“It’s a load of rubbish.” With straight-talking honesty Victoria Fox, CEO of the AAR and Co-Chair of the WACL Future Leader Awards judges, cuts through the fallacy that a lack of female talent is behind the lack of female leadership in the creative industries. 

For, despite it being 2020, agencies are still unveiling all-male management line ups, while simultaneously briefing journalists that they ‘looked really hard for a woman’. While the CEO of a media agency was informed earlier this year when she questioned why she was one of the only women on a judging line-u, “But I asked all the women.” Microaggressions against women in the creative industries are alive and kicking.

But so too is the growing and collective alternative to the old boys’ network; the practical investment and support in the next generation of talent that the Future Leaders Award embodies. “I don’t believe the talent isn't there; you have to make sure you are looking in the right places. We have been told for years this is what talent looks like, but we need to challenge that,” explains Fox.

Launched by Tess Alps in 2005, the WACL Future Leaders programme is designed to encourage talented and inspirational women to take the time for self-reflection and career development. Crucially the women who win are awarded bursaries for training and over the last 15 years, over 200 women have received funding totalling over £300,000.

Redefining leadership

This year 31 women were chosen out of 230 applicants. Two exceptional women, Debbie Phillips from RBS and Michaella Williams from Generation Media (pictured) were also awarded with the Patricia Mann Award, WACL’s award for women who champion change and challenge the status quo in order to support other women and make a positive impact on the marketing and advertising industry.

Fox suggested that perhaps the lack of female leaders could simply reflect that the industry is intent on hiring in the shape of what defined leadership in the past, those who fitted a cookie cutter-shaped version of success: “There are so many people doing amazing things in our industry; there is no talent shortage.”

Learning from the next generation of talent

Having interviewed numerous applicants and assessed 230 entrants, the judges are in a unique position to share the insights surrounding the highs and lows of stepping up to leadership in the creative industries today.

Challenging what constitutes success in the past is particularly important for the creative industries which have long favoured extroverts. “We saw some brilliant examples of worth over incredible female talent that were never going to be the loudest voices in the room,” added Fox. The flexible working agenda was another key theme amongst applicants to the awards. “If we want to attract and retain the best talent, we are going to have to enable people to do big jobs on four-day weeks,” explains Kate Waters, Co-Chair of the judges and Director of Client Strategy and Planning at ITV.

“We saw a lot of people who were entrepreneurs and freelancers and the industry really needs to adapt to that. Women are turning to freelance careers to take control,” added Fox. With data from Creative Equals showing that 12% of women in the creative industries plan to leave within the next two years, what learnings from the process can the judges share with the industry about how to retain and reward female talent? “The opportunity for big companies is to create sub-cultures which can then exert influence on the wider company,” explains Waters.

“There was a clear sense that you need to create a culture of psychological safety in order to create workplaces where people can thrive and progress,” explains Fox. “Inclusive leadership means really understanding what it is that people need to feel heard and connected to a business. Every conversation needs to reflect that core belief that inclusivity makes commercial sense,” she adds.

Waters believes that with some of the women there was a sense that they are being overlooked when it comes to progression and promotion within the companies they work for. “We all need to ask ourselves, are we overlooking talented people? A process like this makes you very conscious of the barriers people can face,” she added.

Practice makes imperfect 

The WACL team made a concerted effort to ensure that access to the award went beyond the traditional audiences. The judges also focused on the content of entries and interviews, rather than the style of presentation. “When you look at some of the winners, it wasn’t that their presentations were the most polished. Our jobs are not about being the most polished; it is about providing the best insight and understanding,” explains Waters. 

“I’m an off the scale introvert,” she adds, “and it is really interesting because I don’t think we have recognised introversion as a skill set. We work in an industry that is almost entirely designed for loud extroverts.” A fact which perhaps is manifested in the focus on confidence-building in many industry training programmes.

This trend was reflected in the type of courses the entrants for the award focused on, with around a quarter of entrants looking for training to navigate challenges such as imposter syndrome or to increase their personal impact. Amongst some applicants there was a sense of not being heard in their current positions.

However overall, the judges felt there was a great ambition and a clear agenda as to how these women were going to impact the industry moving forward. “Last year it felt like a lot of applicants were people trying to get an escape out of the industry, but this year there were many women who clearly have a clear ambition to progress within it,” adds Waters.

Doing things differently

Reflecting on this year’s winners, the judges noted many of the women are finding their power in new ways and not afraid to do things differently and embrace new ways of working. The winners of the WACL Future Leaders Award also gain entry into the Futures Network, a vibrant and supportive community of winner’s past and present. Both Fox and Waters point to the value of that network in building career, confidence and camaraderie.

In the midst of the growth of the ‘Squiggly Career’, the judges noted the growing trend towards women creating their own proactive, career paths. “Even if you did not win, what this process does is start conversations within workplaces about training and development,” adds Fox. While the gift of self-reflection and thinking long and hard not only about what your goals are, but the culture you need to achieve them, is within the grasp of all entrants.

For while the argument that female talent isn't there is long past its sell-by date, the drive to ensure that talent is supported, promoted and given enough training and investment to get to the next level continues.