it and whatever.