Sir Martin Sorrell: What knights don’t know about the ‘net
I really would love to see Adriana have a conversation with Sir Martin Sorrell, chief exec of WPP. This guy understands a percentage - guessing at a specific number would be pointless - of what is going on online. But he displays a trait common in those who grasp the superficial stuff and only the superficial stuff: He thinks he knows it all. (For the record, anybody who tells you they have this internet thing all figured out is a self-deluded crook.)
When Sorrell says that “The internet is the most socialistic force you’ve ever seen”, Adriana clues him in a little bit:
[T]his is almost too good to be true. It makes my derisory comments about the media industry all the more credible if someone in this position is so ignorant about the nature of the internet and online interactions. The fact that the internet is the most open, accessible, free-flowing, innovative and social space known to man completely passed Sir Martin by. I wonder what definition of ’socialistic’ he has in mind… mine equals despotic, politicised, rigid, wasteful and ultimately lethal. And we are not even describing the media industry! I am reminded of a joke back in the old socialist days: Do you know what would happen if they introduced socialism in the desert? They’d have to import sand within three months. But I digress.
Yep, Sir Martin Sorrell needs this Hugh cartoon on a t-shirt. I’ve got the guy’s mailing address if anyone is willing to shell out to clothe a multi-millionaire.
Filed under: Life
Perhaps if the knight in question had been around during King Arthur’s time, he would have referred to the round table as a a grail centric focus group
[…] Emphasis mine. These people in suits, with the titles that are supposed to impress us, who work and have worked for recognisable brand name companies, very rarely have a clue about what is happening in the digital underground and how it is going to affect their income and the world at large. Sir Martin Sorrell isn’t the only one who has his head up his ass when it comes to his own industry. […]