Carter Murray, worldwide CEO of FCB, discusses the evolution of leadership - The Secret of My Success

When I was a teenager and at university, whenever careers came up everyone told me I should go into advertising. I am still not sure why they did, but I thought I should therefore try it, to discover why. I interned at Saatchi & Saatchi one summer for a week, stayed two months and was hooked.

2. Were there epiphany moments that changed the course of your career?

Yes. I started my career at Leo Burnett Chicago, which I loved, and was sent to Europe on assignment for three years by them. After a quite successful run, they wanted me to come back to Chicago under terms that did not seem fair to me. I was about 28. I knew no one outside Leo Burnett. No headhunters, no recruiters, no other leaders in advertising… no other people, really, than Leo Burnett and its clients. I felt like I had no other options and was having to settle for a pretty raw deal that they were offering me. I promised myself never to be in that position again, and so I broadened my knowledge, ambitions and relationships.

3. Do you think that what it takes to be a successful CEO in 2017 differs significantly from what it took when you started your career?

It’s hard to answer with too much credibility, as I obviously did not have access and visibility to many CEOs when I started. I do think, though, that leadership in the world today is evolving. You have to earn employees’ loyalty, as they are not beholden to one company for a career like they were in the past. Opportunities are also much more fluid, thanks to how people lead their lives and a medium liked LinkedIn. CEOs are much more accountable to employees than before. The need for leaders to be authentic, open, caring and humble is more important than before, because if they are not, the odds of it being called out are so much greater. Old-fashioned, dictatorial, hierarchical leadership, often with a singular, ethnocentric point of view, does still seem to exist, but those types of leaders seem to be a dying breed and are weeded out faster and faster… at least, I hope they are! And in the newer type of leadership and CEO, it’s a work in progress. It’s hard to get it right, and it’s hard to be in the hot seat, but I see it as a privilege and a huge responsibility.

4. Were there ever times when you thought of throwing in the towel on your agency career?

Yes. I was in my late twenties and being offered to move back to Chicago, per my comments earlier. I was despondent. I had decided I needed a 6- to 12-month break and would go traveling. On a whim and thinking I needed a little more advice, I called up a headhunter that I found listed in the back of Campaign and went to see her. Catherine Lamb. She told me in no uncertain terms that I was being foolish and that my career was just about to take off. (She also told me I looked like Gordon Gekko in the tie I was wearing, had no dress sense and had to get that in order, too!)

5. Have you ever been fired or come close to being fired? If so, how did that affect you?

Thankfully, no.

6. How do you go about building a leadership team?

I look to hire people that I think I will work for one day, make sure that we have the same passion for advertising and people, and try very hard to create an environment where we will, together, learn every day and have a lot of fun. A place where we all feel we are never finished – however much we achieve – is one I want to be a part of.

7. How do you manage the tension between making this year’s targets versus investing in capability to secure the future?

We try and make that decision the year before.

In October every year, I hit the road and go and see our 12 largest operations and the CEOs and their teams. We talk through the following year, the larger plan and ambition, and how the financial targets and investments all fit together, what the priorities are. I then sit down in November with my business partners globally (for example, Susan Credle, my creative partner; Nigel Jones, my strategy partner; and Neil Miller, my finance partner) and lock down what we can do, and then we go to Interpublic to agree on the plan together.

8. To what extent is the CEO’s key role harnessing the energy of the people in the organisation?

I am not sure harnessing energy is how I would put it. I think it’s about finding people – amazing people – who know they have potential, but that you think have even more potential than they themselves can see. Then, you surround them with support and a culture that allows them to achieve amazing things on their terms, not just yours. Being in so many countries, with around 8,000 people, the trick is doing this consistently. And, while we have success because of the scale, we fail often – and when we do, we work really hard to try and fix it. But getting all that right takes a village, not just a CEO.

9. It can be lonely at the top. How do you keep yourself motivated now?

I think when you make it all about the creative and the people, it’s easy to run to work in the morning. Motivation comes naturally in this way. You are right, though, that when you have to make the final call on tough decisions, sometimes it can be lonely at the top. I handle that by making sure that I listen intensely to opposing opinions, try and have as much information as possible and then follow my intuition on the right way forward.

10. What is the secret of your success?

Wanting to make a difference.

Carter Murray is the worldwide CEO of FCB, an IPG-owned, global, fully integrated marketing communications company with more than 8,000 people in 109 operations across 80 countries.

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