Learning from Succession: how not to be awful

Media Leaders

Which of the Roys do you identify with at work? Your inner Logan or Shiv could tell you a lot about leadership at work.

I hope that many of you have been lucky enough to avoid encounters with Succession-type folk in the media and marketing world.

However, I’m equally sure that some have witnessed such acrid skulduggery first hand.

Of course, Waystar Royco is a fictional company and the Roys are a fictional family. But these characters are compelling because we recognise their traits within ourselves and people we know.

As such, I felt it would be useful to highlight where we may take some learnings from Succession – even if you haven’t watched the show (the below is spoiler-free). These tenets are sure to help you navigate our industry (or any industry) with the tact and consideration that these characters sorely lack.

So let’s revel in the schadenfreude, but come away with a reaffirmed sense of how we can be better people!

Logan Roy

A titan of industry and a bullish, aggressive businessman – with an explosive temper. He’s well-connected and experienced, he shows signs of being out of touch – grasping at the straws of relevancy and desperate to retain and grow power for his brand.

In this attempt to bulldoze onwards and upwards, he makes most of his decisions based on his personal beliefs, preferences and gut-feel. He takes counsel from one person only – himself.

Lesson: Democratic thinking

If you are a leader or a manager of people, it is key to gather diverse feedback/inputs and to shape your thinking accordingly.

Your view is one dimension of many – in the world of marketing, having this singular view is akin to saying all people shop at Tesco because that’s the only place you buy your meal deal on a Thursday.

It is important to have the time and patience to gather those varied inputs & insights – and from that build plans and solutions based on the collective, not on your own blinkered (and inherently biased) insight.

Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy

Shiv is incredibly smart, and arguably the most strategic/clear thinking person within the core family unit.

Her attitude and actions are hard to criticise due to the oppression and overt sexism towards her from her own family – with Logan going so far as to say her gender makes her less desirable to be the next CEO of Waystar RoyCo.

However, over time the dynamic between her and others shifts – she ultimately becomes the puppet master and coerces people (namely her husband) on numerous occasions to do her bidding or help her cause.

Lesson: Don’t forget who got you there

We have a plethora of talent across agencies and client marketing teams – and with talent comes competition. Those rising to the top need to remember that their success is not 100% attributable to themselves – there would have been a supporting cast helping them achieve their goals.

It’s important to not let the power go to your head, and to treat those who support you and stand by you with respect – even if you’ve had to fight for it, it doesn’t give you a right to trample on others when you get to the top.

I’ve definitely been guilty of this in the past, and it definitely took the gloss off whatever I had achieved – I like to think that in our industry nice people finish first, and stay first.

Kendall Roy

He is a capable yet broken man – dogged by addiction issues and perpetually on the verge of a stress-induced meltdown.

When Kendall goes on the offensive, not far behind are a slew of side effects and by-products that expose his fragility and his hollow sense of worth.

Lesson: Wellbeing is paramount

We work in a fast-paced industry, with lots of pressure whether it be tight client deadlines or presenting your media vision to your CMO. With pace and pressure will often come negative effects – and it’s critical to put your health and wellbeing first.

I found the working culture in Asia quite a shock compared to what I had experienced in the UK, and that change in how I worked (and what was asked of me) was difficult to handle.

You can’t be optimal if you aren’t recharged, focused and relaxed; so you need to be kind to yourself, put health before all and seek support. NABS is an outfit that offers free support, specifically for people working in advertising and media. A wonderful organisation that if you need, will be there with you.   

Roman Roy

Roman offers exuberance by the bucket load, but also large dollops of self-indulgence and vulgarity.

More than most other characters, Roman has a penchant for rude or inappropriate jibes – and his are most often laser-targeted towards women. He’s always ready to deliver misogynistic or perverted one liners, and he revels in his victims’ discomfort and disgust at them.

Lesson: Respect, activism and allyship

Our industry (like many others) has a major problem with bullying, discrimination and sexual misconduct. There is more socialisation of this now, and people are doing more but it’s still nowhere near enough.

The Mad Men. Furious Women blog post from Zoe Scaman last July scratches the painful surface – it is a must read for anyone (especially men) in our industry. The issues of years gone by are not gone by any means, and it takes a collective effort to speak and act against such behaviour and attitudes.

In short, we need to eradicate the Romans of the world.

Whether it’s calling out sexism, racism, or any kind of discrimination/prejudice – we all need to be better active, as opposed to just passive, in our support.

***

What a horrible bunch, right? We’ve all got our flaws but Succession superbly showcases what happens if we let those run amok, and give in to our Freudian ‘id’. I think there’s an allegorical feel to the struggle of the Roy’s with new, emerging publishers (traditional vs digital media), and also where a smorgasbord of negative personality traits combines to create mass inefficiency (we’ve all worked at places we feel supressed or paralysed by others).

Let’s challenge Succession behaviours in our industry and create a better place to collectively thrive!

Jack Cantwell is business director at Dentsu agency Merkle.

All images courtesy of WarnerMedia, the parent company for HBO.

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