Leaning into leadership: 3 shorts from 15 years as an industry body president

After 15years of serving as President at IAS (Institute of Advertising Singapore) and post-merger for two terms at the Association of Advertising & Marketing Singapore (AAMS), a TikTok video on what I’ve learned in this role would be an appropriate nod to how the landscape has changed since my first term as president. However, one of the traits of a successful leader is knowing your limitations – so I’ll leave the TikTok videos to my kids.

1. Think and act for the ecosystem

When I first came on board as president of IAS, a priority was to create a leadership team from a diverse group of people who were passionate about protecting and nurturing our industry and its talent. We needed to operate as a herd, put aside our own business interests, and use our collective intelligence - just like elephants.

Elephants live in large and complex social groups with leaders who remember locations of food and water, and migratory routes over large areas and long periods. They communicate over vast distances with vibrations that are beyond the human senses. Elephants are also ruthless at identifying threats to their herd’s survival. Working as teams, we can learn a lot about how they survive without throwing their weight around.

2. Be charmingly stubborn

Leading a team of volunteers presents its own set of challenges. People are motivated by different things, and it’s up to you as a leader to move the group strategy forward.

Getting people to come on board with an idea, or lend their support requires a dose of charm and resolute. I learned this through being a pawrent to a Dachshund. Somehow, these animals always get what they want – and you still love them for it.

3. Be Audacious with Your Moonshots

Advertising and marketing industry associations are infamously silo-ed. When the idea was mooted that we consolidate advertisers, agencies, and media together into one body, it was mostly dismissed as a bad idea. But we pressed on. When it comes to moonshots, you need to be led by your inner compass and self-belief to do the right thing. Almost five years later, Singapore became the first market in the world to bring all three parties together under one association. With hindsight, we can now see that coming together as one positions us well in the era of collaboration and exponential AI adoption.

I hope these three lessons will nudge those still sitting on the fence about leaning into leadership. They are also meant to be an encouragement to those who have already been serving. Singapore’s advertising and marketing industry needs leaders who work in the best interest of our profession, and we can never be short of advocates working to move us forward.

This was written by Shufen Goh, co-founder and principal at R3.