The current Saatchi & Saatchi CEO, Robert Senior, rebutted Roberts’ comments.
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She said Monday on the “Today” show that there were “a huge amount of employees who have been upset in how they’ve interpreted Kevin’s words” and stressed, “I don’t believe in what he’s saying”.
Following the announcement of his resignation, the 66-year-old said he had “inadvertently embarrassed” the company with his “miscommunication”.
Speaking to the Business Insider, Roberts said he did not spend any time on gender issues at his agencies at all, and that the issue was “way worse in sectors like financial services”, where there are “problems left, right and centre”. In the interview, he said that rather than holding ambitions to climb the career ladder, many women, and men, simply wanted to be happy and “do great work”.
“In a statement after his resignation was announced, Mr Roberts, 66, said: “‘Fail Fast, Fix Fast, Learn Fast’ is a leadership maxim I advocate.
This interview was more about promoting Roberts as a thought leader than discussing any of his work or future plans for Saatchi & Saatchi/Publicis Groupe.
“I have expressed my regret and apology to the companies for the furore my remarks and language stimulated, and I extend this to colleagues, staff and clients”. “I failed exceptionally fast”.
Publicis said late Saturday that it had placed Mr. Roberts on leave following the comments, adding that its supervisory board would evaluate Mr. Roberts’s standing.
Kevin Roberts was suspended last week after suggesting women do not want top jobs in the advertising industry.
Mr. Roberts didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Roberts joined Saatchi in 1997 as chief executive officer, after earlier roles at Gillette Co., P&G and PepsiCo Inc.
On Cindy Gallop: “I think she’s got problems that are of her own making. I think the most important thing is encouraging women to be more vocal and more high profile so that younger women and women coming through the ranks can see that it is possible and that there is no reason why they can’t take these jobs”.
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The head of Publicis, Maurice Levy, had condemned the comments.
