Championing Growth and Enabling Teams to Thrive: Social Element’s CEO’s Approach to Leadership

Linn Frost is an innovative leader and brand expert who is using her creative superpowers to grow socially valuable brands. She is currently the co-global CEO of the Social Element, a social brand agency on a mission to Make Social Better by enabling brands to understand their role in society and how to earn a place in people's lives.

Linn is proudly 'Neurospicy' and passionate about helping to reshape the world to recognise and celebrate everyone's talents. She is a thought leader and mentor for The Marketing Society, The Marketing Academy and Social Marketing Brand expert for the BBC.

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Linn> I believe that you lead throughout your whole career, so I have been learning to lead from the very start – since day one of working in the industry – with the goal to follow in the footsteps of the people that inspire me.

I also believe in treating people how I would like to be treated. I always think “What would have motivated me? What would inspire me?” and “What would I have wanted in this situation?”

Great leaders are the ones that enable everyone around them to feel empowered.

LBB> How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?

Linn> Through leading by example and being my authentic self. I have been on a huge journey with my dyslexia and ADHD, which I call being ‘neurospicy’ because it’s not one or the other, it’s a spectrum that I’m proud to be on.

But it has taken until being in my 40’s to actually appreciate that I am really good at some things and I am really not so good at others. I want to show my team that being an amazing leader is about being true to yourself and finding your own leadership style, while also being able to admit when you get something wrong and ask for help when you need it.

It’s important to have a North Star. If you know why you are getting out of bed in the morning and you can convey that to everyone else, they are going to want to get out of bed in the morning and work with you too. This is a Simon Sinek-inspired approach, his TED Talks have really inspired me over the years.

LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?

Linn> Early in my career, I worked with Rory Sutherland [now Ogilvy UK vice chairman] and how he behaved and treated everybody was a real example of great leadership. He is fiercely smart and incredibly enthusiastic and he handled a moment that could have got in a lot of trouble.

He was leading the strategy on a big pitch and asked me to travel abroad and hire a car to film the experience, which was going to be part of our pitch response. The problem arrived when I landed in Seville and was unable to actually hire the car because I had forgotten to bring my credit card with me. So when the time to share my film with everyone in London came around, I had to make a choice – either I could lie and say there had been a technical difficulty or I could come clean and tell Rory and the whole room what had happened. I was embarrassed and very nervous, but knew that my actions could result in me being fired, so I figured, I may as well tell the truth.

Rather than being disappointed, Rory was thrilled. My mistake allowed us to find a new strategic angle – we told the client about how difficult it was to hire the car in our lead strategic territory and we actually won the pitch.

This is a great example of leadership because Rory created an environment of psychological safety which meant that his colleagues could be honest. We all make mistakes and we are all human. When I am asked “In this industry, how do you know what to do when something goes wrong?” I can answer because I have made so many mistakes before. This is how you gain expertise and experience.

Rory’s openness enabled me to admit my mistake and he transformed that moment into opportunity, resulting in a truly inspiring campaign. Leadership rooted in fear never brings out people’s best side, I try to empower and appreciate everyone I work with.

LBB> When it comes to 'leadership' as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, how much can be taught and learned?

Linn> My natural personality and comfort place is directing and communicating. But I would say I have to teach myself patience. I am a very quick thinker and my neurodiverse superpowers mean that I get to the answer incredibly quickly. So I know that in order to be a better leader, I need to enable others to come on the journey with me and feel part of the solution, which is why I am actively working on slowing down and listening to others, rather than trying to solve things alone as that really isn't fun for anyone, including me.

LBB> Have you ever felt like you've failed whilst in charge? How did you address the issue and what did you learn from it?

Linn> The truth is that you feel like you are failing all of the time. I have to work hard not to constantly question myself and get comfortable with getting it wrong. The key thing is to be open to learning and changing your approach when you need to.

There have been lots of points in my career where I think I could have done things differently. My advice is to always be prepared to fail. The account handler in me always has a plan A, B, C, D and E! As a leader, you would be really naive to believe that you will never fail, so my advice is to prepare for the worst and be ready with a solution at hand to turn things around.

LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be as transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?

