What makes a good leader?

Picture this. You are the leader of a creative team, in between a high-stakes client meeting. The brief has changed last night. The new draft needs to be ready in two hours. The brand team wants ideas in three formats. And just as things are about to spiral, your team looks to you. 

But not for answers. They are looking for clarity, calmness, and conviction. You don’t raise your voice. You ask questions and you listen. This is the moment when true leadership shines. Without any flashy statements or LinkedIn posts. 

Signs of a good leader

Scroll through any Reddit thread about good managers, and one theme would be a constant. Employees want their managers to trust them, see them and back them up. One of the responses in such a thread read, ‘She trusts me completely and doesn’t micromanage. I’d run through walls for her.’ Another user wrote, ‘He doesn’t take credit for the wins, but he shields us when things go wrong. That’s rare.’

In advertising, an industry built on pressure and fast-paced environments, this is the kind of leadership that can make all the difference. 

As Siddhesh Khatavkar, Executive Creative Director at DDB Mudra, says, “A good leader shows up in how they handle people, projects, and pressure—especially when things get messy.” 

For him, the best leaders are the ones who stay calm when things go sideways, unblock bottlenecks without burning people out, and keep the team moving without adding to the noise. “They listen more than they talk, give credit where it’s due, and don’t make everything about themselves,” he adds. 

It’s not about commanding the room anymore. It’s about reading the room and knowing when to step in, when to step back, and when to simply ask, ‘What do you need?’

Premkumar Iyer, COO at HAWK (Gozoop Group), says, “If people walk away feeling smaller, unheard, or second-guessed, that’s not leadership. But if they leave feeling trusted, energised, or clearer, that says everything.”

It’s a simple filter, but a powerful one. What kind of energy do you leave behind in a room? The kind that makes people shrink, or the kind that makes them show up more fully?

Data backs this up, too. According to Gallup, only 21% of employees strongly trust their leadership. And when that trust is missing, so is the motivation. On the flip side, teams that feel seen, heard, and supported are 12% more productive and over 200% more likely to deliver better business outcomes.

What doesn’t work anymore 

We have established what today’s leader should look like, but to get here, the industry at large had to unlearn a few things. Because while the expectations from leaders have evolved, the real shift has been in what no longer earns respect. 

Leaders who are just ‘loud opinions’ and ‘long hours’ aren’t considered the norm anymore. In the advertising industry, the old model of leading with ego, hoarding decision-making powers, and glorifying overwork has all been eliminated. Not because people stopped showing up, but because they stopped putting up with it. 

Sushant Sadamate, COO and Co-founder of BuzzLab, calls it out bluntly, “Leadership in advertising isn’t about barking orders from a glass cabin anymore. The old-school Don Draper style—command, control, and charisma—is losing ground fast.”

For him, what’s replaced it is agility, empathy, and emotional intelligence. “It’s not about how loud you speak in boardrooms—it’s about how clearly you listen on Slack.”

According to a McKinsey report, 70% of employees say they expect their leaders to be more empathetic and open to feedback than in the past. The days of waiting for top-down directives are over, people want leaders who can course-correct mid-chaos, not just show up for the victory lap.

Ankita Gupta, Head of Operations and Group Account Manager at Lesssgo, says, “The team expects the leader to be clear in the chaos rather than being loud.” More importantly, she points out that the hustle-heavy culture that once defined agency life is losing steam. “Late working hours culture is dying. Gen Z believes in work-life balance, and they ensure it happens too.”

It’s a sign of the times. A Deloitte global survey found that nearly half of Gen Z respondents feel stressed or anxious most of the time, and 40% say they’ve rejected job offers based on a lack of flexibility. This generation isn't just reshaping how we work, they’re reshaping who gets to lead.

The loudest person in the room isn’t automatically the most influential anymore. Authority isn’t assumed, it is earned. And the traits that once passed as ‘strong leadership’ are now liabilities if they don’t leave room for balance and shared decision-making.

Building tomorrow’s leaders

Just last week, Siddhesh Khatavkar took a risk. There was a high-stakes presentation lined up for a senior client, the kind that typically calls for senior hands on deck. But instead of stepping in, he stepped aside and let a junior team member lead it. “The presentation was great. Client was happy. The team was happy,” he says

The real win here wasn’t the successful pitch. It was when he put his trust in his team. 

Building leaders today isn't just a quarterly task. It is a daily decision that leaders take. It’s in who gets to speak up in meetings, who’s given space to fail and course-correct, and who’s trusted to grow through responsibility rather than tough supervision.

Khatavkar puts it simply, “A good leader today actively invests in growing future leaders by creating a space where team members feel empowered and heard.”

Ankita Gupta takes a people-first approach, too. For her, feedback is a two-way street. “I ensure they are given honest feedback… while making sure their concerns are also addressed.” She’s also mindful of burnout and lets her team decompress after big campaigns. “Because who doesn’t love a break?” she adds. 

So what about the leaders of tomorrow?

More than just confidence or experience, they’ll need courage, empathy, and the ability to stay grounded when everything around them is moving fast. “Tomorrow’s leaders won’t have the luxury of time. They’ll need sharper instincts, clear values, and the drive to act quickly,” says Sushant Sadamate. 

For Premkumar Iyer, the key will be being okay with uncertainty. “We used to have clear briefs and step-by-step plans. That world’s gone,” he says. “The ones who’ll do well won’t wait for the perfect answer — they’ll move ahead with their team and figure things out along the way.” That kind of self-trust, he says, is something today’s leaders need to help build in others.

Harsh Garg, Associate Group Account Manager - Brand Experience, SoCheers, says, "To anyone who wants to lead: keep learning, show empathy, and treat people like people. Make sure you're building others and yourself up to do what you do—and maybe even better."

Ankita Gupta says, “Have patience. Trust the process.” And in many ways, that might be the most important skill, knowing when to pause and when to push forward.

Leadership in advertising today isn’t about having the best pitch or the loudest room presence. It’s about what happens when no one’s watching: who gets trusted, who gets built up, and who feels seen.

It’s in the calm before the presentation, in how you give credit, how you handle failure, and how you build teams that think beyond you.

Because the leaders we remember aren’t the ones who did it all. They’re the ones who made others believe they could.