Bossing It: Growing and Shaping Development as a Leader through Mentorship
Tim founded Pangea in 2021, to deliver an alternative model to the big network agencies. The model has offices in Melbourne (2020) and Amsterdam (2024), with a partner office in Los Angeles (2021). Since their inception they have delivered work for clients all around the globe including, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Globally recognised as an accomplished and highly awarded marketing consultant with former roles as managing director of Proximity (BBDO Group) in Germany and RED Proximity in London, global client service director for Porsche and Bayer Animal Health as well as regional European lead for Amazon Marketplace in Europe. Previous to this Tim worked across a number of leadership roles within the Clemenger Group Australia before making the move to Europe.
Tim’s success was built off the back of authentic, trusting and entrepreneurial partnerships where the status quo was always challenged to bring a new kind of best practice to the table for every client. Tim’s style is hard working, passionate and highly collaborative and leverages his extensive network to ensure that best practice across every vertical is brought to the table. Tim prides himself on making the complex simple, working smart and having an uncompromising pursuit of excellence in everything he does.
LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?
Tim> My exposure to leadership early on was mainly through sporting teams and trade sites where I spent the majority of my part time work up until the age of around 23. These environments were far more alpha and ‘rah rah’. It wasn’t until I moved into an early management role with Traffik, part of the BBDO group, that I was mentored with a different kind of leadership style and one that felt more natural to my personality style.
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?
Tim> I think if I am being honest, I am very much still on that journey and I’m always course correcting to what the ideal shape of myself as a leader looks like. At times in my leadership journey I have picked up some poor leadership habits such as being too autocratic, controlling or trying to solve problems on my own when the pressure is really on.
In more recent times I’ve actively worked on changing my mindset to focus on connecting with, inspiring and enabling the people around me and I focus on clarity of vision and mission. I have then designed my business around helping me to amplify those strengths.
LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?
Tim> The lessons that I’ve learnt are all fairly cliched and written in every good textbook about leadership, but they were lessons that I really had to find my own path to learning. The biggest one was imposter syndrome. I’d actually never heard of the term, and when I attended BBDO University, it was a bit of an “aha” moment for me.
When I was in Germany, I found myself pitching for a number of global accounts with a lot of areas that I wasn’t as experienced in, with people that had tons more experience than me. I was very intimidated and felt like a bit of a fish out of water. We lost a number of pitches early and I had to consistently review what I was doing wrong in every one of them to get better.
I found that in the quest to be a more empowering leader, I had also become intimidated of saying what I thought, and my behaviour was often dictated by the environment I was operating in.
After going deeper on learning about imposter syndrome it made me feel far more comfortable in believing in myself and my point of view and I felt like I achieved a much more balanced leadership style in my time overseas.
LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?
Tim> I’ve always enjoyed leadership roles, the challenges that come with them but equally the ability to write your own team’s script. It’s such an exciting privilege that I feel is really accessible to a lot of people in the game that we play.
For me to work towards growth and opportunities in leadership, you need to work with people that believe in your abilities as a leader and give you room to make mistakes and grow. I was incredibly lucky that the four people that I have worked closest with for the last few chapters (James Neale and Nick Garrett in Australia and Sue Nisbet and Marianne Heiss in Europe) gave me constant opportunities, feedback and guidance to really evolve as a leader.
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?
Tim> We all have skills that come naturally to us and then skills that we need to work on. I believe that a lot of it can be taught but ultimately we are working with people and that’s something that no textbook can give you the perfect formula for. The best leaders hire people around them that amplify their strengths and cover their weaknesses. The natural part that is important to have is intestinal fortitude and will, and a consistent feedback loop in your own head around how you can get better.
LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?
Tim> As a leader of my own business now vs a leader in a big agency, I find the challenges different and there is good and bad in both. As managing director of Proximity in Germany it was probably just bandwidth. People ultimately wanted more from you than you had the capacity to give and that was also a result of a successfully growing business and growing pains. Having such a large team, it was challenging to bring everyone along for the journey.
Equally, I had a large leadership network around me and above me that I was able to lean on.
Now, as a leader of my own business, the greatest challenge is also the greatest opportunity. There is just so much blue sky - you can find yourself paralyzed with indecision or erratic in realising your vision. I envy the entrepreneurs around me that I see with such a clear and defined vision of what their business needs to be and where they need to go.
As a result of being such a market orientated business, we are constantly evolving our service and partnership model which makes a great fluent business but also harder to know which way to set the course ahead.
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?
