Welcome to our Autumn newsletter!
At Grace Blue our unwavering focus is on the role and impact of the very best leaders - we work with businesses who put talent at the heart of their success; so inevitably cost-of-living is a subject that affects us all - as leaders responsible for making the right strategic decisions on behalf of others, to individuals concerned on a personal level. While there is no denying there are ‘challenging times ahead’, there is equally resilience, determination, innovation and a positive focus on the longer term which will see the best leaders win through.
Our latest post captures a range of views from leaders of brands and agencies on how they are tackling this cost of living/ rising costs crisis with their talent. Meanwhile, I was honoured to be asked to contribute to the IPA’s blog on ‘landing talent’ in today’s economic climate as well as be invited to be part of the newly formed Advertising Association’s Talent Taskforce, working alongside a breadth of formidable industry experts to form an industry-wide talent action plan (all to be announced at the AA’s LEAD industry summit in January).
Our team have continued to delight in being out and about including the NSPCC/ Enders evening at Sky, Campaign Asia Game Changers, Front Foot’s Cannes Decoded, Leaders, and Advertising Week New York, and to share some of our insights from these events.
Every search we work on is a privilege and we have been busy this last quarter with a host of new placements from Usama Al-Qassab at Wimbledon, Jenifer Schweitzer Brooks at FactSet and John Osborn at Ad Net Zero.
The start of Fall signalled the kick off for our new series of Lessons in Leadership, in partnership with the Marketing Academy and our first talk was with Andy Salmon with insights on how to lead through a crisis. You can read a recap of what was covered and there are links available to watch back or listen to the full session. We are also so excited to announce our next speaker, Michelle McEttrick who will be speaking about her first 100 days as Primark’s Chief Customer Officer and what’s next for retail in 2023. Make sure to register below to attend the webinar on Thursday 2 February.
I’ve left the ‘best news till last’! We were thrilled to announce the promotion of Linzi Cameron to Managing Partner of Consumer Brands EMEA.
I’ve no doubt we are all operating within a very real and challenging social economic environment, but we have an unwavering conviction, as ever, in the power of talent and, in particular leadership talent, to help businesses like yours compete and thrive.
And finally, let me take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a lovely, and hopefully restful, festive break and a Happy New Year.
Yours,
Sarah Skinner, CEO EMEA at Grace Blue
