Simone Waugh Is Trusting Her Instincts
Simone Waugh has extensive experience across corporate communications, marketing, creative management, media, digital and innovation, and business strategy. Currently MD of Publicis Worldwide Australia, she has worked with clients spanning Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia.
With extensive experience across categories including food and beverage, tourism, health, education, sport, auto, finance, her passion for defining purpose and creating meaningful partnerships has manufactured real social impact.
Simone led the communications work for the Brisbane 2032 successful bid and is now working with a number of sporting organisations to create transformational change using brand, digital, content, social engagement, events and partnerships. Simone is also a board director of Netball Queensland.
Simone always has a social cause in motion with a focus on creating equality, with recent work including for First Nations, Women in Domestic Violence, and Abused Children.
LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?
Simone> If you go right back in my life, it was primary school sports captain, school captain, or you could count creator of a pet rock stall and secret treehouse society. Or if we’re talking leadership that you’re paid for, it would be my first job when I was 21 while still studying, in which I led the internal communications for a bank, working directly with the general manager.
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?
Simone> I have been exposed to a mix of leaders, from inspiring and motivating to dysfunctional and destructive. Reflecting on the inspiring leaders, they have common traits – high resilience, they don’t take situations personally, don’t think of themselves first, have a brilliant sense of humour, and they live a life they love outside of work.
The dysfunctional leaders often worked long hours and prioritised work over family, had irrational tempers, made uninformed decisions, and changed their minds frequently without evidence.
LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?
Simone> I don’t actively talk about the moment that grounded me, but here I go, as it’s important to normalise it for others.
I was driving across the bridge one day and answered a call to say I was diagnosed with cancer. My outlook since that moment has changed to be grateful for the people I choose to spend my time with, be generous with my time for others, and just damn well make sure that I love what I do.
Work doesn’t stress me now, ever; I thrive and love every challenge, every project, every hard conversation – I’m here to make what we do at work matter. When I see someone else create something incredible, that’s when I know I’m leading well. And so today, I go the extra mile for people, clients, and work – because I see what the impact could be.
Publicis Groupe globally is now leading the change for people Working with Cancer with over 2,500 companies and over 35 million people now positively impacted.
If this was in the world when I was diagnosed, my experience with work would have been very different.
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?
Simone> What I can say is that it is more natural for me to lead with a sense of entrepreneurialism rather than wait for others. I never consciously set out to take on a leadership role – I’m not motivated by control and not led by ego (well, actually, a very intelligent person recently told me everyone has an ego, but I do know I don’t lead with it).
My mantra when taking a risk is ‘what is the worst thing that can happen?’ and if I can live with the answer, I do it.
LBB> When it comes to 'leadership' as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, and how much can be taught and learned?
Simone> My belief is a leader is usually within you, and the variable is the environment you grow up in, your education, who you have around you, and your experiences.
This doesn’t mean it all needs to be perfect, as the imperfect breeds resilience and motivation to challenge and innovate for a better world. During my career so far, I’ve been exposed to a whole range of leadership programs and each one has created a spark in me at that time. Publicis Groupe’s leadership program is deepening by the year around a central theme and behaviours that unite us as one.
LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?
Simone> I’ve had to learn to trust my instinct and stay true to what I believe is the best way forward in decision making. I’ve made missteps in hiring by instinctively trusting people but then finding out they don’t operate with the same values.
I’ve also found the people who are driven by wanting to climb higher – who want a bigger title – often operate with ego first versus being motivated by doing great work. Stay true to your values, and everything always works out.
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?
Simone> It depends how you think about failure. I’ve never truly failed, as I believe success comes from failure. You only know what’s good if you’ve taken risks (safely) and learnt through failure. The greatest ideas suffer from little failures along the way because they are big, great and hard – if they were easy, more people would create the ideas no one has ever thought of before.
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?
Simone> I can say without hesitation that transparency and authenticity is my way, BUT I can also say (authentically) that it sometimes has not worked in my favour.
I’ve learnt over time to be more considered, scenario plan, and provide evidence-based plans with solutions based on factors outside of my control (irrational responses, economic and category dynamics, political changes, restructures).
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?
Simone> I’ve always had unofficial mentors because I’ve actively sought to spend time with people I admire as leaders because of the impact they’ve made. But what I’ve realised over time is that most people need more structure, and so that’s why I’ve been actively involved in founding, supporting, or being a part of mentor programs as a mentor.
Six years ago, Publicis Worldwide created Assisterhood which was run by some amazing people, all I had to do as a leader was say yes and create the conditions, funding, and foundations for it to take off. It started with five female leaders at our agency matched with five mentees – and now it’s grown Australia and New Zealand-wide, across the industry with over 100 mentors and mentees annually.
This year we created LeadHERship at Publicis Worldwide, created by creative duo Christian McKechnie and Elle Whittaker.
We’re prioritising budget for one aspiring female leader in our business to be provided the opportunity to progress her leadership journey with skills, capabilities, and support. I’m also a mentor in the Minerva program, an Australia wide program matching business leaders with athletes who have aspirations to make an impact in and outside of sport.
LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?
Simone> I love leading change. Imagine a world that doesn’t change. Is change difficult? Of course, but that’s what makes it interesting and exciting. How I see my role as a leader is positioning the change positively and helping people on the journey, so they are inspired and motivated to love the change as much as I do.
LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?
Simone> Firstly, I actively ensure there is diversity in the leadership team with me – diversity of gender, age, and life and cultural experience. People who have lived lives out of the expected, who have had challenges thrown at them, seem to be more resilient and inclusive and bring interesting perspectives to the table when we’re creating solutions.
The way we work means the youngest people in the agency have as big a voice as the more experienced people when we’re tackling problems, gaining insight, and creating solutions. In our bi-annual employee survey, 100% of people say they feel like they can be themselves, which is an extraordinary statistic. We’re always looking for diversity of thought, and we’re always in the market for people who have experienced the world, who’ve had interesting sideways careers, and who’ve been willing to go down, left and around vs linear journeys.
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?
Simone> I believe in a culture of creativity. A culture where people spend time with each other to openly and organically debate in a messy, build on each other’s thoughts kind of way.
It’s very hard to do that remotely – yes, there are digital spaces for post-its and capturing the discussion, but the style of discussion is stilted, and it is much more tempting for some people to opt out due to other distractions. Creativity comes from inspiration, cultural discussion, challenge, and constantly asking why. But I do believe there are times when deep thinking means you need your own space, whether that is in an office, at home, or in a cabin by the beach.
I believe you get the best out of people by creating an environment where they want to be there because it’s a collaborative space for creativity. And so, what this means is we have a culture where everyone chooses to be in the office most of the time because the work and the creativity becomes groundbreaking.
LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?
Simone> I follow a diversity of leaders and thinkers across different industries, as well as in my own communications creative industry, and actively take what I resonate with into how I lead, always trying to be better than I was before.
Publicis is investing in leadership more than ever and we are involved in programs with other local and global leaders every year from around the network. What we’re seeing is a unifying culture emerging around how we all operate and think as a team across 100 countries with over 100,000 people. We’re now emerging as an agency operating in a category of one.
