How can today’s agency leaders build a legacy for the next generation, while preparing emerging talent to take the industry forward?
That was the focus when members of micebook’s nineteen Agency Leaders and Shadow Board communities came together at St Martin’s Lane London on 15 July for an afternoon of honest conversation, shared learning and new connections.
Following the success of the first joint meet-up last summer, the event was designed to challenge perceptions on both sides and create space for established and emerging leaders to better understand each other’s perspectives.
The session formed part of the 2026 Shadow Board event series, sponsored by Visit Monaco Convention Bureau and inspired by the destination’s ‘Everything At Once’ campaign. Monaco partners opened the afternoon by challenging some common perceptions about the destination and demonstrating how heritage can sit alongside innovation, luxury alongside sustainability, and business alongside lifestyle.
The same idea provided the framework for conversations throughout the event: how can leaders balance people and performance, flexibility and commercial reality, today’s pressures and tomorrow’s opportunities?
Challenging leadership perceptions
The opening ‘reverse brief’ turned the traditional leadership conversation on its head, with each group asked to consider the perspective of the other.
Shadow Board members explored the hardest truth agency leaders need to accept about attracting and retaining younger talent, while the nineteen leaders considered what tomorrow’s leaders need to learn today.
Discussions covered the need for clearer progression pathways, greater transparency around salaries and expectations, more opportunities for mentoring and cross-departmental learning, and the importance of recognising and rewarding talent.
From the leaders’ perspective, patience, resilience, adaptability, commercial awareness and the ability to handle difficult conversations were among the skills identified as essential for future leadership.
The conversations also acknowledged that leadership is not simply about gaining a more senior title. It requires an ability to operate in the grey, adapt to different people and communication styles, take difficult decisions and understand the wider commercial pressures facing a business.
People, pressure and performance
A second roundtable session explored one of the most pressing challenges facing agencies: how to balance increasing client and commercial demands with the need to support and protect employees.
Both groups called for greater transparency around workloads, resourcing decisions, business performance and the pressures facing leaders. Shadow Board members expressed an appetite to better understand the commercial realities behind decisions, not only because it provides context, but because that knowledge will help prepare them for future leadership roles.
The debate also explored what work ethic means today. Rather than equating commitment with long hours, participants suggested it should be measured through output, accountability, ownership and pride in the work.
The roundtables were followed by one-to-one conversations, giving Shadow Board members the opportunity to ask agency leaders their own questions about career progression, leadership, ambition and the realities of running a business.
Future-proofing workplace culture
The final panel brought together Phoebe Cherry, co-founder of Strive Events; Caitlin Heaney, senior project coordinator at TRO; and Théa Fresko, MICE development manager at Visit Monaco Convention Bureau to explore how agencies can create cultures people want to join, contribute to and remain part of.
The discussion covered flexibility, trust, communication, belonging, employee voice and the growing impact of AI on workplace skills and ways of working.
Cherry said good culture is not something a business can simply declare or set and forget. “Culture is what happens when you’re not in the room,” she said. “You can intentionally design it, but it is a constant evolution. As a leader, your people are your most important asset, and they need to be on your mind all the time.”
The conversation reinforced that responsibility for culture does not sit with leaders alone. Employees also have a role to play through accountability, ownership, openness and supporting those around them.
Fresko noted that despite differences in generation and seniority, people are largely looking for the same things from their workplace: “Purpose, trust, flexibility and the opportunity to contribute.”
The afternoon concluded with a private Pommery Champagne discovery session followed by dinner, providing more time for members to continue the conversations and build relationships across the two communities.
Thank you to Visit Monaco Convention Bureau and its partners for supporting the event, and to St Martin’s Lane London for hosting us.
Check out some of the photos from the event
