Bossing It: Learning All the Time with Gretchen Walsh

Gretchen has spent her career helping design, successfully launch, and nurture ideas at some of the most creative shops in the business. Her experience covers brands such as Levi’s, Coors, HP, MTV, eBay, Choice Hotels, Little Caesars, and Blue Diamond Almonds. After starting her career in San Francisco at FCB and Goodby, Gretchen joined The Martin Agency. In 2004, she came to McKinney, honing her skills in media, strategy, and account management before being named President at the start of 2023. Gretchen’s role is to identify opportunities with our clients to generate growth for their brands. Gretchen serves as a Girls on the Run coach and is an active volunteer for PORCH, a grassroots hunger-relief organisation in Chapel Hill.

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Gretchen> I have to dial it all the way back to high school sports. I ran cross country it was August and hot, and NOBODY wanted to run. I found myself being the one who could motivate the team to do the workouts – twice a day – not by telling them they had to but by creating conditions for them to want to. I wasn’t the best runner by far, but I had this ability to get people to want to work hard. I loved how that felt, especially when we went on to be very successful as a team and had fun doing it.

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?

Gretchen> My Dad! He was a submariner in the Navy. From a very young age, he used to tell my sister and me this story about how when he reported for duty on his first ship, the captain had him stand at attention in his stateroom and simply said to him: “know the difference between unethical and illegal, now go do your job.” 

What was quite clear was breaking rules and regulations was acceptable if the common good (in that case, the crew of the ship) benefitted as a whole, but nothing was acceptable if it was not for the common good, legal or not.  

Being the president of an advertising agency is far from running a submarine, but the concept of doing what is right for the common good has stayed with me all these years and is something I still draw upon often. 

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

Gretchen> Early on in my career, when I was a media supervisor a mistake happened. A big mistake. In short, one of the planners on my team forgot to cancel an insertion in the WSJ, and as soon as I found out, I knew there could very well be financial and relationship issues. But to this day, I remember thinking to myself, “how I act in this moment is going to have an impact forever - so get your shit together and lead the team through this.” And that is what I did. The result was a stickier client relationship and a stronger team. In tough moments I always think about what the impact of how I act and how I make people feel will have. 

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?

Gretchen> From playing sports to my earlier days of management, I have always loved how it feels when I have had a role in helping lead individuals and teams to positive outcomes.  

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?

Gretchen> I think a lot of it is natural. But it is also hard work. To be a good leader, you need to be learning all of the time.  

LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?

Gretchen> I am an introvert. Even though there have been lots of counterarguments in the past years, I think people still assume leaders at extroverts. I continue to lean on my natural tendency to listen first, be receptive to other people's ideas and suggestions, and encourage collaboration (and celebrate the outcomes of it) while staying true to my vision.

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?

Gretchen> Yep! Definitely have failed. For me, the only way to address the issue is to take accountability for it and be clear (often publicly) about the learning. And the faster that is done, the sooner I can move on to what is next. Earlier in my career, I spent a decent about of time obsessing when things went wrong, now, I work on understanding why and moving on quickly. 

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

Gretchen> I try to be as open and transparent as possible. As I have gotten more senior in my roles, I realise that is not always possible (back to doing what is right for the greater good), but I try to be available and present for everyone regardless of what role they have on the team. I have always admired people who can make anyone at any level in any role see their value, and I try to do that every day. Admittedly, I’m a work in progress. 

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?

Gretchen> I have had some amazing role models and mentors along the way. The thing about leadership is there are examples of it every day in all aspects of our lives. Most recently, I have been watching my 17-year-old son as he works as a manager of a car wash for his summer job. Talking with him about how to figure out what motivates the different individuals on his team and how to keep them accountable to creating a collective better customer experience is close to what I do in my role. I often draw upon those conversations as I encourage, coach, and empower our newer managers and leaders. Plus, I challenge them to make sure they are having fun doing it.

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

Gretchen> Back to the common good. 

A number of years ago, I was interviewing with the president of an agency. He told me that he carried around a list of the employees of the agency in his jacket at all times as a reminder of the work that needed to be done to ensure the health of the agency – and the livelihood of the individuals. That empathy has always stuck with me.  

LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business?

Gretchen> Our culture is driven by our purpose: to untap potential - for our clients, for the communities we live and work in, and for our employees.   

In the past few years, McKinney has galvanised around that purpose along with a set of values that we call Smarts and Hearts.

We believe in and execute Smarts and Hearts so much that not only do clients cite it often as one of the reasons our partnerships are so strong, but we also reward it weekly by paying $1000 to an employee nominated by their peers who has exhibited those values.   

LBB> And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns?

Gretchen> I am so glad we are back in the office (or at a client, on production, learning at a conference, etc.) three days a week. It is undeniable that being able to be in person makes both the work and the experience better. We push each other harder, we learn from each other, we fail and move on faster, and we can celebrate and champion the ideas and experiences we create together.  

At the same time, by making Monday and Friday work from anywhere we provide flexibility that we also know is critical to both creativity and employees satisfaction.  

Our hybrid working pattern has become a really critical piece of our culture. 

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

Gretchen> I have gotten to work at some of the most successful creative agencies in the world on some of the most amazing and transformative brands. The people who run those have no doubt been incredibly formative in my journey. Even today, in my role as President, I continue to learn from the wisdom of people like our CEO and our chief strategy officer – but also our clients. Equally as important, the younger members of our workforce are making me better at my role. They have a diversity of thought and experiences that are critical to our success as an agency and my success as a leader. Hearing their points of view and ideas and figuring out how to leverage those ideas for growth is one of my favourite and most critical parts of my role.