MDC Loses Top Creative Talent, World Gains Philosopher

WSJ: Alex Bogusky, an industry superstar, is leaving ad holding company MDC Partners.  He is a founding partner of Crispin Porter & Bogusky and self styled chief creative insurgent of MDC.  Bogusky’s future plans, though at this time undisclosed, do not directly involve the advertising business.

In a blog post, yesterday, entitled “My First Flower,” Bogusky waxed poetic on the necessity of stopping to smell the flowers.  Life is too short, after all.  Apparently, until now he had never done so (smelled the flowers AND waxed about it):

So I stopped and I smelled them. At first, it felt a bit silly. Then I went to another bunch and smelled them. I wondered if I looked like a crazy person. But I pushed on and pretty soon I felt like I had stumbled on gold. The willingness to stop what I was doing because I found myself in front of some flowers was a test I had been failing for 46 years. The silent question to me all this time has been, “Are you really here, Alex? Are you truly paying attention?” “Well thank you for asking, oh, asker-of-silent-questions,” I say, “I’m doing better. And I’ve finally started smelling your flowers.”

The Tao of Bogusky.