The More Human Side of Leadership with Jari Lähdevuori

Jari Lähdevuori is executive creative director and partner at Kurio // The Social Media Age(ncy). Jari started his agency career when social media marketing was becoming the talk of town. Thus his approach to creativity is social-first. This also led to the creation of Kurio, which he co-founded in 2012.

Jari has built many internationally awarded campaigns and helped Kurio reach several Agency of The Year titles. Kurio is part of SAMY Alliance, a social-first group named Fastest Growing Agency by AdWeek.

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Jari> Presumably becoming the captain of our football team, at 12 years old. It was a huge honour, since the choice came from team mates. Baffling honour.  

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?

Jari> Being a leader by title came as a by-product of starting our own agency. So, I hadn’t really given too many thoughts on what kind of a leader I’d want to be. Still, there were great examples obviously. I have been fortunate to have those. I believe my “ideal of myself as a leader” is based on those, combined with personal traits.

I strive to be at the same level with everyone, yet give direction based on whatever experience and expertise I may have. Not make a big deal of myself, but not being afraid to step up and show vision, guidance, decision. I think there is something learned at home too – a bit of both mother and father.

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

Jari> I think the lessons learned are about many not a single one. It’s the tacit knowledge gleaned from both successes and tough situations. Lessons are not only subjective either. Literature has been – and will be – a great source of someone else’s lessons. 

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?

Jari> I strongly believe in us human beings learning, adapting, evolving. Leadership skills included.

Also, leadership is very much context-related. You may be a leader here, a follower there.

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

Jari> In a role in which you are both a professional in your field and a leader to other professionals too – like many leaders without a doubt are – the difficulty is in finding time for the leading. It is so easy to get piled up in the output you are working on – the thing you love to do, what got you here in the first place – that you end up neglecting the leading part, one way or another.

And there’s a sub-challenge hidden there too. When you find the time 'to lead', it tends to be focused on the outputs you all are working on. The more human side of the relationship goes neglected way too easily.

Not sure I’ve found the antidote for these. But acknowledging them is a good start.

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?

Jari> Going back to the previous answer, the relationships within a team need to be built – and openness is of course a key here. Like in any relationship.

But at the same time, leaders are there to lead. To show the way. Being open shouldn’t mean sharing everything you know or think all the time. Most of the stuff is not helping others to stay on the right path.

Too much info only distracts.

To show the way – to inspire everyone to get there – is all about communication. And with that, less is more. No news there to anyone in our industry, I suppose.

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

Jari> By being knee-deep in those waters myself.

This also goes back to what we discussed above. As the pace of change is so fast, you simply must allocate your time to staying on top of the changes in your line of work – not only to be able to lead, but even more so to do your own job. This naturally leads to less time spent on the “leading part”.

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

Jari> At Kurio we believe that creativity is for all. The way I try to lead the creativity of the whole agency is to foster a culture of inclusivity. No matter where an idea comes from, it is heard, it is cherished. Everyone can be creative. Everything can be done (more) creatively. From campaign planning to client events and from internal meetings to information sharing.

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?

Jari> We love the quote by late CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsiah: “Your culture is your brand”. We’ve always kept a close eye on our culture staying the way we wanted and hoped it to be. To be the kind of a company we want to work in, to spend a big part of your life in. If you don’t pay attention, culture can silently start changing as years go by and things grow – and you might end up in a situation in which we don’t walk the talk no more.

Our culture is built on our three core values: together, trust and team spirit. As an example of how these are brought to life in action: we’ve stayed mostly at the office with a one-day-remote-working model. We want to work in a company that is a community. And we love to see people in real life, really interact with the whole team. That’s what makes this thing worth doing. It’s a people business after all. And an amazingly fun one.