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Not many finance directors have the same understanding of the modern world's two greatest financial centres as Paul Richardson. Whether he is strolling to the office down the elegant sidewalks of Park Avenue in New York, or hosting a breakfast meeting in London's Mayfair, the WPP finance director has lived and breathed these two mighty cities since joining the advertising giant in 1994 as treasury director.
Yet, despite his intimate knowledge of Nasdaq, the London Stock Exchange, Wall Street and the Square Mile, it is the emerging markets of Asia, the Pacific Rim and Latin America that have captured his imagination.
As the FD of a business that in just 22 years has grown from a start-up to a FTSE-100 giant with offices in 106 countries and a market capitalisation of £7.8bn, Richardson's inquisitiveness is a necessity.
'What is so enjoyable about the industry I work in is that it is so dynamic and fast-moving. As a global company there are such different challenges in the different markets, which is fascinating. You have an overview of how trends develop. In some places trends develop faster than in others. The challenge is to anticipate those trends in the geographies that are lagging,' Richardson says.
Shifting of power
Richardson's enthralment with the diversity of the global business he drives, and the constant flux of the technology transforming WPP's core advertising and public relations markets, means he has much to look forward to over the next decade.
'In the next 10 to 15 years, I can see the world economy shifting back to where it was 200 years ago. China and Asia are going to become the dominant regions of the world economy and we are going to need to adapt to that,' Richardson says.
'We are already seeing technology in the Asia-Pacific region moving ahead of the developed economies. In mobile technology, for instance, Europe and the US are behind this region. Increased stability in Latin America means this region is mushrooming too, and the petrodollar is driving massive growth in the Middle East,' he adds.
Shifting and developing economic power, however, is just one half of the rapid changes Richardson has to adapt to on a day-to-day basis. Equally important to the advertising world is the development of technology that is radically altering the way consumers access media content and the way advertisers reach them.
Media matters
Richardson does not believe that traditional media such as print, radio and television will become obsolete, but he does believe the user-producer relationship is changing, and quickly. He says interactivity means that broadcast (sending content from one to many) will be increasingly replaced by 'narrowcast', where content and advertising will be communicated on a one-to-one basis.
It is a scenario that offers massive growth opportunities for WPP, but Richardson believes there is still some way to go before advertisers will be able to tap into these opportunities.
'How far interactivity goes depends on how much information about themselves consumers are going be willing to hand over in return for better content and entertainment. There is going to be a trade-off, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out,' he says.
But as rapidly as technology and markets change in Richardson's business, there are a few golden rules he sticks to, especially when it comes to building a career and making decisions about one's future.
'People see change in their careers far more frequently than was the case in the past. Change is healthy, but you need to be cognisant of the culture of the company you are going into, and you must understand the finances and products,' Richardson says.
'Too often people don't pay enough attention to that, but it is so important. You need to enjoy what you are doing and where you are doing it, because if you don't the chances are you won't put the effort into it that is demanded by leading corporates of their middle and senior managers,' he says.
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