News involving CEOs at EssenceMediacom (1:08) and Host/Havas (5:53) leads the news this week, though for one agency, its path forward is less clear than for the other. Then, after months of speculation, former Aldi head marketer Mark Richardson has re-emerged at Marley Spoon (10:10). The team chats about what his new role might look like before founder and global CEO of AKQA, Ajaz Ahmed joins the podcast to discuss AI, solving problems for a software giant aged 15, and why he's not hot on the metaverse (14:13).