I really enjoyed reading the recent LinkedIn post from Charlotte West of Lenovo, and how the latest IPSOS Reputation Council Report had prompted her to consider the traits required of future PR leaders in the corporate world.

West settled on erudition, grit and diplomacy as the three key defining traits of the next generation of in-house comms leaders. Her arguments for these traits rang true to me and got me thinking about what I’d call out as the defining traits required of future agency-side leaders.

I’ve been privileged to hear from a number of the best leaders in the PR sector, representing both sides of the fence (in-house and agency), over the last 18 months of our PRmoment Leaders programme. Their wide-ranging perspectives on all things PR leadership-related have absolutely influenced my thinking here.

But first, let me return to West’s three traits, because all are vital in agency-side leaders as well:

• Erudition: endless curiosity is a base starting point for agency-side success for sure.

• Grit: combine that curiosity with the right attitude as laid out by Charlotte, which includes bravery and resilience, and you’ll go far agency-side too.

• Diplomacy: I think the skills Charlotte lays out here map closely onto great client relationship management, and if you’re not brilliant at that you’re in the wrong job.

But do the best PR agency leaders have other traits in common? Yes. What enables them to succeed in the related but distinct agency-side world? I’m going with wisdom, courage and empathy.

Wisdom: the vision thing, intelligence and strategic nous

Whether founding an agency or stepping into a predecessor’s shoes, relevant experience, knowledge, and good judgement have always been essential. But we’ve now moved into an era of unprecedented change driven by factors including AI and media landscape transformation, where almost everything we know is already (or soon will be) facing fundamental disruption. This has huge ramifications for comms agencies seeking a differentiated, future-proofed proposition. Agency leaders must be wise (often beyond their years). They need to project clarity of vision and to lay out a robust strategic roadmap.

Courage: leading from the front, projecting limitless optimism

Successful agencies have leaders who are genuine role models, living the values. Agency teams must believe there’s nothing leaders will ask of them that they won’t ask first of themselves. Agency life is stressful and relentless. Problems arise regularly and leaders need to be able to recognise when they’re serious and lean into real time problem solving. All of this becomes much easier, almost remarkably so, in agencies where leaders project courage, optimism and an unerring belief in a bright future for everyone involved.

Empathy: bringing out the best in your people

There’s a careful balance to be struck when leading an agency full of smart, young and ambitious people. On the one hand, you want to create a great place to work in which genuine friendships evolve within the team. Clients will always be drawn to agencies who clearly display positivity and camaraderie. On the other hand, you need to maintain a high performance team, in which no one is carried and expectations remain high. Clients will stay with agencies who continuously strive for excellence on their behalf. This balance requires deep people-reading empathy and emotional intelligence.

By the way, there was an excellent interview in the Wall Street Journal last week with behavioural scientist Jon Levy. His latest book sounds interesting: ‘Team Intelligence: How brilliant leaders unlock collective genius.’ The focus from the WSJ on his argument around the underrated power of ‘glue employees’ struck me as deeply relevant here. Leaders must pay constant attention to the vibe within the team and be endlessly (and often subtly) intervening, mixing sound ‘player management’ with empathetic pastoral care to ensure everyone contributes to the best of their abilities.

To my mind one of the most beautiful truths about agency leadership is that no one size fits all. It’s a rare individual who can provide all three traits in equal measure. But successful leadership is in any case collective in the best agencies. While wisdom, courage and empathy are all essential within the leadership team, the particular blend and split in terms of individual ownership varies hugely from agency to agency. There’s magic in getting that mix working well. The ability to do so may actually be the biggest differentiating factor of all in the agency world!

Lastly, I should add that we are currently midway through the latest semester of masterclasses in our brilliant PRmoment Leaders agency programme. We’re hearing from another carefully curated lineup of high-profile expert speakers exploring issues related to agency leadership. I look forward, as ever, to our upcoming experts both challenging and improving my thinking - watch this space…