Doing the Right Thing: Armando Araújo and the Path of Leadership
Armando Araújo is the chief creative officer at We and We Group, with over 20 years of experience in the advertising industry. He has worked at notable agencies in Brazil, where he contributed to building brands like Unilever, Heineken, Jeep, Motorola, BYD, EMS Pharma, Shopee, Ray-Ban and Absolut.
His work has earned him numerous awards at international advertising festivals. These include a Yellow Pencil at the D&AD and a Grand LIA, as well as recognitions from Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, One Show, New York Festivals, El Ojo de Iberoamérica, FIAP, Clube de Criação.
In 2022, Armando Araújo was named one of the Top 100 Executive Creative Directors on the D&AD Global List. He has also served as a judge at events such as NYFA, EFFIE Awards, El Ojo de Iberoamérica, PHX Awards and PPA, sharing his expertise with the industry.
LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?
Armando> I believe that leadership is an attitude towards each challenge and not a specific position.
So, my first experience as a leader was well before my career as an advertiser and creative. In childhood, during some school work, probably.
But focusing on the topic ‘leader in advertising agencies’, my first experience was at F.biz, from WPP. Even without being in a leadership position per say (I was a senior writer on the team at the time), I could mobilise people around what I believed in for the agency and our clients.
To do this, it is important to keep in mind that you have to occupy the space first. Only then do you occupy the chair. At least, this was also my trajectory at We. I started almost six years ago as one of the creative directors and today, I am the CCO of the agency and the group.
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?
Armando> Leadership is not an instruction manual. It is something natural, organic, and, above all, human. Of course, I have my predilections, but instead of making a list to follow, I prefer to build it analytically.
For me, the leader I always wanted to be is the result of three very distinct, but extremely related, visions. The first is the view of the past. What were my experiences? What did I learn to do? What did I go through that I wouldn't want to take forward?
The second vision is about the present. It is unlikely that you will always have favourable conditions every day of your management. But improving the company’s and people’s lives today is possible. It's the small and constant decisions that make a difference.
Finally, we need to talk about the vision of the future. I usually make my projections every five years. There is time to make mistakes, correct them, and get back on track again.
Predictability is essential so you don't get lost along the way. More than that: people need it to see what you believe.
LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?
Armando> It's funny that I clearly remember two moments in my career: one at the beginning of my leadership process at We and another very recent one, already in the agency's leadership position.
At the beginning of 2019, Marcelo Siqueira, the person who had hired me to be one of the CDs at We, decided to follow another path in his career. But before leaving the agency, he gathered the partners and reinforced that the agency's work was in good hands with me and that they should develop me, instead of looking for a new VP. An act of great generosity on his part and I learned a lot from it.
The second moment was last year. In December, my mother was hospitalised and I discovered that she had a serious illness. This news was a real shock for me and my family. A troubled time, full of doubts and, really, very difficult to deal with.
That same week, one of the agency's employees came to me to talk about her career, her aspirations, and her anxieties. I was personally broken, but she also needed someone to find her axis. We talked for over an hour, and at the end of the chat, she thanked me for simply listening and helping her. She could barely imagine what I was going through at that moment.
I think that's what leadership is about: doing the right thing, with generosity, regardless of the circumstances you are living in. Everyone has their issues and their internal battles. The truth is that we will never be 100% ready for this type of donation. It's a daily exercise.
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?
Armando> As I said before, I have always thought that leadership is an attitude, it is something that you perform in your life. And, therefore, it is a role that you play regardless of your hierarchical position.
The only difference is the number of people you can influence. The more people, the more complex your work.
Therefore, the first step in preparation is a critical analysis of the decision-making of the leaders with whom you interact in the company. You don't have all the factors for the analysis, but it is possible to have an opinion about the macro stance of those leaders.
Currently, I have a consultancy helping me understand aspects of leadership that are essentially intuitive.
For example, through a self-knowledge tool, mentoring was able to identify structural elements (developed over the years and, therefore, immutable), perception (how I read the moment), and current elements (how I actually read today).
