Event
Agency Leadership Programme: Growth Day
Event details
Meet other rising stars in the agency world, and share how you’re navigating your leadership journey.
Hear from inspirational speakers, who have been on the journey themselves, and take the chance to talk to your peers about how you’re coping with your step up to leadership.
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Event Manifesto
Agency Leadership Programme Growth Day
Event curated by:
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Kirstie Sutherland
Agency Hackers
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Anne Harlow
Agency Hackers
When it comes to agency leadership, there is no ‘how to’ guide to follow.
Every agency is different. And every leader is different. People step into leadership roles in different ways and at different times. Some are promoted quickly, while others grow into it gradually. Some arrive with a plan, others find themselves figuring things out as they go.
But what most agency leaders have in common is the reality of the role once they’re in it.
There’s the responsibility. The emotional load. The pressure of making decisions that affect other people, not just yourself and your own position. The challenge of supporting teams while still delivering great work, often at pace.
Leadership can be rewarding, but it can also be isolating. And too often, the learning happens quietly, through trial and error, when there’s little time or space to step back.
The leadership programme, and this Growth Day in particular, exists to change that.
This is a dedicated day for those rising stars within agencies, who are progressing on their own leadership journey, to step out of day-to-day delivery and talk honestly about leadership as it really shows up in agency life – the pressure, the pace, and the need to lead in a way that’s sustainable over time.
You’ll hear real stories from peers, share experiences with people who understand the context you’re in, and leave with perspectives you can take back into your role straight away.
Because leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about learning how to carry responsibility well – for yourself, your team, and the business.
SPEAKERS
Your speakers
How to Handle the Emotional Load of Leadership
“The number twos and threes in the agency, the people who really care – they absorb a lot.”
Paddy Moogan has spent nearly 20 years in agencies – including a decade co-founding and running Aira. Along the way, he didn’t just carry the weight himself. He watched how leadership pressure landed on the people closest to him – and felt the effects himself as well.
“The people who feel it most are the ones who care,” Paddy says.
As a founder and senior leader, Paddy saw how stress, uncertainty and responsibility quietly trickle down. Heads of department and senior team members absorbing pressure. Supporting stressed founders. Carrying emotional responsibility for teams, clients and outcomes — often without real space to step back.
“The agency business model is kind of set up for stress,” he says. “You lose a client, you lose a person, and it all compounds.”
👉 On Growth Day, Paddy will share how rising leaders can carry responsibility, support the business, and still protect their own headspace.
Show, Don’t Tell: The Mechanics of Strong Leadership
“Leadership isn’t a personality trait; it’s a system,” says Dominique Marchi, head of delivery at HLabs. “Most problems we see aren’t about people. They’re actually down to unclear structures and expectations.”
Dominique and Ella Stockdale, the agency’s head of people, have spent the past year putting real shape around leadership at HLabs – turning good intentions into practical systems that actually work.
“I talk a lot about demonstrate, not declare,” says Ella. “It’s no good saying you’re supportive or fair. You have to show it in how you manage, how you review performance, and how you make decisions.”
At HLabs, that’s meant building people frameworks that make expectations clear, embedding evidence-based reviews, and training managers to lead with confidence and consistency.
For Ella and Dom, strong leadership isn’t about personality or power – it’s about clarity, fairness, and follow-through.
👉 On Growth Day, they’ll share how HLabs is making leadership visible, consistent, and built to last.
What Stepping Up Taught Me About Leadership
“I wasn’t ready for it at all — but I wasn’t going to shy away from responsibility.”
When Jake Cawdery joined Curated, he didn’t come in with a grand plan to run the business. He joined as ops director, new to agencies, stepping into a role he admits he wasn’t fully prepared for. But what he did have was a willingness to get stuck in.
“I’m not someone who will sit around and wait for things to happen,” Jake says. “If something doesn’t make sense, I need to understand why.”
Within a year, that mindset took him from ops director to managing director. Six years later, he’s now a co-owner of the business — having overseen restructures, redundancies, tough client decisions, and a major pivot towards a leaner model.
👉 On Growth Day, Jake will share the real moments behind that journey: the uncomfortable conversations, the mistakes, the imposter syndrome – and the decisions that shaped both him and the business.
FAQ
Event FAQs
