And Now For Something Completely Different

On April 1, I will be leaving my post as chairman and ceo of Hoffman/Lewis.

After a while, being the oldest living adman on Earth loses its allure. I have recently celebrated my 40th anniversary in the agency business. It’s enough. I'm bored.

When you're young you can make excuses for being bored: you need the money, or it's only temporary, or soon you'll be moving up. At my age there's no excuse. The only explanation is laziness.

Over time, a ceo's responsibilities can become substantially ceremonial. I have no appetite or aptitude for that.

It’s time to reevaluate my professional life -- that’s fancy businessguy code for “do something different.”

I intend to continue writing and speaking and whining about advertising. Maybe do some consulting. Also, I have some new business things I’m kicking around. And I understand there’s an opening at the Vatican. I always wanted a helicopter.

But first I’m going to take some time and wander around aimlessly. It's finally an undertaking I feel I can excel at.

There aren’t too many successful second acts in adland and I’m lucky to have one. This blog and the books it has spawned have made my last six years a lot more interesting and a lot more fun (by the way, if you haven’t bought 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising I can’t guarantee your safety.)

While I’ve always tried to speak the truth on this blog, there has been a certain amount I have had to withhold. Without the livelihoods of others at stake, I now expect the blog will be what it has always been, only with a lot more f-bombs.

Also, I intend to make a few little content tweaks. From now on the blog will be written in Swedish and consist mainly of 30-minute chicken recipes.

Love always…