• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 28, 2021

Longtime former Publicis Groupe executive and current consultant and author Rishad Tobaccowala told a 4A’s conference crowd earlier this week that he remains “bullish” about the agency business. He made his appearance via a virtual chat with Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence at GroupM. 

Tobaccowala said the agency business has “gone through a bad phase” the last couple of years. But he stressed he is “bullish” on its future, and sees it coming back with improved skill-sets and more flexibility in its model. 

“Everything you buy is based on a story,” Tobaccowala said, which makes “marketing more important than ever.” 

The duo talked about other subjects, as well, including some covered in Tobaccowala’s 2020 book “Restoring The Soul Of Business: Staying Human In The Age Of Data.” In it, he devotes a number of pages to the traits and qualities found in good leaders (and not-so-good ones). 

During the discussion he drew a distinction between “Leaders” and “Rulers.” Leaders tend to be trustworthy and very good at what they do while getting even better over time. 

Rulers tend to be bossy and threatening, “scared of people” and generally far less effective than leaders. 

He gave a couple of examples, but I won’t spoil your reading pleasure by citing them. Check out the book on Amazon or wherever quality books are sold near you.