It is very interesting, as it is an assessment of how you see life and work and is just a part of this reading. Believe me: this even influenced the choice of my mentor. Search for a profile that will add more to mine.
Doing this exercise of finding strengths, weaknesses, and, mainly, how much energy I put into this during the day, was essential for me to achieve a little more balance in my day. After all, now I can prepare in advance for the situations that I find most difficult to deal 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?
Armando> I think leadership is something natural for people. But the type of leadership you exercise is a learning experience. Some are more rational, others more emotional. There's no right or wrong. Leadership is the path and not the end.
It is likely that, throughout your career, you will find it easier with some things and need to know theoretically what is more complicated to progress on your journey. It's a long road, however, you can improve a little every day.
LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?
Armando> The most challenging aspect of leadership is doing what is right for the company, but in a generous way towards people. Or do the right thing for people, but do it generously for the company.
It's a difficult job and, today, the only certainty I have is that I'm going to make a mistake at some point. Possibly several.
But I also believe that error cannot be an endpoint on this journey. Therefore, it is necessary to have a clear head to carry out this analysis correctly, minimising evaluation distortions.
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?
Armando> Of course.
I think the first thing is to admit it to yourself and others.
Afterward, I usually analyse what I could have done differently.
Finally, you need to move forward, without guilt and with an important lesson under your belt.
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?
Armando> As I don't like disrespecting people's intelligence, I prefer to be transparent. Sometimes people confuse transparency with being careless. They are different things. It is possible to be clear, objective, and cautious at the same time.
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?
Armando> Yes, throughout my career, I have had some important mentors: Gal Barradas, Pedro Reiss, Joanna Monteiro, Amaury ‘Bali’ Terçarolli, Marcelo Siqueira and Alexandre Ugadin are some examples of this.
Here, at We, the agency's CEO, Fabio Rosinholi, has helped me a lot in this aspect. He is a person I admire and with a personality completely different from mine. Therefore, he can bring me another perspective on the same topic. In our daily conversations, I learned a lot to expand my way of thinking and see a new way of leading.
I also do private mentoring, which offers me a great theoretical basis for practical problems in my day. This critical analysis is fundamental in the search for the evolution of my leadership style.
As for inspiring and guiding some people, this happens during the work routine itself. Or at least, I would like my collaborators to see it that way. I don't have a room, my desk is in the middle of the creation department. So, I think this helps this exchange a lot.
LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?
Armando> When everything is going well, it is always easier to lead. But the thing is, everything is never 100% okay. Even more so when you have big clients, big teams, and big jobs. The complexity of the work process is so great that it is impossible to have everything perfect all the time.
I even think that people don't seek this perfection, but perhaps they need leadership that gives them complete confidence in the chosen path.
LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?
Armando> Yes, as with any important topic in our industry, we always seek more diverse and inclusive environments. Of course, at some times we are more successful than at others. After all, there are many variables in this equation. However, we always keep this in mind when expanding our team.
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?
Armando> Right now, we are completing consultancy work on the culture of Grupo We, the holding company that owns the agencies We, LVL, IDK, and Content.
It was extremely important to work to put on paper “who we are” and “where we want to go”. For me, two fundamental premises in any organisational culture.
Regardless of the growth of our business, We have never been carried away by appearances. This year, we are moving to an entire building of our own, because we believe that the new headquarters will facilitate and enhance integration between people. We like this closeness and exchange. This is what makes communication something alive and shareable for us.
When I arrived at We, I always said that advertising had already gone through all its ‘Ages’ of absolute truths: the Era of Creation, the Era of Planning, the Era of Media, the Era of Content, etc. Therefore, as there were no more new ones to be created, we were only left with the obvious: making all these Eras work together.
For me, it's not remote work that distances people from culture. But not understanding the purpose of that place and, consequently, not identifying with that structure. That's what makes you not belong. Here, at We, we work in the plural. Exactly like our name.
That's why we like to be together whenever possible.
LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?
Armando> For those who see leadership as a constant learning process, time is the most important resource on this journey. You need to embrace the process and be aware that this is a race without a finish line.
