Nichole Taylor, former CEO of DDB has left her successful role to take on the challenging task of reestablishing McCann as a leading agency in Australia, as CEO of McCann.
Today Lindsay and I went to interview her about the career move, which seemed to raised the eyebrows of quite a few members of the advertising community.
During the interview, Taylor identified the need for hunger, chemistry and talent within her agency if McCann is to ever create great work. The CEO toyed with the idea of "weirdos wanted," as she believes that people who think differently and act differently create exciting strategies, and exciting strategy creates exciting work.
Taylor also bough to light the issue that the industry is too conservative, and that ideas are becoming too safe and boring. She argued that agencies have blamed their clients for this fact, but believes that clients can't be blamed for lack of bravery and that it is the job of the creatives to push.
Furthermore, Taylor believes that the established corporate environments of many agencies today hinder creative flow, and she aims to break that custom and encourage more relax environments to encourage free thinking.
Taylor believes that if McCann can c rack the restraining conservative mould that has established itself far too predominantly in the industry that other company will follow - it will have a domino affect. By changing the belief and values to stem from conservative professionalism to environments that support free-thinking and creative will allow heightened creative inspiration and excitement for the work.
On the topic of women in leadership, Taylor said that she has always felt a pressure to succeed as a female executive role model, however has always used this as motivation to continuously push and challenge herself (hence, the new role). Taylor also said that being a woman made progression into a higher role more difficult, as she felt she was of\ten overlooked for promotional opportunities due to her being at "prime age" for starting a family. However, Taylor said she was grateful for the setbacks, as taking a longer root gave her extra experience, and this experience allowed for a more insightful means of instinct-driven leadership.
Personally, I was in awe at the interview with Nichole Taylor. Listening ti her views and how motivated she was in the face of what I would classify as a major challenge was truly inspiring. I will definitely be keeping an eye on McCann's movements from now on. In fact, I think I will be hitting her up begging for an internship after this interview. I can't wait to see hoe she turns the agency around and the direction she takes to break conservatism within the agency environment.
You can read Lindsays article about the interview here: http://www.adnews.com.au/news/ddb-ceo-nicole-taylor-exits-for-mccann
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