‘There will be as many opportunities as there are challenges’: Mumbrella’s PR Professional of the Year Symon Madry talks leadership and change
Symon Madry is the Practice Head of Technology and Business for Red Havas. At Mumbrella's recent CommsCon awards he won PR Professional of the Year. In this interview, Symon reflected on leadership during COVID-19, the power of bandwidth, and the importance of backing yourself.
As I congratulate CommsCon’s PR Professional of the Year award winner Symon Madry his responses are punctuated by the soft gurgles of his six-week-old daughter. For Madry, the last few months have been made particularly surreal by the birth of his first child.
Symon Madry, Practice Head of Technology and Business at Red Havas
“My daughter was born on the third of March, and I went on paternity leave on the second,” reflects Madry, “I was throwing myself into being a new dad, taking care of my wife and my little one.” But beyond the happy domestic bubble pandemic rumblings were getting louder. “By the time I came back to work I felt like the guy from 28 Days Later who went to sleep, and the world ended around him,” he confesses. His colleagues had been working remotely for two weeks, and there were no face-to-face meetings with clients – agency life as he knew it had disappeared.
Madry has built a career on embracing change. By his own account, he’s pitched loved up couples from e-harmony, sat in television studios with execs talking cloud computing, and managed everything from animal liberation protesters at events, to country music stars in Tamworth. “My approach to the first five or six years of my career was to keep asking whether I was too comfortable, whether I was learning enough, and to keep pushing for something new,” he says. Lucinda Attrill, who spearheads senior executive search at recruitment firm and CommsCon sponsor Salt & Shein notes Madry’s bandwidth has served him well. She notes that particularly in the early stages of a career, “genuine breadth of skill” is more likely to shine in agencies. Attrill adds, “specialization can be more strategic and fulfilling later on” – something Madry has now achieved in his role as Practice Head of Technology and Business for Red Havas.
However, even for someone as adaptable as Madry, the apocalyptic landscape he has re-entered has its challenges.
Managing a remote team, for example, has been full of learnings. “I have always viewed my role as a manager as making it as easy as possible for my team to do their work,” says Madry. The needs of individuals don’t always coordinate neatly, though. “Some on my team actually love working remotely and the ‘deep work’ it lends itself to, but others thrive on the human connections they get in the office and are struggling more,” says Madry. The challenge is that two such individuals might be working together on the same account. There is no silver bullet. What has been essential is one-on-one conversations and regular check-ins during COVID-19 to help the teams at Red navigate their own relationships and workloads.
Agencies are notorious for the challenges they pose to work-life balance, and when your work moves home, these problems are compounded – Madry and I both concede that our “homes” have been the losing party in the “home office” equation. And while many employers worry that their employees may be tempted to adopt laid back attitudes to working from home, Madry says his focus has been on helping his team separate their work from their domestic life and getting a break. Often it’s as simple as encouraging them to step away from their desks. Madry’s attention to detail on these matters is part of a broader strategy of ensuring teams retain a sense of perspective during difficult times. “It’s not about being blindly optimistic,” he insists, “it’s about remaining cognizant of the opportunities because there will be as many opportunities as there are challenges in this situation.”
Certainly, opportunities abound in the sectors serviced by Madry’s teams. Technology and business sectors have shown resilience during COVID-19; what has changed is the projects. Madry notes that there’s been a pivot to long-term strategy and short term content in the transformed media environment and greater pressure to guide businesses in their contributions to public discourse. Madry says, “The advice I am giving to clients would be true for any environment. There is a need to communicate but there is a greater need to communicate in a genuine and meaningful way. I think everyone understands that businesses are challenged right now – that isn’t an excuse for capitalizing inappropriately.” Instead, Madry says businesses should focus on what they are doing to help, how they are doing it, and where that provides a broader benefit to the community.
