Meet the CEOs: TEAM LEWIS HK's Miranda Xie

Miranda Xie (pictured), general manager of TEAM LEWIS Hong Kong first dipped her toes in advertising as an account executive at Strategic Public Relations Group. Over the years, she has found working in a fast-paced environment a rewarding and fun experience and most importantly, she enjoyed the vibrant and dynamic agency cultures.

Inspired by some of her work partners and mentors, Xie has learnt how to navigate challenging client climates and how to step out of her comfort zone when pitching clients. As a believer in teamwork, Xie believed that connecting with her team on both a professional and personal level is one of the essential elements of being a leader.

Find out more about Xie's journey in advertising thus far and who inspires her.  

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What was your first job? 

I started my career at a finance communications agency. Sending out news reports before the stock market opened and writing content for financial reports were a part of my daily life back then. It was an intense yet fruitful experience, everything was new and fresh for me, and I immediately jumped into the fast-paced environment. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What was your first role in advertising or marketing?  

From my first job till now, I have always been in an agency environment.  I love how vibrant and dynamic agencies are.

My first role was account executive - a typical junior role in an account serving team – I was eager to learn everything and acted like a sponge - despite a few sleepless nights it was full of fun!

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What was your first impression of advertising or marketing?  

It was eye opening for me as a fresh graduate to step into an agency, everything was fast-paced - people around me were so energetic and busy, either fast typing or busy on calls. It was inspiring to talk and learn from the people around me and most importantly, working in this industry was fun with so much to learn each day.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Who was the mentor who influenced you the most and how?  

I am grateful to have worked with talented and experienced seniors across my career and be able to learn different things from different people.

Among them, Wayne Wang from Burson-Marsteller (now known as BCW) and Kate Kwan that I still work with at TEAM LEWIS influenced me the most. 

Wang is the one who taught me how to work smartly and in a different way. He showed me how to navigate challenging client climates during my time at Burson-Marsteller. Kate Kwan has been a partner for me during my entire professional life. We have worked on endless client work and pitches together. Interestingly, we are similar in many ways but also very different. She is like a mirror - helping me to reflect all the time and pushing me out of my comfort zone.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What's the harshest criticism you've received and how did you cope with it?  

I think the harshest criticism, or lesson learned, was the realisation of my hesitancy in stepping out of my comfort zone to change my principles or expectations.  The realisation that I was doing this was hard for me and forced me to change my own perspectives. But I am thankful to have a great team that made stepping out of this comfort zone easier for me.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Describe your own management style now as a leader  

I am more the relationship type leader; I want to connect with my team on both a professional and personal level. I think this helps me to understand what motivates them and what can help them to succeed. I enjoy conversations with team members and always encourage them to be more vocal and talk about their feelings and observations, which helps us continue to adjust and grow as a whole team. I am a big believer in teamwork and understand that my lovely colleagues are always the biggest asset we have.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What's one thing you wished employees understood about being a leader?  

A happy team is critical, however, as a leader, sometimes you must make the tough call and do the right thing, which often means not being able to keep everyone happy all the time.

It doesn’t mean you don’t care about the team. It’s my belief that the leader is the one who is responsible for making difficult decisions that bring the team forward, which in the longer term will contribute to the team more. 

MARKEITNG-INTERACTIVE: What do you do during your free time?  

I am a huge LEGO fan!  It helps me recharge and forces me to be 100% focused so I can’t think about anything else. I also love being able to build something! 

I also do volunteer work from time to time. So, when we launched the TEAM LEWIS FOUNDATION - which enables each employee to nominate and support a local cause that matters to them - I was very excited and submitted my cause right away. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Where do you find your inspiration?  

This may sound unusual, but I find my inspiration in the works of others which differ from me a lot. Sometimes when I see people approach tasks in a different way, it helps me come up with ideas! With a strong background in PR, I am keen to know more outside of the media world. One of the reasons I enjoy working at TEAM LEWIS is because we have a wide range of subject experts from diverse backgrounds, and I am fascinated learning from them to get new perspectives and knowledge when talking to different teams.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: If not in advertising, where would you be?  

I haven’t really thought about this because I enjoy what I am doing now. But if I had the choice, probably I would still go for something related to creative thinking and problem solving - like the consultant industry. My passion is getting to understand people’s needs and leveraging my experience and knowledge to make a difference. Also, I like math, but I don’t have too many opportunities to do that at my current role, so I guess I’d enjoy doing that in the consultant industry. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What advice do you have for someone looking to start a career in the industry?  

I’d say be open-minded, our industry is a fast-changing one where we keep learning new skills, using new technology and addressing new issues every day. Do not let your perception limit your potential. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What issue would you like to see the industry change in 2023?  

The past few years of COVID have seen the reduction of a lot of campaign budgets, I believe that marketing and communications are key in getting consumers back to a state of normalcy which is also important for the economy to grow and recover. We may be facing a global recession but creative and meaningful campaigns - that not only boost people’s spending appetite but their outlook on life - continue to be important.  

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