Opinion: On the Campaign Couch ... with JB.

Q: I'm an MD in an agency, and have been for about a year. I now deal with a lot more of our European and global bosses and have recently realised that when they get to a certain seniority level they start to pronounce Ts as Ds. So everything is gread and inderesding and people become brilliand or dwads. To work my way up the career ladder, do I need to sdard pracdicing?

A: What an elegant slice of observation. Now you come to mention it, I can hear them all. I wonder why they do it. Have you any idea?

But if I were you, I wouldn't bother to pracdice. I've been vastly amused, over the years, to watch nakedly ambitious ladder-climbers aping their elders.

There was once a CEO who took to wearing three-piece suits: jacket, pants and vest (for he was no Brit). The sale of three-piece suits from Paul Stuart and Brooks Brothers rocketed immediately. Every male on the management floor, and most on the many account management floors, suddenly took to wearing a waistcoat. Some even sported the watch chain across the midriff. They also wore their hair short, drank mineral water and took tennis lessons. When the CEO eventually came to choose his Number Two, the man he picked wore seersucker suits and scuffed loafers and drank Jack Daniels.

Those who ape their elders forget three things. First, today's CEO is tomorrow's has-been. Second, for obvious reasons, CEOs never choose successors in their own image: no-one could possibly be as good as they are at being them. And finally, apers are self-evidently absurd.

So enjoy the Ds but stick with your Ts. If you continue to be as perceptive, they'll all be aping you soon.

Q: I'm a client and just can't help mandating executional details to my agency. Should I step back and only give strategic feedback where it's due or should I be fussing over the detail? My agency assures me that they are the experts in execution and I should trust them more. What do you think?