The other consideration is the internal comms. In the panic of staying afloat, many businesses risk alienating their most essential stakeholders – their employees. “I did a year of internal comms within one of the Big Four banks and I learned the value of clear employee engagement,” says Madry, “especially during difficult times.” Employees, Madry says, should be hearing news from their leaders first, not opening up the pages of the Australian Financial Review or the Sydney Morning Herald. Lack of transparency can generate toxic water cooler (or Slack channel, or Teams meetings) gossip. Companies need to ensure their employees remain their best advocates in market and should communicate clearly.
Of course, many of these employees might be feeling displaced – either because their work lives have become unrecognizable or because they’ve faced stand-downs and redundancies. Whether looking for work in a competitive job market or trying to progress your career in a challenged organization, Madry recommends remaining mindful of the power of your own story. “I was warned when I moved to London that I might have to take a step down, and I was fortunate to be able to make a lateral move,” says Madry. When Madry embarked on his London sojourn with his wife neither had a job lined up – just a handful of introductory coffees and an Airbnb. Within a few weeks, they had both found roles, and Madry had managed to make a lateral move. “It’s partly luck” Madry reflects, “but I was also very open and honest about my motivations in job interviews. I spoke to my professional experience, but I also told the story of my wife and I and our hunger for new experiences, and I think that the human factor helped me stand out as a person, not just an employee.”
While the current job market may feel crowded, those who can set themselves apart will be those who can demonstrate who they are as well as what they have done. This sentiment is also endorsed by Atrill. The impacts of COVID-19 means there will be more experienced candidates on the market than usual. Attrill advises that “more than ever the onus will be on candidates to differentiate themselves – having an original authentic narrative, articulated in a compelling fashion will be key to standing out and landing roles.”
Maintaining professional networks, even if you’re happy in your current role is also essential. When Madry made the move home to Australia he found that many of his old contacts had moved on from agencies – he was uncertain of the local industry and his place in it. Seeking counsel from a variety of contacts was essential, and amongst them was Lucinda Attrill. “Lucinda was one of the people I contacted for advice before returning home. She was really honest and helpful” notes Madry, “she was able to reassure me that the market had kept pace with international trends and was able to guide me in the direction of agencies that could offer me the kind of opportunities I was looking for”. Madry eventually found himself happily settled at Red Havas. The experience re-confirmed for him the value of maintaining professional networks that span agencies, clients, and recruitment – and taking advantage of the wealth of advice on offer.
Lucinda Attrill, Senior Executive Search Consultant at Salt & Shein
I ask Madry what mindset those in PR and advertising should be adopting right now. He replies “A growth mindset is obvious – you need to be looking for opportunities and finding solutions within the constraints. Constraints are where some of the best creative ideas come from.” Interestingly, for someone who has founded their career on flexibility, Madry has found power in doing less, decisively. He had found himself fielding countless emails daily and feeling that there was little return on the energy spent.
“I read Greg Mckeown’s Essentialism, and the notion of moving a million things by a millimeter really resonated with me,” says Madry. Mckeown’s philosophy recommends viewing work activities as investments that need to be justified. Many who have found their days consumed with Zoom meetings are finding themselves somehow overworked but under-utilized. Madry says Mckeown’s outlook has guided him to check himself and ensure he deploys his time efficiently. “Ultimately,” says Madry, “that’s what’s going to make the biggest difference for my teams, my clients, and my business.”
Many in the industry are finding themselves under-resourced and overwhelmed by the constantly changing requirements of business under COVID-19. As workplaces streamline, an essentialist approach to workflows may be one of the habits we carry to the other side. “It’s not a new idea, but it’s an important one,” says Madry as his daughter makes one final farewell gurgle.
Salt & Shein are the proud sponsors of the Mumbrella CommsCon Awards, and for the last two years have to Present the ‘Practitioner of the Year’ Award to highlight the significance of the category. Lucinda Attrill, Agency Practice Head at Salt & Shein says ‘we champion the development and recognition of strong talent and know that best in class talent is what enables the consultancy market to grow and thrive. Symon is a great example of a homegrown candidate who layered up his breadth and depth of capability with international experience and now can reap the benefits of this in an integrated, multi-disciplinary agency.”
CONTENT SPONSORED BY Salt & Shein
