Opinion: Perspective - Is adland too boring to hold on to maverick talent?(employees resign from Claydon Heeley Jones Mason and TBWA/London)(Viewpoint essay)

Campaign's headline-writing skills were put to the test last week when we had to come up with four front-page headlines about people quitting their jobs. We opted for a 'bows out' for Harrison Troughton Wunderman's Steve Harrison, 'exits' for Fallon's Michael Wall, while 'to quit' accompanied news of Jon Claydon's resignation from Claydon Heeley In the case of Tim Lindsay, we were able to say he'd been 'lured' by TBWA\London.

Now, although the minutiae of magazine production - headline writing included - are ours to worry about, and of questionable interest to our readers, in this case, the process exposed something of a trend (and a negative trend at that). Top-level talent appears to be abandoning senior jobs in the industry.

The timing couldn't be worse. These days, finding a new chief executive or creative director is a very tricky business. It's a subject covered frequently in this title, but to summarise, the good ones tend to start their own agencies and have no desire to take the helm of a network shop in need of a relaunch.

But this does not appear to be what is motivating Harrison, Claydon and Wall. There's no sniff of a start- up to speak of (although Wall's name is being linked with plans by Carl Johnson to set up Anomoly in the UK) Sadly, what seems to be guiding them is a sense of being fed up with their existing roles.

Claydon is planning to relax for a few months before investing his hard-earned millions into growth industries such as mobile and digital. He's tired, he's been running an agency for 16 years, and he feels it's time for a change. Harrison's not forthcoming about his motivation, but it seems his quirky nature and passion for creative perfection does not sit comfortably with a corporate network such as Wunderman.

Wall, meanwhile, has been living on planes and in airports, but now wants to spend time with his family in Portugal. He's planning to make a return after the summer, but an 'agency' like Anomoly is a much more likely destination than a traditional ad ...