I'm indebted to many of my clients but in particular, Honda for allowing me the space to continuously challenge and excise new thinking and be part of the team that transform a niche brand to today's top-selling one. I've seen many generations of teams come and go while I stuck around the account like a bubblegum - it has allowed me to see the transformation that happens to a brand and a company with an unflagging emphasis on their spirited culture. I've witnessed all the growth and crisis. I've taken beatings and failures but I've also tasted victory and an unprecedented camaraderie that honestly is what made it hardest to leave. I've seen things that I would have not seen if I had accepted any other offers in the past decade. I may have missed out great career opportunities but given a second chance, I don't think my choice will be any different.
I'm indebted to Dentsu. The Japanese have shown me great hospitality, loyalty, silliness and insights for the many years I have worked with them. I have all the opportunities that came my way which made me believed that there was only one company who truly value entrepreneurship at every staff level. I was given many chances to flex my ideas. I used to tell the teams - the only limitation is yourself because if you have an idea, Dentsu never says no. Well top-down or bottom-up, as in life, balance is the best approach. We had a merger and I was elevated to a group role and itself was an amazing opportunity. I spent 3 years on group strategy, executive management and data leadership. I had to learn from ground up on media because I only had creative agency background. It's like you don't just have to run but also eat at the same time. It was tough but it was also a great workout (well maybe not recommended in real life). It reminded me of the early days in Sparks - I was working on 3 agencies at any one time. Every working year triples the experience! It was tough but it was good because THEN, I was one of those eager beavers who couldn't wait to grow. But when I was in DAN, it wasn't as easy because I had a lot of people to care for. It wasn't just me. I had to run and eat and make sure the rest of the people behind me cross the finishing line too. The difference was stake I guess. It's a helluva of an experience but I will never exchange that for anything. The other day I had a chat with a legal veteran and she told me that she has worked for 25 years and served 7 CEOs. I told her I have worked in DAN for 3 years and I have served 13 CEOs. I felt like I was a walking CEO-pedia. I knew all colours, shapes and forms of ideas and intentions, professional or otherwise. I think this was the extraordinary part of my position that not many people were given such opportunity. So if you are a CEO wanting to give me a job, seriously, you can just cut to the chase. And if I'm ever to be CEO, I sure hell know what rocks and which type I don't want to be.
And when it came to regional offices... I realised (not sure if The Regional People realised), that the most hated word in any agency and I'm not even referring to the network I worked for, but anyone from this industry whom I came across, hates this 4 letter word - APAC. LOL. Seriously. I get WHY it's difficult but to be honest with you, I never had any issue with the regional team - whether or not they are my team or even directly relevant to what I do. I think I might be the luckiest person in the agency world then cause the people I'm in touched with are seriously the most helpful ones. They get everything for me, all I had to do was just ask. And sometimes we gossip. And we laugh out loud. And then we go back doing our work. And we go back helping each other. Although, I'm not really sure if I ever want to be known as APAC, or at least that kind of APAC. The word GLOBAL is not even half as bad as APAC! Maybe cause GLOBAL is too far away and APAC is just across the causeway. Haha, I laugh just thinking about it. People, wise up! We're all on the same boat. A very big boat! But the same boat.
And lastly, the people I love, trust and respect. My team. All of my team, direct or indirect reports, with dotted or squiggly lines, in the group or across all brand agencies - I'm going to miss them the most. The ones who fight the battles on ground. I guess my biggest regret if I had one, was I could have done more for them. The one thing that's more satisfying than personal growth is when you see others grow. Many have left and new ones came but I'd like to think like Soichiro Honda who once said that he was proud when great Honda employees after so much vigorous training left to work elsewhere. Because that only affirms that Honda is moving in the right direction and that's how the philosophy will spread around the world. That amongst many quotes, is one of my favourite. I'd like to think too that when you have trained real good people and they leave you - it's never disloyalty. But it's a way for them to create greater change elsewhere.
So here's signing out from Dentsu Aegis Network.
And welcome home, Sparks. We are now open for collaboration :)
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