Linn> You’re going to need to be both! By default, I am truthful and transparent, sometimes to my detriment. I wholeheartedly believe in being trusting and transparent, but when you are leading a company, you have to also be mindful and considerate. The best advice I’ve been given is from the amazing coach and entrepreneurial leader Claire Koryczan (CK) who taught me to make the right decision by thinking about what would the business say to you if it could speak and what does it need you to do to protect it. It's also important to remember that your role is to provide clarity and to motivate and protect your team, not to burden them with worry and stress as that never leads to successful outcomes,

LBB> As you developed your leadership skills, did you have a mentor, if so who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship?

Linn> Yes – I have been very lucky to have had different mentors throughout my career. Sarah Hurst was my first mentor at Ogilvy – I did work experience with her, she recognised my talents and brought me into the industry. I then had Katie Lancaster who was my first official coach, she taught me to think about the language I used and showed me that confidence comes from certainty. She banned me from saying, ‘would’, ‘should’ or ‘could’s, and taught me how to own my space when I walk into a room. That was a game changer and enabled me to get my voice heard. Gemma Greaves is also very good at this and reminds me regularly that your brain is listening so it's important to be positive, bold and brave.

Helen Weisinger was another amazing mentor. She was very patient with me as I wasn’t ready for her at the time – I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be in the industry anymore, so I unfortunately wasn’t the best mentee as I was questioning my existence, which did get in the way of progress.

Emma Harris immediately took me under her wing when we started working together. She helped me widen my network by championing me and inviting me to everything and being a source of inspiration and encouragement.

I have also learnt so much from being a mentor. I had the privilege of mentoring Atlyn Forde via The Marketing Society. Atlyn is an amazing human who wanted to set up her own consultancy Communicate Inclusively (which she has since launched). She just needed someone in her corner to say “You’ve got this” and be there to listen and cheerlead. She has inspired me to have the confidence to do whatever it takes to build something you are proud of and that will really make a difference.

LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?

Linn> It is a very uncertain time in the world at the moment and right now for me, it's all about focusing on the things we can do. Agencies need to evolve – there is this big value exchange problem that is happening between client and agency and the balance of that relationship needs to even out and improve.

With this in mind, I am working with our team to make sure we are showing up with the most relevant products that are really easy to buy, and that our service is second to none. In tough times, it's really easy to panic and make decisions through fear but that’s not going to get you anywhere. The best thing to do is strengthen what you have and seek out ways to be more efficient and resilient.

LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?

Linn> The Social Element was built on inclusion. Our values are based on being good humans, being kind, mindful and considerate and removing every single barrier that could potentially stop someone from working with us. For example, you don’t have to work in a fixed location and we’re flexible with hours. We have built a phenomenal diverse team because of these values.

LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns?

Linn> Culture is everything. This is a people-led industry and clients buy people as much as they buy the work. You’re only going to get great work when people work together.

There are many pros and cons to remote and hybrid working. The key thing is to try to create moments where we all come together as a team. This is because no matter how remote people want to be, we all need moments of connection IRL. Remote work can be isolating, so it's important to find both IRL and URL ways to connect regularly. Especially for younger people, I can’t imagine not having in-person time at the start of my career.

LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?

Linn> I would recommend that everybody becomes a member of The Marketing Society and applies for the Marketing Leadership Programme which is run by the amazing Annie Townsend. It’s where I got to grow and explore my leadership approach, while building a fantastic peer group.

The Marketing Academy is also brilliant – I have been privileged enough to experience their boot camp and they have a fantastic portal packed full of great talks and tools. They have two programmes the Scholarship and Fellowship, both are incredibly high quality and career defining. Sherilyn Shackell is an inspiration.

Everyone should have access to Emma Harris, who runs GLOW London and the game changing ‘Slow The Fuck Down’ programme, and Abigail Dixon from The Whole Marketer – she trains marketing and agency teams and runs transformational sessions based on her book on empowerment, capabilities and resilience – on their speed dial list. And of course, Claire Koryczan from Imagine Beyond, who coached me when I transitioned into my new co-CEO role at Social Element.

For career advice and finding your path, you can't beat Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis’s Squiggly career books and programmes. They have a new book coming out Learn Like a Lobster, go get it on your book shelf.

Because if you have good people and methodologies in your tool kit, you don’t need anything else.