In this Q&A, Mediaweek speaks with Simon Ryan, founder and CEO of digital-first advertising and marcom company RyanCap, delving into his leadership style, the evolution of his approach, and the lessons he’s learned throughout his career.
Ryan has over 25 years of experience in the media industry, including CEO roles at Carat and Dentsu Aegis Network, before he established RyanCap in June 2020. Here, he offers insights on how leadership must adapt to evolving trends and demands, reflects on key milestones in his career and the impact of RyanCap’s acquisition by Labelium Group, and shares his vision for the future of media in Australia.
MW: How would you describe your leadership style?
SR: My leadership style is outcome-focused, emphasising ensuring the right people are delivering the job at hand. I’m a compassionate leader who allows people to grow independently in all aspects of learning and applying their skill set; I wouldn’t say I like to over-manage but instead, provide the support and knowledge needed for the team to be brilliant at what they do.
In what ways has your leadership approach evolved? Has it adapted to trends or demands within the Australian media sector?
The approach to effective leadership needs to evolve and change with the times. People’s needs are changing, both personally and in their business careers, meaning you need to be more empathetic to what they see as valuable.
Media trends and demands have changed considerably over the past five years compared to the previous 10, meaning accountability is here to stay and is a significant benchmark in any leadership role. The changes in the Australian media sector have also created a need for a leadership style focused on delivery and transparency, moreso than in the past.
What has been your most significant learning experience as a leader?
Carry yourself as the business leader, and don’t fluctuate from your business plan. Once we set a plan and share it with the key stakeholders, we focus on the single-minded and steadfast delivery of our goals. If you bring people on the journey with a plan, you will have a successful leadership approach that matches what needs to be delivered.
What career highlight are you most proud of? What contributed to that success?
The highlight was launching my own company after running other global businesses. Working with international businesses taught me many things, both good and bad; this made me focus on the good and positively evolve my career without political interference on what a great business looks like.
Career highlights come every few years, and there certainly have been some highlights, yet as you progress and evolve your thinking, you realise that career highlights, whilst important, really only mean something when you gather all your experience to evolve your thinking further.
Top 5 career highlights:
1. Given the opportunity to work in a full-service creative/media agency, McCann Erickson, in the 1990s.
2. Working at Zenith Media for eight years in the early 2000s with simply a great team and peers led by Anne Parsons.
3. Joining Carat in 2010, building a great business and winning clients with a solid team for six years.
4. Running a parent company from 2016 to 2019 and being openly exposed to a high-growth global network.
5. Starting RyanCap with a great team, dealing with all the aspects of a high-functioning national team and brands, and aligning with Labelium in 2023.
Since the acquisition of RyanCap by Labelium Group, how has your role changed?
Since aligning with Labelium, my role leading RyanCap hasn’t changed. Our mutual ambition to drive growth is aligned with a focus on driving new business and better client outcomes, which is my main focus. The role encompasses growing the business, including nurturing, retaining, and employing high-performing talent. This is unchanged and always remains a core business pillar of the combined company.
What opportunities have arisen for you and RyanCap since the acquisition?
The opportunity is to be part of a global network with high growth ambition focusing on digital capability. The combined opportunity for the team and myself is to align on the global plan and execute a strategy unparalleled to any other legacy network in the digital space. The talent opportunity is to create shared learning across the region and globe, allowing key talent to access information and move freely in the global network. This is an excellent opportunity for the team and one that can align on a path to global roles for talent. I see this as an essential positive legacy for the RyanCap business.
From a client perspective, I see joint learnings, tools, systems, and varying approaches as strong growth, retention, and new business opportunities for our clients and the RyanCap companies. We have always kept our clients at the heart of everything we do, so to access new thinking benefits the way we service clients, which is only a positive.
With RyanCap managing three properties, how do you balance your focus among them? What unique challenges does this present, and how do you address them?
From my experiences in the business, managing three companies across the three eastern seaboard markets is a good sweet spot for me. Having previously managed over 23 entities across five markets and having a line of sight into Asia, the RyanCap portfolio of companies and geographic split is not complicated. Balance is achieved by having great management across the portfolio and forward-thinking clients. This enables me to focus on the overall growth of the business and brand extensions to ensure relevance and opportunities for our brands.
The challenges are always there. The changing landscape and economic fluctuations always mean that a strong plan and an unrelenting approach to growth are the focus. The unique challenge is that with our alignment with Labelium, we are now competing with global competitors while also manoeuvring like an independent business, a great challenge to have.
What are the most significant changes you’ve observed in the Australian communications and media landscape over your career?
The most significant change is the domination of global digital players and the erosion of Australian media companies. Change is good, and progress is even better; the changes in the commercial media landscape in Australian media companies that haven’t evolved as quickly as they should have will be the slow demise of revenue lines and market caps alike. These significant changes will only continue, making immediate ROI more critical.
We need to be careful of reliance and ensure that a diverse way of audience distribution creates and maintains opportunity for all in the media sector. The other area of concern and something we need to protect is the integrity of our new channels, with an effective distribution of investment into journalism and quality content to protect freedom of speech.
What major changes do you anticipate in the coming years, and what do these changes mean for leaders like yourself?
The major changes that will continue are the globalisation of media and client manufacturing, centralised hubs of expertise to minimise business costs, greater dependency on digital platforms, and increased user-generated content both by consumers and businesses. It’s no longer an evolution; it’s a revolution, a change period.
What advice would you offer to aspiring media leaders in Australia?
1. Have a 3-5 year plan and modify
2. Stick to a speciality that has a long game
3. Don’t fret the small stuff and let people get you down
4. Perfect your craft and execute it brilliantly
5. Be ambitious but sympathetic to those around you
What is the next career milestone you hope to achieve?
Accelerate with Labelium on a global level and help those around me.
See also: Mediaweek with Simon Ryan: Labelium sale, M&As, brand building, competition
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Top image: Simon Ryan