Geoff Clarke, Managing Director, Business Transformation, Omnicom Media
The media and marketing industry has a competence problem.
While there are a raft of leadership development programs, executive coaches, and management “self-help” books, plus a seemingly endless array of TED talks, there’s a noticeable decline in real-world competence across important areas. The result is the landscape is increasingly populated by professionals who can lead a meeting but struggle to execute the craft that underpins our sector’s core competencies.
This isn't a coincidence, I would argue it's a direct consequence of how we've structured and communicated career advancement over the years.
For 30+ years, I've watched talented specialists reach a career crossroads where they face an impossible choice: continue deepening their expertise with limited advancement opportunities or abandon their craft to break through the ceiling to climb the management ladder.
By framing it as an either/or issue, the industry loses valuable expertise and weakens its foundation. The career progression landscape presents a stark contrast. In one corner, we have the traditional management track, the path most visibly rewarded with titles, pay rises and status. This course often pulls the brightest minds away from the craft they've mastered redirecting their focus toward managing others who are still developing those same skills.
In the opposing corner sits the expertise track, where professionals deepen their craft knowledge, pushing boundaries and driving innovation through specialised competence. Despite their critical importance, these roles often hit artificial ceilings in both compensation, influence and in some cases leadership opportunities.
The result? Agencies can become top-heavy with managers who haven't practiced their craft in years, while simultaneously suffering from a drought of true experts who can deliver breakthrough work and mentor the next generation of innovators.
This imbalance compounds over time. When an industry systematically removes its most skilled practitioners from hands-on work, knowledge gaps are created that manifest in declining quality, superficial strategies, and an over-reliance on junior talent who lack the guidance of seasoned experts. More concerning is the innovation decline. The most transformative ideas rarely emerge from general management; they come from the people with deep craft expertise combined with the freedom to experiment. When experts become managers to advance their careers, the very innovation the industry claims to value in inadvertently supressed.
The fundamental error in this thinking is equating leadership exclusively with people management. True leadership isn't about hierarchical authority; it's about helping others be more successful today than they were yesterday. As Ronald Reagan once said, “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets people to do the greatest things.” This definition is entirely compatible with maintaining and applying craft expertise. Some of the most influential leaders I've encountered in my career never managed large teams. Instead, they led through their exceptional mastery, mentoring colleagues, setting standards of excellence, and solving problems others couldn't address. Their leadership emerged from their expertise rather than their position on an org chart or their title on a business card.
The solution requires an extensive reimagining of how organisations are structured and define success. Integrated career paths that equally value and reward management and leadership skills alongside craft mastery must be created. This means establishing clear expertise tracks with compensation equal to management roles, create senior specialist positions with genuine strategic influence and develop hybrid roles that allow experts to lead through their craft rather than despite it.
Additionally, R.A.S.C.I. maps that formalise the authority of expertise-based leadership and build mentorship programs that value the transfer of craft knowledge as highly as management and leadership skills must be implemented.
As AI and automation rapidly reshape our industry, the value of deep expertise will become more precious. I argue the organisations that will continue on a growth trajectory will be those that have preserved and elevated their craft master’s rather than converting them all to managers.
The agencies that solve this competence crisis will develop an unbeatable competitive advantage. They'll retain their most talented specialists, produce higher quality work, innovate more consistently, and build more effective talent pipelines.
The expertise exodus isn't inevitable; it's a choice we've made through outdated organisational design and narrow definitions of success. By recognising the equal importance of craft mastery, leadership and management skill, we can create environments where both thrive in harmony.
Our industry doesn't need more managers who used to be experts. It needs experts who are empowered to lead through their mastery. It’s a fundamental reality that needs to be understood and actioned for future success.