Managing Complexity in Your Organization

Anne is the Asia Pacific Managing Director of a global advertising agency. The agency is closing the financial year of 2020, and Anne already knows there will be hell to pay. The coronavirus pandemic has led to an immediate and drastic drop in advertising spending. All media buyers and brands paused spending as quarantine took effect, with travel and retail media taking the brunt of the hit. As a result, Anne’s organization made significant losses. Anne knows what is coming up. Anne knows the drill. At the close of the year, when business has not been good, there’s housekeeping to be done. A cost-cutting exercise, which usually means laying off people. This is not a peculiarity confined only to Anne’s organization. In fact, the entire industry goes through a round of musical chairs. We don’t raise an eyebrow. It’s just business. It’s standard operating procedure. We all know the game. We’ve been playing by its rules for a very long time…