From The Canvas to Conference Rooms: Why Katie Rigg-Smith is Relentlessly Curious

To Katie Rigg-Smith, her new role as chief strategy officer at WPP is actually a creative one – at least in part. Hardly surprising, given Katie has always had a strong creative side. 

“I was all about art in school,” Katie says. “All about painting, photography, English, and history. They were all my forte – maths and science, not so much.”

After eventually studying media and comms, Katie found herself at Mindshare, the media agency she would call home for nearly 24 years – 10 of which as CEO. So when the opportunity came to step up at WPP, the change was a plunge in more ways than one. But you wouldn’t know it from talking to her.

“I love it,” Katie says. “I absolutely love it. I've always loved Mindshare and the people there, but I think after being CEO for nearly 10 years, you're ready for something different. And doing strategy is my happy place.”

As WPP’s CSO for Australia and New Zealand, Katie’s responsibility is to understand client challenges, and find creative ways to make their lives simpler. And the opportunity to work across different creative agencies is not something she takes for granted.

“It’s been warming, the way the agencies at WPP have embraced me. The main goal for me is always the work – How do we create work for clients that's going to transform their business and deliver success? I've always been single-minded about that. And now it’s about adding value as part of the broader network of agencies.”

Being across a multitude of agencies might overwhelm most professionals. But Katie is the kind of person who stays across everything; economics, technology, society, legislation. It's all about ensuring she can be as empathetic to clients as possible.

“One of my goals in the new role was to create a really big diet of content this year to open my mind up to everything around me. That’s been massive.”

And it makes sense, since being CSO means anticipating the unexpected and seeing around corners.

“Everyone talks spin in a crisis, but I find that we can also be quick to say, Well, why isn't the client doing that? Well, there's probably a whole lot going on for them that we just need to be  more empathetic towards.

Leaning into the challenge of her new position, Katie’s toolkit gets a workout across every area of WPP. But micromanaging isn’t a part of her modus operandi. As she puts it, “it takes a village”, and embracing the individual processes and personalities of every WPP agency is how Katie can best support her teams.

“It's great, because I want to see those different flavours come out. You can hop into a lift and just know who belongs to which agency. You can feel who they are.”

And those disparate elements are WPP’s greatest strength.

“Agencies don’t work together on things that are competitive. We don’t need them to change to fit each other, and we all benefit from our differences.”

The brightest minds Katie has worked with in creative strategy don't bring ego into their work. They want to be challenged and want to be around people that are going to give them a different point of view.

“It's really refreshing to be constantly in the room with people that are one hundred times smarter than I am, but who want to hear different points of view. Because yes, they know their stuff, but they know everyone can offer insights”

Katie has also been a mentor for the Marketing Academy since its inception, and is keenly involved in WPP’s internal mentorship programs. Describing herself as “someone who’ll pay it back”, Katie’s gratitude for the advice and guidance she has received during her career is overflowing.

“It’s rewarding, being exposed to really bright talent. I often think, wow, you're going to take over the world – this is so cool.”

Having had three children while CEO of Mindshare, it is not uncommon for Katie to be approached by employees about to embark on maternity or paternity leave. In a competitive industry, the gloves are often coming off. But Katie is a champion for setting your own boundaries.

“People are always excited to have a baby but concerned about neglecting their career. I always say – reframe. It’s the best sabbatical they can ever have. When I took leave I created a learning agenda before I went. Six months later when you’re bored of scrolling and worn out, you have some direction to keep your mind active.”

It doesn’t all have to happen right now, Katie says. That’s why she has two phones; one for work, and one for her home life. Even if it means she works into the night to get her work done, she will never miss the opportunity to pick her girls up from school, or to undertake an activity with them.

“I still paint,” Katie says, of one of the loves of her life. “Now it’s usually rainbows with my five-year-old.”

And one of her favourite artists, Matisse, has also become an inspiration for her daughter, Coco. After visiting the Matisse exhibition and learning about the principles of deconstructing images, Coco’s once perfect, uniform rainbows evolved into a deconstruction of coloured arches. What seems incredible to an outsider is common sense for Katie – she has always known creativity is fueled by the things we see and absorb.

“I’m in love with that curiosity,” Katie says. “It’s extraordinary, and I keep the two rainbows side by side. People see the perfect rainbow and they love it, but it’s that second one that really makes me smile.”