“If you’re not going to be the CEO of an agency by the time you’re 45, you better start thinking about your second career now,” John Peters said to me and Mark Coad. It was 1994. Mark and I were both 25-years-old.
John was my first boss in advertising. He was the managing director of Y&R Melbourne, and before that had been in similar roles at Ogilvy and Clemenger. He was a brilliant ad man. John built tremendous and trusted client relationships. And he knew what great creative work looked like and its power to move sales. He was also a wonderful mentor to many, including me. I think he nurtured and developed at least 10 future agency CEOs in his time.
I was lucky as a young account manager to report directly to John. As part of Y&R’s Nintendo pitch win, he had promised to personally run the account for the first 12 to 18 months. The only other suit on the account was me. It gave me ample time to observe an experienced ad person at the top of their game, and to ask a thousand questions, and hear a thousand stories.
Those stories were full of wisdom. The tips on how to improve and develop were clear, concise and timely – often delivered in the car on the way back from a client meeting, before the distraction of mobile phones
