Agency leadership: a discussion

InterDirect Managers Meeting

Dublin, May 2007

• This is not a lecture on agency management or leadership

• You have all managed your own business successfully for many years

• I’d like to present some thoughts today and get everyone's input

• At the end I will collect comments and pass to Pieter for full distribution.

Today’s discussion

How I prepared:

• Looked at agency leadership from my own perspective

• Considered client, agency staff and supplier implications

• Identified what followers are looking for in a relationship

• Presenting ten core areas that might help stimulate discussion today

Today’s discussion

‘If each of us hires people smaller than we are,we shall become a company of dwarfs.’

Great industry leaders

David Ogilvy

1. Have a deep understanding of our business2. Create a positive atmosphere3. Have a clear vision4. Have courage5. Market their agency shamelessly6. Are good listeners7. Don’t take themselves too seriously8. Are consistent9. Are decisive10.Have a will to succeed

‘If each of us hires people smaller than we are,we shall become a company of dwarfs.’

Great industry leaders

‘If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking,I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur.’

A deep understanding of our business

Napoleon Bonaparte

• You can't fake it. People will know

• Know your competition

• Set aside time each week to keep abreast of industry at large

• Set a goal to unearth one new initiative for a client leveraging your deep knowledge of your discipline

‘If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking,I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur.’

A deep understanding of our business

• Be passionate

• Share this passion with your managers - get them hooked on having a position of deep insights that their clients will respect

• Association event networking is a good way to gather local insights

• Annual agency assessment with clients

• Talk to prospects about what they know or don’t know about you

A deep understanding of our business

‘If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking,I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur.’

‘If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.’

Create a positive atmosphere

Walt Disney

• VP of fun– We live in the fun space of business,

we attract fun people– Try being an accountant in a circus– Laugh a lot, it’s contagious

• Agency leaders make friends easily and like people

• Naturally let others take credit

• Give clients loads of luving

‘If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.’

Create a positive atmosphere

• Spreads energy like a tonic through out the agency

• Lead by example. “Don't ask anybody to do something you wouldn't do yourself’’’

• A climate of fear or competition creates fear and desertion

• Recognise and avoid negative situations– Closed door meetings– Don’t ever slag off a client - Ouch – Reviews on time– Communicate regularly

Create a positive atmosphere

‘If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.’

‘If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, theywill fail.’

Have a clear vision

Ulysses S. Grant

• Dream for a better world– DM agency– Integrated agency– Digital agency

• Anyone can have a vision, very few can lead you there

• Leaders get the balance right in creating and delivering a vision

‘If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, theywill fail.’

Have a clear vision

• To lead, you will need to overcome the resistance to change

• If staff have been doing something for a long time then they have an instinctive aversion to implementing new ideas.

• To introduce a new way of doing things you have to have the confidence and belief in the new way

‘If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, theywill fail.’

Have a clear vision

Courage to fight

‘Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing’. Abraham Lincoln

Courage to fight

• Persistence is needed to create any form of world class work today

• Know when it’s right to fight

• Don’t ever fight a client. Get them on your side and win together

• Clients want an agency to stand up to them

‘Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing’.

• When shit hits the fan don’t duck. Take it on the chin. Be there

• Maintain calm during crisis management– Smile the minute it hits– Team spirit prevails

• When followers are in a corner, great managers will help them find a way out but not get them out of it

‘Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing’.

Courage to fight

‘The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.’

Market thyself shamelessly

Charles de Gaulle

• You must believe in your business and what you say

• If you can’t win a new employee how will your win a new piece of business

• Passion

• Deliver one brilliant client experience that the client will forever remember

‘The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.’

Market thyself shamelessly

• Every meeting with a client, prospect, supplier and member of staff should be considered a WOM opportunity

• Brilliant staff and customer experiences will be talked about for years

• Staff will become proficient

• Clients enjoy it

• If confidence fails - talk to an ad agency colleague!

Market thyself shamelessly

‘The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.’

‘True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous,and conflicting information.’

Listening v hearing

Winston Churchill

• Email staff regarding something they said. Written communications are so powerful.

• Takes one minute to make someone’s day!

• Takes years to win back one’s respect

‘True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous,and conflicting information.’

Listening v hearing

• A good leader should try to feel part of his team rather than superior

• If you listen to others they appreciate it.

• Often you may find that staff have good ideas that you can incorporate. Even if they have unworkable ideas it is still worth giving the impression you value their opinions even if they are not used

‘True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous,and conflicting information.’

Listening v hearing

‘It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.’

Don’t take yourself too seriously

Bill Gates

• Earn your respect like everyone else

• There is no harm in admitting you are wrong, or making a joke at your own expense.

• If you're not making mistakes, you're not doing your job right.

• Just don’t make a habit of it.

‘It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.’

Don’t take yourself too seriously

• Rather than stressing yourself, stress the impact of finding and delivering solutions

• People will be much more willing to follow a leader who needs their help as much as they need his/hers

• Great agency leaders believe they are average, average leaders believe they are great

Don’t take yourself too seriously

‘It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.’

‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forgetthat the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.’

Consistency

John F Kennedy

• While keeping things fresh is important in the agency world, leaders cannot change direction too frequently

• You will lose people's confidence• Patterns make life easy for

followers• Zig-zagging can only be tolerated

for so long before they become another agency’s best employee

• Don’t let a bad current mood impact on interaction with staff

• Don’t ever work for free ever• Thank suppliers for great work – no

one else does

‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forgetthat the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.’

Consistency

‘I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep ledby a lion.’

Decisiveness

Alexander the Great

• While you should listen to others' opinions, the final decision is yours to make.

• Very often Leaders are not decisive.

• Average tenure for a CEO has fallen from more than a decade to three years because people lose confidence in leaders whose indecision results in failure!

‘I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep ledby a lion.’

Decisiveness

• How do you feel when a client is indecisive?

• Leaders talk clearly (don’t have to be public speaker) and can express ideas plainly

Decisiveness

‘I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep ledby a lion.’

‘I had rather be first in a village than second atRome.’

Will to succeed

Julius Caesar

• Through sheer determination you will generally win

• Not afraid of losing but find it difficult to accept

• Accept losing with dignity• Accept winning graciously• Have an unknown energy source • Carry staff on your coat tails• Clients appreciate the drive and desire• Staff can only wish they had it

‘I had rather be first in a village than second atRome.’

Will to succeed

One word sums up great leadership: RESPECT

If any one of you can tick three boxes, take a bow and dance

One final thought from a real leader:

‘What good is money if it can't inspire terror in your fellow man?’

Montgomery C Burns