Sir Martin Sorrell Responded!

On April 15 2018 at 1:34AM, I received a very unusual mail that was addressed to everyone at WPP. It wasn't something I expected.

The founder of the world’s biggest ad agency group, left the role of chief executive with immediate effect.

I was confused. I searched for references online to confirm the same but the email was shared by Sir Martin Sorrell himself which disqualified this being fake news. The longest serving CEO of any company featured in the UK's benchmark FTSE 100 Index just quit!

I did some digging and found that there were allegations of personal misconduct and misuse of company assets. The allegations were not as important to me as much as interacting with Sir Martin Sorrell. Not the right time but I had to email him as I knew there wouldn't be another opportunity in the near future.

Although I've worked for a WPP agency for over 7 years, never got the opportunity to interact with Sir Martin. I always wanted to as I was inspired by his journey as an entrepreneur and how he acquired mammoths like JWT, Ogilvy, Y&R and set up GroupM - he built an empire of ad agencies!

I still remember reading this in 2017, where he mentioned - "Digital Disruption" was forcing companies to change their business models and reach customers in different ways.

I've strongly believed that agencies will have to evolve to survive in the coming future, and this was validated by him.

So the moment was here. I was done thinking. I had to do this. An opportunity I couldn't miss!

With no time to waste, I drafted an email and sent it to Sir Martin Sorrell, net worth USD 609 Million (AED 2.5 Billion), 3 sentences. YES! I was sure he wouldn't have the time to read an essay, so I kept it super short without the expectation of a response as this must have been one of the most difficult moments of his life.

The very next day as I was heading out to work and to my SURPRISE! A mail from Sir Martin Sorrell! This was a moment to celebrate his response and farewell.

I wasn't sure if he would have the time but his 3 words for my 3 sentences made a huge difference.

So for those of you who have this itch to interact with your role model or someone's work you admire, thanks to social media and email, just go ahead and do it.

What do you have to lose?

For those who haven't read his last email to the WPP network, here's a copy of it -

To everyone at WPP,

For the past 33 years, I have spent every single day thinking about the future of WPP. Over those decades, our family has grown and prospered.

We welcomed J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy, Young & Rubicam, Grey, 24/7 Real Media, Taylor Nelson Sofres, among so many others.

We created GroupM, including Xaxis and Essence.

We put the focus on Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Central Eastern Europe, the home of the next billion consumers. We embarked on the early development of digital capabilities; and the evolution of a firm-wide integrated client and country-centered approach.

Our holding company was recognized as the world’s best and most effective through the Cannes Lions and Effie Awards year after year after year.

We pioneered Atticus Awards for original written thinking…. the WPP Fellowship Awards to recognize promising talent…. the Partnership and Practice Awards for client endorsed integrated market and case studies. 

Our Stream digital conferences have attracted the best in the digital business for more than a decade.

Our Annual Sustainability and Pro Bono Reports highlight the unique social, environmental and public policy work that we do day in, day out across the globe. 

As I look ahead, I see that the current disruption we are experiencing is simply putting too much unnecessary pressure on the business, our over 200,000 people and their 500,000 or so dependents, and the clients we serve in 112 countries.

That is why I have decided that in your interest, in the interest of our clients, in the interest of all shareowners, both big and small, and in the interest of all our other stakeholders, it is best for me to step aside.

We have had a succession plan in place for some time. A new generation of management, led by Mark Read and Andrew Scott (who have each been at WPP for approximately 20 years), are well qualified and experienced in the Board’s opinion, to deal with the geographic and technological opportunities and challenges our industry faces.

We have weathered difficult storms in the past. And our highly talented people have always won through, always. Nobody, either direct competitors or newly-minted ones can beat the WPP team, as long as you work closely together, whether by client and/or country or digitally.

In the coming period, I will be available to the Board and any of you, should you want help with anything, anywhere. I shall miss all of you greatly. You have given me such excitement and energy and I wanted to thank you for everything you have done and will do for WPP and me.

As some of you know, my family has expanded recently, WPP will always be my baby too. As a Founder, I can say that WPP is not just a matter of life or death, it was, is and will be more important than that. Good fortune and Godspeed to all of you…now Back to the Future.

Thank you.

Martin