Joby Harte says actors with an ability to learn quickly and adjust to an audience's reactions, a director's instructions, or other factors in their performance may also be especially good at their craft.

1. Joby Harte

2.  The role of Managing Director is one of the most
multi-faceted and nuanced positions in creative
marketing management. Joby Harte creates a
backlog of talented directors who fulfil their
management potential unless they leave, and
ultimately forces the agency to hire a CEO externally
when the time comes. For ambitious directors and
wannabe CEOs, there are four central contradictory
talents Managing Directors must master to be
effective.

3.  Don’t fall into the trap of confusing ego and
machismo with strong leadership; emotional
intelligence and self-awareness are probably the
greatest strengths of a modern agency Managing
Director. EQ is key to developing trust with
colleagues and clients, helping to build an optimum
team and ensure effective outcomes.

4.  MDs must be able to exude positivity and
encouragement to galvanise a team behind a shared
vision. Your team must be authentically engaged in
the business to deliver results. MDs that succeed and
retain longevity in their career have a combination of
deep integrity, humility and people engagement
skills.

5.  Joby Harte says an ideal MD is one that truly
understands the business — that gets the financial
realities, appreciates their team, acts decisively and
makes challenging and quick decisions. Spending lazy
days devising a single brand value for the agency are
long gone, an MD’s mind is always on the bottom
line.


6.  All great creative should be anchored in solid
strategic understanding of consumers’ wants and
needs. An ability to analyse information and distil it
into single organising principles is the difference
between nice ideas and memorable campaigns. MDs
need to apply rigorous forward thinking into all
brand communications.

7.  A Managing Director needs a voracious appetite for
all aspects of the creative process. From trawling the
dry data with the strategists and getting goosebumps
at the reveal to fighting for the powerful work that
has social trending potential, an MD must be the
champion for transformation and innovation.