5420: Postcard From The Edge Of Hypocrisy.

The message of the antique postcard depicted above taps into major issues faced by folks in the modern advertising industry.

Back in the day, entry-level creatives counted on the veterans for training and mentoring. Like the postcard says, “New workers are just as good or bad as the experienced workers want them to be.”

But the statement seemingly no longer applies on Madison Avenue.

While many—particularly the Baby Boomers—might argue the point, the expertise doesn’t reside with the old-timers anymore. New media and technology have flipped the script. Now the alleged leaders often display complete ignorance regarding the tools and tactics of the trade.

For lots of creative directors, digital represents the undiscovered country, a veritable foreign land with incomprehensible languages and customs. And we’re all too familiar with Madison Avenue’s history of coping with cultural cluelessness.

Sadly, most BDA senior denizens have taken a defensive stance, probably in a desperate attempt to retain their overblown salaries. The sensei role has vanished, replaced with political maneuvering and a stubborn resistance to the inevitable marketplace changes.

One has to wonder what might happen if the paradigm shift was allowed to occur, and the younger generations proceeded to school the bosses.

At the latest 4As convention (ironically dubbed the “Leadership Conference”), TBWA\Chiat\Day icon Lee Clow told the executives, “Young people have grown up with all things media. They know when it’s lame and they know when it’s good. … Hire young people. And don’t tell them what to do. Ask them what to do.”

It will be interesting to see if even the gray-bearded Clow has the courage to follow his own advice. To quote the postcard again, “New workers are just as good or bad as the experienced workers want them to be.”

So what do the current rulers really want?