Ben Mitchell, our Head of Interim caught up with Abi Slater, Director of Communications at ISBA, the trade body of UK advertisers, who shared insights into her professional journey, including her biggest inspirations and the best advice she received along the way. 

Looking back on your career, what do you consider your greatest achievement so far - and why does it stand out to you?

I am so fortunate to have worked for some great organisations, each one offering different challenges and senses of achievement. When I was Communications Director at DMGT, I organised a conference for 100 senior leaders in Bangalore, India. It was an incredibly inspiring and rewarding experience. Focusing on the future in a city where the culture of innovation was as strong as its rich cultural heritage was something I will never forget.

However, I can say unequivocally the launch of ISBA’s first Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study in May 2020 was the most exhausting, intense and utterly rewarding project I have ever worked on. What started as a discussion at one of our member steering groups in 2018 had led to a unique, world-first piece of industry research and in the depths of the Covid lockdown it was ready to launch.

We knew it was going to be big, as the results laid bare the lack of transparency in the digital supply chain and the consequences of a trading model that had grown too quickly without collaboration between all the stakeholders involved.

We chose to pre-brief a couple of journalists who were particularly engaged in this area and then I sent the release to my network under embargo for 00:01 the next day. At 1am, I was still awake watching the first coverage coming in. By 2.30am, I thought I’d better go to sleep! At 6.30am, I was up dealing with press enquiries from Australia to India, from Germany to the US; with no time to get dressed, I spent the entire morning dealing with calls in my dressing gown. At some point, I think I got dressed but was still processing the huge amount of interest in our study until late into the evening. I finally went to bed at some point and for weeks to come the snappily named ‘ISBA Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study in association with AOP, carried out by PwC’ dominated my time more than anything else ISBA had ever done.

Who or what has been the biggest inspiration in your career and how has this shaped your leadership style & professional journey?

I know I’m lucky to have worked for some amazing leaders throughout my career. In fact, I can only think of two who may have benefitted from a little more time at management school.  They will remain nameless, of course - even an over-sharer has her limits!

When it comes to the good ones, I have to give the biggest credit to my current boss, Phil Smith, Director General of ISBA. His energy, passion and commitment are the reasons I took this job, despite my well-rehearsed misgivings about trade bodies. He has taught me the importance of pushing the boundaries, knowing what you need to achieve and doing everything you can to get there as well as the importance of knowing when to be quiet - although he might argue I still need to work on that.

I must also name-check a leadership development course at the Moller Institute in Cambridge back in my DMGT days, where I learnt about the importance of personal brand. I know it sounds a little trite but it taught me that I don’t need to be anyone else; the skills and experience I bring to my role are uniquely mine and I contribute something different from everyone else around me. In my job, you have to trust your instincts sometimes and being confident in myself enables me to do that.

But being inspired is not always down to your leaders or managers. My network of fellow comms directors in this industry is utterly invaluable. Having peers with whom you can share ideas, discuss new approaches and be totally honest is probably what inspires me the most.

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be and why?

Don’t stay in a job that makes you unhappy every day! We all go through ups & downs in our careers but if the downs outweigh the ups and you start to dread work every day then you need to make a change. Your mental health is more important than anything else. There is something better out there for you, I assure you.

What advice would you give to young women aspiring to lead in the communications industry? What more can be done to support and elevate women into leadership roles in our field?

There is a lot more support available now as the industry has realised there is a fundamental issue. Organisations such as Bloom Network offer opportunities for women in communications to share collective experiences as well as providing practical advice and solutions for all sorts of issues they might be facing.

I’d also recommend finding yourself a mentor. This could be someone within your own organisation or drawn from the wider industry. Make time to follow people you admire in the industry on LinkedIn; you’ll find most would be flattered if you asked them to give you the benefit of their experience as a female leader in communications.

Looking for exceptional interim comms talent or exploring your next move? Get in touch with Ben, our Head of Interim at The Work Crowd.