Tinyiko Ndlala, Business Unit Director at Leagas Delaney South Africa, argues that the advertising industry needs to move beyond superficial mentorship programmes and create structured systems for meaningful knowledge transfer between generations of talent.
One of my fondest memories from being a Grade 1 learner way back in 1996 was Fridays. Not because of the school mass we had to attend (although, to be fair, some hymns were absolute bangers), or the fact that Fridays were mercifully shorter. No, it was because of a delightful little tradition where Grade 1s got to pick a book, and a Grade 7 learner would read it to us.
I looked forward to those weekly sessions with such enthusiasm! I grew up in a household where reading and comprehension were esteemed and encouraged – this was my happy place. But beyond the joy of stories was something even better: camaraderie. The banter. The bond. The sheer thrill of having a big kid give you their undivided attention. We built rapport with these towering 13-year-olds who, in our eyes, may as well have been university professors.
Looking back, I now see it was about more than just storytelling. Our school was quietly instilling a culture of value exchange. We little ones got the joy of being read to, while the older learners got to sharpen their reading-aloud skills (and, unknowingly, their patience, bless them). It was a symbiotic relationship, cleverly disguised as a Friday treat.
Now, as I stand at the very edge of being credibly considered ‘youth’ in this country, I find myself reflecting on this simple, powerful model. And I can’t help but wonder: what would our industry look like if we embraced this same spirit of intentional exchange? One between those who’ve built a track record and those who are only just beginning their journey?
The Skills We Never Talk About
What I love most about our industry is that we hold a multitude of skills that span across disciplines. It’s not just about the creative product, but also about being able to sell the work. It’s not just about being strong administratively, but also about demonstrating business acumen. Then there are those invisible skills. The ones that don’t make it onto a job spec, but that can pivot someone from good to great.
These invisible skills are where the real magic happens. How do you read a room when presenting to a sceptical client? How do you sense when a creative concept isn’t quite landing, even when everyone’s nodding politely? How do you know which battles to pick when budgets are being slashed? How do you interpret client feedback and exercise discernment and critical thinking?
I’ve watched client service staff with great fortitude buckle because they couldn’t decode the unspoken dynamics of a client relationship. I’ve seen brilliant strategists falter because they never learned how to translate complex insights into digestible sound bites. These aren’t skills you can Google or learn from a LinkedIn Learning course. They’re acquired through osmosis, observation and – most importantly – intentional transfer from those who’ve navigated these waters before.
Breaking Down the Barriers
So, what’s stopping us from creating these structures now? The first barrier is time. We’re all drowning in deliverables, struggling to keep our heads above water, let alone create space for knowledge sharing. The second is ego. There’s an unspoken fear that sharing what you know somehow diminishes your value, particularly in an industry where we’re pitching against one another for the same client accounts more often than not. The third is structure; or rather, the lack of it. Most knowledge transfer in our industry happens accidentally: a throwaway comment in a corridor, a quick debrief after a disastrous client meeting.
But perhaps the biggest barrier is our industry’s obsession with youth. We worship at the altar of fresh perspectives whilst simultaneously creating cultures where experience is seen as stagnation rather than wisdom. This creates a peculiar dynamic where senior professionals hoard knowledge whilst junior talent reinvents wheels that have been spinning for decades.
What Intentional Exchange Looks Like
Imagine if every agency had its own version of Friday Book Club. Not the token monthly mentorship coffee that gets cancelled whenever deadlines loom, but structured, consistent knowledge-sharing sessions built into the rhythm of how we work.
Picture reverse mentoring programmes where junior team members teach senior staff about emerging platforms whilst learning about client psychology in return. Envision cross-disciplinary pairings where art directors shadow strategists during research sessions, whilst strategists sit in on creative reviews. Consider peer learning circles where account managers from different agencies share war stories about difficult clients, creating a repository of collective wisdom.
These aren’t revolutionary concepts. They’re simple systems that require nothing more than intention and consistency. The Grade 7 learners in my primary school weren’t trained reading specialists; they were just slightly older kids with a structured opportunity to share what they knew.
Building Legacy Systems
Legacy shouldn’t be a LinkedIn buzzword. It should be baked into how we work, how we collaborate, how we support each other’s growth. This means creating knowledge transfer systems that outlive individual careers and agency restructures.
What if every departing senior professional was required to document not just their client handovers, but their decision-making frameworks? What if we created internal case study libraries that captured not just the successful campaigns, but the messy process of getting there: the false starts, the pivots, the moments of doubt that led to breakthrough thinking?
What if we stopped treating institutional knowledge as a competitive advantage to be hoarded and started seeing it as a collective resource to be shared?
Time to Start Our Own Friday Book Club
I long for structures that go beyond mentorship-in-theory. We need tangible, replicable systems for meaningful skills transfer; systems that won’t vanish the day we hang up our corporate boots.
This isn’t about creating another layer of bureaucracy or another meeting to attend. It’s about recognising that in an industry built on ideas, our greatest asset isn’t our latest campaign: it’s our collective wisdom about how those campaigns came to life.
Because whether it’s in a classroom or a boardroom, we all need someone to read to and someone to read to us. And sometimes, the best kind of leadership starts with a story and a listener willing to learn from it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: With over 10 years’ experience. Tinyiko Ndlala is a strategic Business at Leagas Delaney South Africa Director who leads with both head and heart.