knowledge of what could be, coupled with a sense that we often fall short: The essence of man is, discontent, divine discontent; a sort of love without a 1 beloved, the ache we feel in a member we no longer have. He wrote that in Argentina in the 1940s; and David used the same phrase, consciously or unconsciously, when he wrote: “We have a habit of divine discontent with our performance. It is an antidote to smugness.” It’s what leads you to tear up work and start again; to present something that hasn’t been asked for; to break the conventions of a category; to ignore a research result if it doesn’t feel right. I was once asked to assemble my ideal advertising agency from famous figures. I chose them because of their Divine Discontent. Enter BFME, the newest kid on the block (see here). David described the skills required to run an agency in Ogilvy on Advertising as those of: … enthusiasts. They are intellectually honest. They have the guts to face tough decisions. They are resilient in adversity. Most of them are natural charmers. They are not bullies. They encourage communications upwards, and are good listeners. The agency start up which never made the front cover of Ad Age or Campaign... They remain. But the digital age imposes some very specific requirements for someone who aspires to run an agency. Now, we would have to add three more qualities: 1. You have to be a simplifier: because everything is so much more complex, it’s not enough for managers just to preside as often they do – the law of complexity