"This time, we'll get it right": Simon Sherwood

Simon Sherwood, partner - group chief executive officer, BBH, is in Mumbai. Is his visit part of the agency's crisis management plan post the recent exit of erstwhile managing partners Raj Kamble and Paul Ward? afaqs! finds out during a quick chat at the agency.

Last month, BBH Mumbai lost two of its four managing partners -- Raj Kamble and Paul Ward -- causing the much touted four-member managing partner structure to shake. Less than a month later, Simon Sherwood, partner -- group chief executive officer, BBH, arrives in Mumbai. Is his visit part of the agency's damage control plan post this high profile exodus?

"Oh, no!" he claims, "It may seem like that, but this trip was in the diary before any of this happened. One of the reasons I'm here is to work on the plans for the year. We're going through a five-year planning process, as well as a one-year plan. It's a coincidence that I'm here so soon after these leadership changes." Really? "I never lie to journalists," insists Sherwood, in good humour.

Read on for excerpts from the interview.

afaqs!: Was the recent premature exit of Ward and Kamble akin to a déjà vu for the agency after former managing partner Priti Nair's premature exit in 2010?

Sherwood: There is a bit of déjà vu, yes. And, that's unfortunate. We didn't plan it to be like this. But, (Paul) Ward's decision to leave had nothing to do with (Raj) Kamble's decision; they were completely separate. Ward has done the job he came to do in India, that is, set up processes in Mumbai. He deserves a break, and we will engage with him after he's through with his sabbatical. Kamble's exit was due to a completely different set of circumstances. It just didn't work. That was an unfortunate issue.

afaqs!: Why is the boat being rocked so often? Is retaining talent becoming a big problem for BBH Mumbai?

Sherwood: There's no denying that we have had difficulty finding the right kind of creative leadership. The things that happened have been unplanned and unwanted. No one would've wanted this to happen. It is unfortunate, but they are roadblocks, not disasters. They are to do with people, and people are unpredictable and not always what they appear to be. Sure, this is not what we wanted to do, but when these situations arise, you just have to deal with it. And, it's not like we've lost them to other agencies.

afaqs!: Yes, but what went wrong all through?

Sherwood: When you start an agency from scratch and bring together people who've never worked with one another before, there's a huge risk involved. It doesn't always work. It didn't work with Subhash Kamath, Partha Sinha, and Priti Nair (the original leadership trio at the Mumbai office), and it didn't work with Kamble either, but I'm confident that it will work with Russell Barrett (who was recently appointed as managing partner, BBH Mumbai). We've put all those turbulent times behind us. This time we'll get it right.

afaqs!: In a short span of time, the leadership team went from three managing partners to four, and now it is back to three. Surely, such a churn is cause for concern for your clients?

Sherwood: Yes, clients get concerned when there are changes in creative leadership, particularly if it has been initiated by us. So, we take the time to tell them why. There is a bit of explaining and reassuring to do, but I'm not overly worried about it. When you have a relationship built on trust, you can tell your clients, "I know this is a bit inconvenient and disruptive, but it will get better." And, the agency has been in good shape recently. The only cloud on the horizon was the one of creative leadership.

afaqs!: When BBH entered India, you had intended it to be positioned as a 'niche player' which would appeal only to 'certain kinds of clients'. At the time, you said size and scale were not a priority. Now, in its fourth year in the country, BBH is still perceived as a 'hot shop' which connotes the absence of scale and aggression. One assumes that today's competitive times ought to have compelled you to revise this strategy.

Sherwood: Well, it has been only three years, and we started from scratch. These things do take time, and we've got plenty of time; we're in no hurry. There's no master plan that says we have to be big, or do it quickly. The point is to do it properly, and do it right. We've had a few roadblocks here in India, but in terms of size, we're about where I imagined we would be. I haven't ever thought, "We haven't grown fast enough", or "We're not big enough." I think those things are not very important.

afaqs!: So, are you saying scale is not important?

Sherwood: We are a creatively focussed business. To work with the right clients and to do the kind of work we want are things I prioritise ahead of scale. And, I don't think being a 'hot shop' means we're not ambitious or aggressive. We are quite ambitious, but we don't pursue growth as an end in itself as it's not a single-minded objective of ours. If that means people think we're not aggressive, well...(shrugs)

afaqs!: Speaking of aggression, will you be bullish on acquiring new businesses in 2012/02? BBH Mumbai didn't win many new accounts last year.

Sherwood: Yes. We have to do two things this year -- to continue to vastly improve our creative output, as well as be more focussed on winning more new accounts than we did last year. We had quite a lot of pitches last year, but we didn't win many of them.

afaqs!: Why not? What went wrong?

Sherwood: (Sighs) For the first half of the year, we didn't have an executive creative director! That didn't help. This year, I hope we're going to have a less turbulent time when it comes to the leadership of the agency. And, then for the second half of the year, we had a completely new team. I think it takes a while for them to get into stride. Also, pitching is a bit of a lottery. Last year, we came close on a couple of big ones that we felt we were well-positioned to win, but we didn't, for various reasons. So, this year, we need to -- not pitch more -- rather, win more. There needs to be a change in our 'new business performance'.

afaqs!: So, would you go ahead and attribute the lack of new wins last year to the management changes that transpired in the agency?

Sherwood: That has contributed, yes. It wasn't 'the' reason, though. There's nothing wrong with the quality of our pitching, but sometimes you go through a phase when you don't win so much, and that's what we've been through last year -- we've not won enough.

afaqs!: What are your expectations from (Russel) Barrett?

Sherwood: He's got a tough job, but I have great faith in Barrett. He unifies people and has a terrific track record. He is hugely respected inside this company, and works very well with the other members of the leadership team. I think he will hire some good people, and bring some calmness in the way we produce work as things have been a bit turbulent last year. Also, Barrett will be a major factor in helping us win more pitches.

afaqs!: Any mergers and acquisitions in the pipeline this year?

Sherwood: None at all. We're not acquisitive. We tend to grow our own things rather than buy them.