Phil Lynagh is regional managing director at Tag: MENA
“I stumbled upon an interesting article the other day. Basically, a number of top traits you may display if you’re a psychopath, and it struck me, like a well-timed jab, that a reasonable number of adland sorts I’ve come across over the past 20 years are a very good fit indeed.
Firstly, psychopaths are glib and superficial. They have a tendency to be smooth, engaging and verbally facile. They have freed themselves from the usual social conventions such as taking it in turns to talk. Basically he who shouts loudest in the meeting wins. Next up: grandiose self-worth, a grossly inflated view of one’s abilities and their effect. That press ad you’re working on is very important but it’s unlikely to change the world. Then there’s the overpowering need for constant stimulation alongside a reduced self-discipline when it comes to completing the more mundane tasks in life, plus a failure to remain within the same job for any length of time.
Ever since Methuselah was a boy, it’s been very difficult to keep the creative minds engaged after the TVC is produced and in this region people tend to move jobs more often than Bin Laden would change hideouts. Last but not least, the pathological lying. Psychopaths are cunning, crafty and sly and in the extreme deceptive, underhanded, unscrupulous, manipulative and dishonest. The last bit actually constitutes a job description at some agencies.
Now, if you’ve read through the above and in clear conscience believe they don’t apply to you at all then you are a pathological liar so try again. If you possess some of these traits described then that’s okay, you’re normal. You like what you do, believe it is important to mankind and popular culture and you appreciate there are plenty of worse jobs you could be in. If you’ve read the above and recognise yourself completely, best regards and I hope you’re all doing very well. Remember you don’t need to be mad to work in this industry but it helps and if you’re a psychopath you could be on the fast track.”
