Comments on: MBA meet MI5

By: Adrian Monck

Adrian Monck — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:34:59 +0000

The countervailing view would be that it relied on a rather decrepit band of academics at institutions who put rather unsuitable people forward…Philby, Burgess, Maclean etc.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 18:07:17 +0000

Six days reduction in tenure over three years is not exactly earth-shaking. Using Mark Twain-style extrapolation, however, in about 730 years CMO tenure will be zero. Relativistic effects may prevent this outcome, because the revolving door at company headquarters can’t spin faster than the speed of light.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:24:08 +0000

Did not the CIA and its progenitor, the OSS, also operate in this way? That’s what Norman Mailer’s long novel, “Harlot’s Ghost”, and the recent film loosely based on it, “The Good Shepherd”, suggest?

But there is a long tradition here — the Elizabethan dramatist, Christopher Marlowe, is believed to have been recruited as a spy for Elizabeth I’s foreign intelligence service while still an undergrad at Cambridge University, and spent time in Europe pretending to be a Catholic seminarian while OHMSS (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service).

By: jens

jens — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 02:51:50 +0000

all very true. and often the case. the good advertisers i know work exactly like this to develop their account… always entertainig a portfolio of aspiring marketing people. – only one thing: the change of cmo tenure from from 23.6 months to 23.2 months in six years is not so drastic, as to indicate that they have to start earlier now.

but something else actually is key. – when you take an exposed job in a highly competetive environment you want allies from the outside. – as harsh as this may sound, but if you take a cmo position – or any leadership position – within a company that is new to you, you’d better come in with a plan and and army. otherwise others will have their play with you. – such are the dynamics of systems.