It’s been six months since Ben Seaton was promoted from EVP of client business to CEO of UM Canada, replacing Shelley Smit who moved up to CEO of IPG Mediabrands of Canada. MiC recently checked in with Seaton to see how he has navigated through his first months in the role and what he foresees for the business in the coming few years.

MiC: What have been the highlights of the job for you so far?

Seaton: I’ve been with the agency for nine years and so far, [as CEO] it’s been a great opportunity for me to sink my teeth into the entirety of the organization. The high points so far have been the broader exposure I have to the people across not only UM but the entire [IPG Mediabrands] team to learn from everybody and see how things are done across different partners, different client partners, different business units. I served as a client business partner in my former role, so I knew that business that I managed and now I have this amazing opportunity to learn more about all of our client partners.

What challenge do you expect the agency to be dealing with in the near future?

We’ve had an incredible run. We’ve grown from the fourth to the second largest media agency in Canada. What comes to light for me is, how do we continue to grow at that momentum and really push the agency forward, to embrace a growth mindset across our clients, across our people, across our culture? For me, it’s not about what’s missing, it’s about how to continue to push and to catapult us into a new sphere where we want to go.

How are you going to manage the agency’s growth?

That’s the million-dollar question. I talk about the notion of people and culture and craft. I think we can look at growth management across those three really important pillars and embrace the growth mindset. That’s the mindset that not only do we need, but our people need, and our client partners need for a successful future. From a people perspective, we’ve really doubled down on powering our people for growth. We talk a lot here about investing in ourselves and that to me is a dedicated focus on learning and development, making the time to grow.

What initiatives does the agency have in place to do that?

We’ve launched different programs. Rocket Fuel is a program designed to accelerate personal growth and career development. That’s been a big success for us this year and it’s also supported by our expanding mentorship program, UMentor. It’s an outlet to talk and learn from each other, which I think is really important. I’m incredibly passionate about the people pillar because it’s the people who create the meaningful work for our clients and build a culture, which is truly second to none.

We have a dedicated effort to foster a culture of inclusivity where everyone can feel that they belong and can flourish, irrespective of their differences. This has had a strong impact on the culture of UM, from partnerships with ACESS Employment, which is an agency to help newcomers to Canada build their job search and networking capabilities with confidence. We’ve carried out speed mentoring and market landscape sessions with them. Our team has also done some phenomenal work with the TDSB’s Black Student Leadership program that we’re proud to have partnered with.

What issues is the industry facing right now?

Industry level data ethics and privacy is something that we are incredibly focused on, both globally and locally. We have a number of work streams to help insulate our clients, but also to help educate and drive an ethical and safe agenda going forward.

Our focus is on human intelligence and talent, the key differentiator. As the industry is moving more towards AI and automation that continues to play a big role in solutions, one of the focuses I’m really thinking about is the human intelligence. Our teams are our biggest assets. Ensuring that our people are growing and developing to be business leads for their clients has become so incredibly important in providing that nuance but also providing a differentiated approach to addressing business problems. So, it’s not just the push of a button or relying on technology. It’s that convergence of not only technology, but also great strategic thinking. We see that as a big differentiator and certainly a problem solver for client partners.

I do get worried that we’re maybe losing focus on people. It’s about underscoring the importance of the people who walk through these doors each and every day, and how important they are to the growth of our business.