At 35, he was appointed as CEO of the North American operations of advertising agency Young and Rubicam. But Carter Murray made headlines globally when at 38, he became the youngest global CEO ever in the advertising business when was made the global CEO of FCB (Foote Cone & Belding), one of the leading agencies from the IPG network. On the sidelines of Goafest 2016, Murray, who has spent much of his career helping a diverse set of marquee clients develop and manage brands across marketing disciplines and regions, speaks straight from the heart on leadership lessons. Excerpts:

When you were selected as the youngest ever global CEO of an agency, did you find out why you were chosen over the rest?

It was kind of scary. There must have been a talent shortage in the industry (laughs). It was kind of surreal. I was in Paris and wanted to move back to America. I got two CEO job offers and asked the head hunters why I was being offered the roles. I was told that I had two sides to my resume. I had won global accounts and nurtured and built existing relationships. In our industry, to be successful, one has to understand the client’s side and the new business side. That’s not common. You are either good at one or the other. That was the explanation given to me by somebody.

When I was picked for this role one of the reasons was that Draft FCB (as the agency was known then) wanted a fresh leader with client and advertising experience to run the company. What I was told was my passion for talent, my focus on creative work and focus on clients was something that probably appealed to Michael Roth (the CEO of Interpublic Group that owns FCB).

I am fortunate to have been successful at a young age. I worked for brilliant people. I worked with people whom I could learn from everyday and I worked for people who would be successful and move up and I could follow them and progress myself. The best leaders are those who are themselves. The more you are your better self, the more opportunities come your way.

Two-and-a-half years down the line, what are some learnings?

That would be way too many to list down here. Many of these learnings would also be in conflict with each other. Don’t make decisions too fast, but also make decisions as quickly as you can. When you are running more than 100 offices around the world, you have to evaluate the management teams very quickly. In some cases you realise that you have brilliant people whom you need to take care of. In other cases there might be people who do not have the same motivational values, so you might have to change them. But there is also a middle ground. So you take time or make the decision too quickly and realise you had not taken it so soon. There’s no right answer. I think intense listening is too important in this job. Again, sometimes you listen too much. The other is management of time.

Isn’t the need for better time management skills true for the advertising industry as a whole?

When you ask any leader in a very intense job what they wish they could have more of, they say time. The truth is that you need to spend more time with your team, your clients and your family.

It’s often said that CMOs are becoming the Chief Marketing and Technology Officer. If that’s happening at the client’s end, can agencies remain behind?

Technology is changing the world and industries are being turned upside down. Shutterfly is a huge business, Uber has transformed transportation. Technology is critically important to our business in so many different ways. But I am not sure if technology should be restricted to the CMO’s role. It should be a part of many people’s roles.

It’s often said today that advertising trails the consumer while technology leads them. Isn’t that a huge gap for advertising to close?

I do not see it that way. We are in the business of solving client’s business and marketing problems and doing that with creative ideas and engaging them like never before. That’s constantly evolving and technology is simply an accelerator to doing better creative work and engaging better with consumers. It also helps clients develop better products and services. I don’t see it as a linear thing, but a fluid thing, where technology is being injected into the process and it accelerates the process when it is done right.

How is the old agency structure managing with the brave new world?

Agency structures are constantly being reinvented. In Chicago, we have data planners who sit in the same area as creative planners. In London, the UX team has been moved into the planning department. So, like all industries, we are reinventing ourselves in order to make sure that we are relevant.

Advertising has become a lot more about global alignments and responding to global challenges. Are global teams the order of the day?

The reason why clients hire agencies is because we come up with creative solutions to their problems. The best agencies have the best culture to do that. But the challenge when you do holding company teams that is custom built, standalone and independent is that over time the team becomes more and more a reflection of the client. At that point, the client would actually bring them in-house. For the long term it’s dangerous for our industry to do that too much.

I also think that by not being part of the creative culture, the ideas from these teams do not become breakthrough and different over time. The real challenge is for people’s careers if you are stuck in a siloed team. For a pitch it’s very attractive for a client. For the first year or two it’s very interesting. But one has to be careful that one could lose the creative advantage.

Looking back at the last couple of years as the global CEO what would you change?

I try and learn from my mistakes. I would not change anything because if I made mistakes, I learnt from them. If I did not make those mistakes I would not have learnt and progressed. It’s been such an intense, fun, challenging and brilliant ride. I have learnt a lot but there’s a lot more to learn.

Related Topics