So today we say goodbye to Martin.
While I’ve only known him for 16 months, he made quite the impression on me.
Not because of his talent.
Nor is it because of his brilliant attitude and hunger to help create great.
Not even because I was the one that got to take him to Din Tai Fung for the fist time.
In China.
Christ … it’s not even because his Mum is from Nottingham and he studied there.
It’s because he was the very first person at R/GA to tell me to “Fuck Off”.
This might sound a bit weird, but I was really happy when he did it.
I’d been here a couple of months and – as it always is the case when you start a new job – everyone was still feeling each other out.
While I can’t remember what it was I said to him – but, let’s be honest, it was probably something unprofessional and mischievous as shit – I do remember he looked at me and laughingly told me “Fuck Off”.
And that’s when I knew it might work out here.
Or at least work out with the team.
Because while we were obviously bantering, I am a big believer in us being able to say what we think to each other.
Of course it has to be respectful to the other person, but it also has to be truthful.
There’s no time for managing up or playing office politics – not if the goal is to do truly great work – and the moment Martin told me to go away in his unique style, I knew we could get somewhere good.
Now of course it’s not just his swearing ability that has made me sad to see him go.
He is – as I mentioned earlier – a genuinely great talent.
Sure he is smart, creative and committed to culture.
But he’s more than that …
He’s authentic, genuine, compassionate and a genuine decent human.
He is focused on the work not his ego and always pushes the work to get to new places rather than what is easy and safe.
In fact, when I started at R/GA, I told someone the moment Martin realises how good he is, we’re all doomed.
Well, he still hasn’t quite grasped that, but my beautiful bastard friends at W+K have and he heads there to let them benefit from his magic.
They are lucky to have him.
They are one of the few places I would let him go.
They know I’ll always be loyal to WK, so if he ever slacks off, they can tell me and I’ll come over and kick his arse.
So Martin, you might be a pie-cheating, Crystal Palace fan who looks like a double-glazing/car salesman on the [very] rare occasions you wear a suit, who is seemingly always on holiday and throws a tantrum when his Nintendo Switch breaks mere hours before having to go on a 12 hour flight to London from Beijing … but you’re also top human with top talent and I’m very glad I got to have you in my team and my life.
Now Fuck Off.