Steady isn’t a strategy. Share price is not the only metric

The appointment of a new CEO at the helm of WPP offers a valuable pause point. Not just for that organisation, but for all of us across the marketing services ecosystem.

Because the big question isn’t just who gets the top job, it’s whether our industry’s leadership is truly facing into the future with the urgency, imagination and boldness that this moment demands. So the real question is: what kind of leadership does this moment actually demand?

We’re operating in an environment that’s oversupplied, fragmented and fiercely competitive. In-housing, offshoring, and the accelerating impact of AI have put pressure on the traditional agency model from all directions. Client expectations have shifted. Tenure is shorter. Value is under constant scrutiny. And the tools and technologies that once set agencies apart are now increasingly in clients’ hands.

In short: the gap between what agencies offer and what clients can build themselves is shrinking fast.

That’s why this moment calls for more than continuity. It demands leadership that’s willing to break from convention - to push harder, think braver, and reimagine how creativity, media, production, data and technology work together in service of ideas that clients can’t get anywhere else.

We need to break out of the industry anxiety death spiral, and think more expansively and creatively about why the industry exists - and what it needs to look like and act like in the future.

I say this with deep respect for the scale and capability of the major networks. I’ve spent most of my career competing with and collaborating alongside them. But I’ve also seen how easy it is, especially in uncertain times, to default to ‘shrink mode’: doing sensible, short-term things that feel safe but deliver static performance.

And while there’s been progress on AI, tech, and structural reinvention, the truth is that everyone is still finding their way. No single player has it fully figured out. What matters now is not who looks strongest on paper, but who acts fastest in practice - who can create the conditions where talent thrives, and where ideas travel further and faster than ever before. That’s why I believe the answer is as old as the agency model itself.

Be a magnet for talent. A multiplier for ideas. Offer clients what they can’t replicate in-house. Not just outputs, but a way of thinking, a spirit of experimentation, and a vision for the future of marketing that is interconnected, integrated, and impossible to silo.

Because in 2025, steady isn’t a strategy. It’s a holding pattern.