Tim> Ha, yes, consistently and probably daily. I probably wouldn’t use the word failure as it feels very final. I feel like I am constantly pushing myself in a way where I will make a lot of mistakes in order to grow and to really see what I am capable of, not just in leadership but in most areas of my life. I try to fail fast and learn quickly so any misstep along the way, I am able to course correct before creating too much destruction. Hopefully this stays the case!
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?
Tim> Yes definitely, I am very open with the team and probably too open at times. Authenticity (a word one of my clients will kill me for using) can’t be faked, and if I feel like I am not sharing all of the information with my team, I don’t feel like I am being my best self either.
The team I have now is small, senior and highly trusted. Everyone in my circle I let in to share the problems and the opportunities that I see. I have found that having transparency at that level has allowed us all to view challenges and opportunities in 3D which ultimately leads to more impactful solutions.
It also extends beyond our team and onto our clients. Openness and transparency directly impacts the quality and depth of the relationships that we have with each other and our clients which is what our business is built off. To create any form of longevity we need to have that relationship.
If our clients have a full view on our service model and how the sausage is made, then together we can co-design the best partnership model for both parties. It also makes it easier to adjust along the way because everyone knows how it all works.
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?
Tim> I have taken quite a lot from the leaders that I have worked with and a few of them I mentioned earlier. I do think ‘mentorship’ is the best hack to growing and shaping your development as a leader. I have often found osmosis more effective than direct advice.
Watching how the leaders around you lead, how they handle adversity, how they communicate with different personality types etc. I also think there is something to be said in watching how bad leaders lead.
This gets easier to spot as you get a bit older.
I mentor quite a few people now and they are all in very different stages of their careers with very different paths. I would say that the relationship has evolved with most of them to be a sparring partner rather than a sage. I offer advice but ultimately let them find their own path by asking the right questions.
LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?
Tim> Consistency & Optimism. I know that if I am stressed about a particular situation my team can feel it. It’s part of the territory of having such a close knit team. I think that the best thing you can do as a leader in troubling times is to be consistent in your vision, but equally honest about what lies ahead. It’s also important to know how to recharge your own batteries so you can show up as your best self and with a sense of optimism for any challenge.
LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?
Tim> Our diversity and inclusion efforts are an ongoing journey. Gender diversity is probably the biggest focus area for our team at the moment. We are getting better year on year, but still have a way to go. We have found that the below initiatives though have really helped us with getting more balance into the workforce whilst also acknowledging we aren’t there yet:
- Flexible Working Arrangements: Our flexible working policies have allowed us to attract and retain a diverse workforce, accommodating various lifestyles and personal needs, which naturally enhances our diversity and inclusion efforts.
- Global Presence: Operating on a global scale has provided us with a rich mix of cultural perspectives and experiences, which we actively leverage to foster a more inclusive environment.
- Gender Balance in Leadership: We have a 50/50 gender balance in our agency leadership, strategy, production, and other specialist areas however still skew heavily male when it comes to creativity. This is an area that we need to be better at.
- Ethnic Diversity: Due to the nature of our briefs and our businesses, we are on the path to ensuring we have more ethnic diversity across all levels of our organisation, ensuring representation and inclusivity in decision-making processes and company culture. If we looked at a map of it all, it probably looks good on the surface but in reality there is still a fair bit of work to do. It tends to be dictated by project at the moment and often by the region we are working in.
The switch that needs to happen for us, is to find a way for that representation to be more central and embedded within the organisation.
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?
Tim> It’s everything and it’s also why we can attract the calibre of talent that we do. Our model is pretty unique and as a result we can have a completely flexible working environment due to the nature and shape of our work. Probably more than half our revenue comes from outside of Melbourne and now quite a chunk from outside of Australia. As a result, there just isn’t the need to be in the office 5 days a week together.
Due to having such a senior team, culture to us is not necessarily having a fully stocked bar fridge on Fridays (though we do!). Culture is about what our business allows you to do to perform at your best.
For most of us, that is being able to do school drop off, to work remotely for a long weekend with your family, to go to a long lunch with mates during work hours, or sneak in a run around the Tan. And then, it’s getting the basics right, treating each other well, not standing for bad behaviour and being maniacal about the people we let into our circle.
LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?
Tim> People are the greatest resource for me, rather than textbooks. I lean on leadership coaches, mentors, and the team around me. I have also relied on many biographies, applying the lessons learned from them.
One of my favourites at the moment is the biography of Admiral William H. McRaven, known famously ‘Making Your Bed in The Morning’. Another book that has helped me on my journey is "The Alchemist," a well-known book. The lessons in this book often reassure me when leading down a less-travelled path, and I find comfort in its micro-lessons on staying true to your path, fulfilment, and dealing with adversity.
