The Vanguard: Tyler Turnbull on Leadership as a Team Sport
Tyler Turnbull’s very first day at university was on September 11, 2001. He was sitting in his very first class at Queen’s University in Ontario – a film class – and as the news filtered through, the professor turned on the TV coverage. After the shock and emotion had rippled through the room, the professor decided to throw out the syllabus for the next 12 weeks. Instead, they’d watch the story unfold and learn.
“For me, that’s really where I think my interest in media, in communications, in story evolution really came from. That’s why I went into film and communication.,” he explains.
That ability to see an event or phenomenon from multiple perspectives turned out to be an invaluable skill when Tyler became a strategist. It’s not for nothing that, as a younger man, his favourite movie was ‘Rashomon’. And, as we’ll see, as Tyler’s career progressed, that knack for perspective-taking became a pillar of his thoughtful and empathic approach to leadership.
“I’ve always been interested in the idea that everyone’s truth is slightly different and skewed,” he says.
That creative grounding in film and storytelling is fairly unusual for agency CEOs, but it has allowed him to connect with creative talent and the work in a deeper way. He says he’s “in awe of great creative people and solutions.” Tyler still frequents the Toronto International Film Festival with his wife, and he reflects that he bonded with FCB’s erstwhile CCO Susan Credle over their shared love of movies. “I think it’s [the film background] really helped me to connect with all sorts of different creative people because I think their motivations are different, I think their expectations of how to work, when to work, where to work are different. I think lots of different types of people have that innate, unique ability to come up with ideas that help brands grow. For sure, it’s been a huge part of who I am and how I’ve managed over the last 20 years.”
Back at university, Tyler was immersing himself in every aspect of filmmaking and communication. His parents had advised him to study whatever he wanted in undergraduate before heading to law school. Tyler’s vision of his future wasn’t quite so clear, but the pull of creativity was strong. And when he ended up at an internship at Publicis Canada, everything fell into place. He’d found something that pulled together all of the aspects of his degree that he’d loved, the creativity, the storytelling, the making. Add to that the ability to work with businesses to really change things and put work out into the world, and Tyler found something that captured his passions almost immediately.
Tyler recalls his first agency tour during his internship interview, “It just felt very dynamic and fun and really interesting in a way I hadn’t felt before.”
By his own admission, it took a good six months to really get his head round the ‘language’ of advertising and the mechanics of how an agency works. But his early experience working on Canadian telecoms giant Rogers Communications allowed him to really immerse himself in the work. As a junior, his first job was to pore over stacks of newspapers to find and cut out ads from competitors in the telco space.
“That really got me thinking. What did I think of this as an ad? Why did this company make this ad? And I think it helped me early on to start to think, “okay, strategically, why is a company doing this?” And then we can debate whether what they’re doing is creative or not,” says Tyler, who reckons this experience built a foundation that served him well in the long term.
At this time, even though he didn’t know it, Tyler was also laying the groundwork for his future in leadership. That wasn’t particularly something he had articulated to himself as an ambition – to an extent leadership is the outcome of Tyler’s naturally proactive and engaged personality. “I wouldn’t say I was actively focused on becoming a leader. I was more interested in change and interested in helping. I was interested in playing an active role in either my community or my school or the company from that standpoint,” he reflects. “So it wasn’t an ambition, I would say, to be a leader, but I think it was an ambition to make an impact and have a community and be involved in making positive change.”
Tyler has an anecdote about assisting on a new business pitch that encapsulates this quality perfectly. This largely meant fetching coffees and the odd bit of competitor research. But Tyler saw an opportunity to go further – a friend of his from college had just gone to work for the company the agency was pitching for. “Before one of our sessions on the pitch, I went for a drink with him, picked his brain on what was happening in the company, and I wrote a 10-slide deck on strategically what this brand might have been going through,” he says.
“The leadership at the agency was open to heading it. So, I think early on I was really influenced by leaders who let people in and leaders who give space for people to present or debate different things… I was really shaped by that style.”
As Tyler continued to engage and absorb, he worked his way up Publicis Canada until he was shipped over to Publicis London where he was joint head of planning for two years. It was a formative experience. He recalls the influence of the late Nigel Jones, who was then the CEO of Publicis London, and who he describes as a “smart, kind and focused leader.” The department Tyler headed up brought together planners from all over the world, something that would also bring a more global perspective. These days, that global view is central to how Tyler approaches his role at FCB.
“In terms of the markets where we have major offices and scale, it’s critical. I spend a lot of time with our leadership but also in the market. I really believe in being present, in going to see our people, our clients and, frankly, our competitors and colleagues. I spend a lot of time with different CEOs in the market just trying to understand cultural nuances, our reputation in the market and how people really feel about us.”
It’s a reflection not only of Tyler’s Rashomon-y, perspective-taking approach to leadership, but also of the care he takes in the decisions he makes. For example, Tyler jokes that he is notorious for ‘hiring quite slowly’ – but it’s all in service of making sure he’s doing the best for the network, its people and clients.
“I think the impact one or two people can have within a company or agency or community is quite profound; having the right people who have a strong moral compass, a strong core. A strong way of treating people is key because it cascades throughout the entire agency,” explains Tyler. That’s particularly true when it comes to people who influence those decisions that have to be taken behind a closed door. Indeed, he’s had a ‘gift’ of a partner in Susan Credle, the former global CCO who is now FCB’s creative chair and IPG’s first ever creative advisor. He’s keenly aware of how beneficial working with just the right partners is.
