Grey Consulting's Leo Rayman: 'It's taken a crisis to change ad land's working habits'
The marketing communications industry has been resistant to changes happening in wider society for the last decade, and it's taken the Covid-19 crisis to enact real change for the future according to Grey Consulting founder and chief executive, Leo Rayman.
Rayman’s recommended reading for the industry includes Be More Pirate: Or How To Take On The World And Win by Sam Conniff
Speaking during The Drum's Digital Transformation Festival as part of our ‘What’s on your bookshelf?’ series, Rayman explained: “One of my frustrations with marketing and the institutions that surround it, is how surprisingly self-isolated the marketing industry has actually been to changes going on in society and businesses in the last ten years. And it's taken a crisis like this to significantly change working habits and practices.”
On why there should be a recommended reading list for ad land, the exec added: “There is a need for the marketing industry to have a new book written about it because there’s a need for a significant change.”
Rayman explained how for an industry that frequently discusses books about how to work remotely, or operate differently, marketers ”are not taking [this advice] on board and not living it.” Rayman believes that the current pandemic will accelerate change, observing that failing businesses will fail faster and those with “great ideas” will be the ones that thrive and survive.
Rayman’s recommended reading for the industry includes Be More Pirate: Or How To Take On The World And Win by Sam Conniff. “This idea of the outlaw spirit, and how the pirate community succeeded in the past makes it a fun book to read,” he said.
He recently read the book in tandem with A Beautiful Constraint: How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It's Everyone's Business by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden.
“Right now we are in very constrained situations, and [this touches on] how you might use that constraint in a constructive way,” he said.
Here is a list of Rayman’s favourite books from his colour-coordinated bookshelf.
What he’s currently reading:
- The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
His three favourite books:
- Act Like a Leader Think Like a Leader by Herminia Ibarra
- Resilience, from Harvard Business Review's Emotional Intelligence series
- Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull
His recommended reading list for the industry:
- Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
- Be More Pirate: Or How To Take On The World And Win by Sam Conniff
- A Beautiful Constraint: How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It's Everyone's Business by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden