Women who lead: M&C Saatchi's Lara Hussein on being a specialist over jack of all trades

This March, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE is excited to launch its "Women who lead" podcast series, celebrating the powerful female leaders in the marketing and advertising industry across the region.

In this episode, Sharifah Menyalara Hussein, better known as Lara Hussein, opens up about her 22-year journey leading M&C Saatchi Malaysia as its CEO and founding partner. Lara first started off as an intern with a RM800 paycheck, and slowly, made her way into Bates Malaysia, then Dentsu Young & Rubicam, before moving on to start Brand Energy on her own. 

She also shares about how she honed her knowledge through specialisation and catering to specific industries, rather than being a jack of all trades. Now, Lara is taking a backseat from running the day-to-day operations of M&C Saatchi to focus on mentoring.

Don't miss: Women who lead: APRW's Anu Gupta reflects on her career break and professional journey

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: You were living abroad for most of your time as a teen before settling back in KL. What was that transition like for you?

Lara: I never went to school in Malaysia because my father was a diplomat, and we lived in many different countries. So, I was brought up abroad since I was a little kid and only came back to settle in Malaysia in my 20s. That was a long time away. 

There were pros and cons to that. I got exposure living abroad in different countries, and I also went to school in England. So that gave me a broad-minded view and I had varied cultural experiences which one can't get from staying in one place. The not so good part about it was that I didn't have a group of friends to grow up with because I was moving around a lot. 

When I came back to Malaysia in my 20s, I didn't even have an identity card and got fined for all the years I didn't have one, so that was quite interesting. Malaysia was never foreign to me. I had always loved visiting the country. I'm very much a Malaysian at heart. However, it was the getting used to the working culture that was difficult for me. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What was the first job you ever held?

Lara: Once I came back, I became an intern because I couldn't get a job. It was really bad in the late 80s due to the recession. I had also graduated in international relations and French— things that weren't really relevant. I also did not know what I wanted to do as a career. 

I thought I would join politics, following in my father's footsteps, or foreign service. In the end, I interned with the Institute of Strategic Social Studies (ISIS), thinking I would join the Foreign Ministry, but I decided not to.

Later, I got into advertising by chance. Since I didn't study advertising, I didn't know anything about it. I also found it very difficult to adapt to the Malaysian workplace culture, because I didn't speak any Malay at the time, so I wanted to work in an environment which I was more comfortable with. Because of all those factors, my friend invited me to meet a few people and asked me to join advertising and so, I did, for a paycheck of RM800. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: It must have been quite the journey, starting off with that as your first job, to now becoming the CEO and founding partner of M&C Saatchi Malaysia. Could you walk us through your experience?

Lara: With a lot of patience, and a lot of perseverance, honestly. I must admit there were many times where I thought I didn't want to do this anymore, I want to go to the client side or set up something on my own. There were a lot of times where I thought that this industry would just be a steppingstone for me.

Maybe it was fate, but everytime I wanted to exit the industry, I couldn't.

I didn't get the offers I wanted so I just stayed within the industry for all these years. Also, I didn't work with many agencies. I worked with a few and I stayed very long in each agency. There, I built very strong relationships with clients and my internal colleagues. I believe I had very good tenures in each agency. Then, when M&C Saatchi's opportunity came, I felt that it was a great chance for me to be an entrepreneur while also doing what I like, which is in strategy and planning. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Since you stayed loyal to each of the agencies you worked in, what's your take on people not staying beyond four to five years in one workplace?

Lara: It's difficult to say, because it was a really different era in my time as there weren't as many opportunities. It wasn't a time where you would go out on your own to dabble in different things, or to join a start-up. It was very much being in the corporate life or joining the service industry. The professions back then were very traditional, so we didn't have as many choices. 

I feel that I gained a lot from staying in one place. I had the opportunity to understand a particular business or category, and I grew in that sense, instead of jumping too often and not really gaining much experience. Looking at my experience, I've only handled or worked on very few categories because I specialised in them. I specialised in hospitality and tourism, tobacco, broadcasting, as well as telecommunications. I have a very deep specialisation in these particular categories and that is how I built my experience. 

That is also how I would advise and mentor people younger than me, even my own daughters.

I would encourage them to stay in a particular category or specialise, by spending at least a few years to develop a deep understanding of each particular category.

I believe in specialism as opposed to being a jack of all trades because our industry is already so broad. 

To catch to the rest of the conversation with Lara Hussein, tune in to the Women who lead podcast series on Spotify, or listen on the go:

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Join us this coming 21 May for #Content360, an extravaganza centered around three core thematic pillars: Challenging the norm; Conquering Media Fragmentation; and Unlocking Imagination. Immerse yourself in learning to curate content with creativity, critical thinking, and confidence with us at Content360!   

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