This care also influences Tyler’s – and FCB’s – approach to pitching, a notoriously time and energy-draining necessity of agency life. “We say no to a lot of pitch opportunities. Primarily why we do that is because we think about the teams of people that are going to have to engage, maybe work late nights or work weekends, work hard to convert an opportunity. If we don’t feel that it’s the right one or it’s been a good fit for the long term, we’d rather take that decision immediately.”
That long-term view is one that Tyler values – not surprising given the FCB brand celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. “I think about some of the most positive client relationships we’ve had – a lot of them have been built up over time. When I look at some of our best work in the network, it’s been happening on brands that we’ve really been able to partner for, in some cases, years because we’ve gotten to know each other. We understand the organisations,” he says.
That understanding is yet another expression of Tyler’s empathic, perspective-taking style. “I think it’s hard to be a client right now. I think with the pressures – the supply chain realities, the cost increases, the pressure on consumers and and the pressure on individuals inside client organisations to show that they’re adding value, that they’re delivering. It’s very difficult. I think where we’ve really tried to counsel our clients and support them has been in moments like this, when the impact of creativity has never been greater.”
At a surface glance, Tyler’s careful, thoughtful approach can seem at odds with the pace of rapid change. Between economic and socio-cultural trends and the ever-accelerating onslaught of tech, which seems like it has ramped up even further with the advent of generative AI, there’s more pressure to act with haste - but according to Tyler it’s possible to be both quick and mindful while not giving into the compulsion to act without thinking. While FCB is getting curious and hands-on with AI, approaching it with a ‘learner’s mindset’ and FCB’s on-brand ‘never finished’ ethos, Tyler ponders that the industry in general can be too quick to rush to a headline-grabbing announcement without thinking it through or making sure it has the foundations covered. For most clients, he says, growth and transformation are their priorities, and while AI is certainly a useful lever to pull to achieve those aims, interest in AI doesn’t supersede those primary objectives.
Internally, Tyler says that FCB has found all sorts of useful applications for AI. “We have lots of teams experimenting with different ways to leverage AI throughout now only the creative process but also our own business as agencies. I think there are interesting things happening in the places where we could invest a lot of time. If you think about RFIs for new business, as an example, I think we’re much, much faster at developing these now because we’re creating our own model to do that.”
Peer inside the FCB global network and there are all sorts of innovations bubbling up, but under Tyler’s leadership they’re given the space to let them cook. FCB/SIX, the creative data and CRM agency, is a great example. What started life as a financially strong, Canadian email company was infused with creativity was crafted into a pioneering, award-winning hotshop. “We brought on a really strong team who crafted a great ambition and vision in the Canadian context,” explains Tyler.
After proving itself in Canada, it expanded into the US market and global leaders like Tina Allan, who elevated it further and it’s now popping up around the world – with its biggest launches last year in India, when FCB acquired the local CRM agency Kinnect. And FCB/SIX isn’t the only innovation to find purchase – the production team at 456 Studios was pioneered in FCB Chicago but has also started to expand.
The ability to spot and nurture these new capabilities comes right back to those relationships. “The closer you are to clients and client challenges, the easier it is to innovate, because you’re speaking to clients about exactly what their needs are, what they might not have the right solution for,” explains Tyler.
But that innovation is also an artefact of FCB’s singular grassroots-up model. “I think one of the things that makes FCB unique around the world is our operating model. What I mean by that is we’re local-up, not global-down. If you’re the CEO or CCO of one of our agencies around the world, I really want you to have the most autonomy and ability to build the agency you’ve always wanted to work for. I really view my role and the global team’s role as supporting our agencies to do that.”
That unique FCB flame has burned for 150 years and is burning brighter than ever. The network’s new global CCO Andres Ordonez is side-by-side with Tyler to take that brand into its next 150 years. (“He’s a phenomenal person who values the work, who’s incredibly driven and he wants to write the next chapter for a 151 year old company.”) Tyler takes the stewardship of the FCB brand and community seriously.
“There aren’t many brands in our industry that have been around for 151 years – I actually don’t know if there are any more from a creative perspective. I think it’s incredibly special that our brand has endured and continues to endure,” he says, referring to the founder and orange juice inventor (yes, really!) Albert Lasker’s consistent belief in the economic power of creativity. “I also feel very grateful that the brand has this incredible legacy. I also feel like we have the right people, the right leaders, the right teams, to continue that legacy and take it forward in an industry that, frankly, I think has gotten rid of a lot of incredible brands… I think we’ve really wanted to protect and shepherd that legacy because, if we don’t believe in the power of brands as an agency and our own brand, I think it’s very hard for clients to think you’ll believe in the power of theirs.”
Tyler is keenly aware that he’s just one of many who have made the agency what it is – and therefore he ultimately shies away from the singular ‘great man’ model of leadership. As someone who’s always looked for the contributions and insights that others can bring and, for whom the ability to consider things from others’ perspectives has threaded throughout his career, Tyler sees leadership as a team sport.
“The biggest thing for me is I think sometimes, culturally, we hold up leaders as these individualistic-type narratives. I really believe that’s about a team and understanding as a leader. What am I not good at? Where don’t I get a lot of passion? And what types of people and partners do I need to surround myself with? Who are the experts in that space? I wouldn’t be in this role without the amazing CSO and CCOs and teams that I’ve worked with.
“What I would love to see, longer term, is a narrative in our industry that flips this individualistic leadership story to one that’s really well-rounded. Because I think the sign of a successful company is what happens after great leaders have gone,” he says. “At FCB we’re trying to do something quite different, which is create teams of amazing leaders who can deliver and can help us endure for our next 150 years.”
