On July 29, Saatchi & Saatchi Chairman Kevin Roberts, surmising about why women in his firm choose to opt out of becoming creative directors, said, “Their ambition is not a vertical ambition, it’s this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy.” His parent company Publicis Groupe put him on leave the same day. And yesterday, amid a furor, he resigned.
As I heard the news I thought ruefully back on my nearly two decades in the agency business. Here’s the thing. I think of myself as a person. A person who also happens to be female. As a young person in the agency business I worked ferociously hard to achieve great results for my clients, to be promoted, to learn, to grow professionally, to earn more. During most of career it certainly looked like I was driven by “vertical ambition” (whatever that means), even though I was female the whole time.
When I got to the top and sat on my agency’s global executive team, I looked around and thought, ‘Really, is this what this is?’ So I opted out, from the agency and the profession. I did this because I have discernment, depth and values, which are gender-neutral attributes as far as I can tell. I carved out an entirely new career, which has taken as much courage, focus and drive as I ever used at the agency. Being a founder is not remotely easy, but my work is meaningful, so the effort is worthwhile. I have no idea how to classify my actions over the last three years by any gender stereotype, and I can’t see the point in trying. I am as masculine as I am feminine. I am simply a person.
Standing aside from the gender politics, this incident is also a hilarious communications case study. Roberts is an exceptional example of the dangers of ‘unfiltered, authentic’ communication. You’re a fiery iconoclast who bucks the trend and tells it like it is? You may make your entire company look bad and lose your job. Anything to excess is a bad idea when you’re a public figure. A little discretion goes a long way.
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