The marketing communications business has been hit hard by the current economic climate. In some ways it’s a leading indicator industry. Marketing budgets are the first to be cut when there’s weakness and the first to come back on signs of strength. Having been through a few of these in my 40+ year career (did I say 40? Wow, it has been a long time) I was eager to read an interview that Maurice Levy published in Advertising Age.

Maurice is CEO of, Publicis, a very large and respected holding company with major clients and a far reaching global business so there are helpful some insights about the current environment and prospects for the future. And, I was pleasantly surprised to find some great examples of Asset-Based Leadership in action.

The headline on the article set the tone of Mr. Levy’s comments……“What Maurice Levy Loves About The Recession”.

Mr. Levy provides a succinct snapshot of the current sate of the industry and, of course, of course he took the opportunity   state why Publicis is poised to weather the storm better than most. What impressed me most is that how he made his case and he should get credit for smart management and leadership. Mr.Levy’s an experienced, savvy guy running a major company in a tough economy. He is very cognizant of the very real downsides and acknowledged that he had to take some painful actions regarding people and resource allocations. He’s made some tough decisions, which, judging from his comments, have had an impact on him. But he knows that as a leader it’s critical that he get beyond that.

“I’m excited because this is something that leads me to think about how we can make our organization more efficient, how we can reduce our costs to help our clients, take maximum advantage of our scale to make sure our clients are the winners, and to think about new organizations and new operations and new client wins. I love that.”

Mr.Levy is not looking through rose colored glasses. He’s set his sights on the right things and is stepping up to be a strong leader determined to make the most of a bad situation. Mr. Levy is focusing on Assets rather than Deficits. He is seeing the crisis as a challenge, recognizing there are big problems but focusing on the potential and investing in company assets that will deliver sustainable positive returns and a stronger competitive position. Another aspect of Mr. Levy’s ABT leadership that stood out is his attitude towards people in the context of the environment, profits and performance.

“I don’t believe it is right for companies of our kind, which are based on the quality and motivation of the people, to consider that we should adjust our cost by laying off people. If I need to do it and if I have to do it, I will do it, but I prefer to anticipate to cut the cost rather than head count. This is a time when we need all of our people pumped and motivated and going after clients. It’s not the time to think about layoffs.”

I really respect Mr. Levy’s opinion that layoffs should be the last place to look for cost adjustments because in a creative business they are the company’s single greatest asset and keeping them motivated to doing great work is paramount. That may be a little “old school” but it’s definitely an ABTruth.  Having been there a few times during my many years in the business I know it works.

This is the kind of aggressive, purposeful,asset based leadership we need to help us get out of the mess we’re in faster and with sustainable results.

Check the article out. I know you will enjoy it.

Hank Wasiak