Chief executive officer at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia Michael Rebelo chats with B&T about what characteristic he believes makes for a great leader and why leadership development courses are so important for our industry.

“I hate talking about my leadership journey,” Rebelo told B&T,  “but I think there are four things that have made me successful in leadership – ambition, belief, courage and resilience.

“If I was to say who is the type of leader I would try to emulate, it would be Robin Williams’s character out of Dead Poet Society. Some might say that’s an unlikely role model for leadership, but I think it’s a really interesting one. His students were inspired by him, they believed in him, they were willing to be expelled because they believed in him so much and they learnt from him as well. He took them out of their comfort zone and he was true to his belief despite the institution that he was in.”

“I guess that’s what I’ve always tried to do as a leader of Saatchi & Saatchi agencies.”

Rebelo will be chairing this year’s Melbourne leg of the Communications Councils IPA Client Service course, to be held from the 20th to 22nd of September.  The IPA Client Service: Agency Leadership is a three day intensive residential program designed to provide tomorrow’s agency leaders with insights into what it takes to run a profitable, harmonious and forward-thinking business. The courses are aimed at junior to mid-weight account directors and soon to be promoted senior account managers.

“I think the role of any good leader is to breed, coach and nurture better future leaders. I try and do that at Saatchi & Saatchi with my team, I think we have a responsibility to that kind of mission with the industry as a whole,” Rebelo said.

“I think that’s why people like myself, Matthew (Gain, COO of Edelman Australia), Justin (Graham, CSO M&C Saatchi Australasia), and the like, have put their hand up to chair these courses.

“We’re going to be providing access to a range of experts and leaders who will provide a wide range of subject matter around the topic of leadership. Hopefully people will be inspired, find the themes relevant and motivating and then go out and use this experience, use the people they’ve heard and spoke with, and continue to work on what their own personal leadership style could be.”