What Kamala Harris can teach us about creative partnerships

The race towards the presidential election in the US over the past few weeks has been pretty mind-boggling at times.

With soap opera-worthy plot twists, Kamala Harris is now Democratic candidate after President Joe Biden pulled out, facing vengeful former incumbent Donald Trump, still smarting after an assassination attempt. 

Harris has created extraordinary momentum in a few short days. So much so, the attempt on Trump’s life feels like it’s already been lost in the mists of time.

And now, Harris has played a masterstroke to keep that momentum going by choosing Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz as her running mate – and there are many parallels that should be drawn when it comes to leadership teams in the creative industry.

Choosing Walz adds further heft to her campaign, along with Barack Obama’s endorsement and record donations, because she has many hurdles to overcome, not least as she’s been one of the most unpopular vice presidents in history and is only now challenging Trump in the polls.

She’s already embraced Charli XCX’s Brat summer trend with endorsement from the singer herself, and almost immediately joined TikTok, prompting a deluge of memes in her favour. Jennifer Aniston has challenged Trump running-mate JD Vance over his slurs about “childless cat ladies”, and actors including Jeff Bridges, Mark Hamill and Mark Ruffalo have starred in a White Dudes For Harris fundraiser. 

Harris’s messaging of “prosecutor v felon” and the “future v the past” is also landing strongly. But her choice of Walz could prove crucial at the ballot box.

Walz is a genius pick, not least for his "weird" line about Trump which has totally riled the Republicans. Until now, the Democrats have struggled to communicate that Trump shouldn't be trusted. 

As in any great leadership team, Harris and Walz complement each other, with different aspects to appeal to different elements of the electorate. She’s the urban Californian girl who began her career as a lawyer in San Francisco, he’s the rural bloke from Nebraska with everyman appeal who’s a military veteran, and former high school teacher and football coach. 

The best leadership teams aren’t just about one figurehead, as much as would-be-king Trump would like us to believe with his mini-me Vance. 

In the same way Obama picked Biden (an experienced white man to make sure Middle America wasn’t freaked out by a youngish black man running to be president), as a woman of colour, Harris has picked a white male to settle nerves. Trump has already played the race card against her, after all.

She has chosen someone who already appeals to moderate Republicans to exaggerate Trump’s extremeness, who can tick off different knowledge sets and skills to appeal to different kinds of people.  

Similarly, in our industry, people gravitate to the person in management teams they feel most comfortable with, often those they can identify with. Like Harris, surrounding yourself with a variety of people from different backgrounds is vital.

You don’t want a homogenous blob, but all must be working towards the future and success of the business, not just their own.

In his acceptance speech, Walz was notably praiseworthy of his nearest running-mate rival Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor, which was great to hear. Similarly in our industry, it's inspiring when C-suite people support each other both in their own agencies and in others.

For example, the movement to increase starting salaries in the industry to £30k at the beginning of this year saw agencies backing the moves of other agency leaders and as a result, created a positive movement which is good for the young entrants and ultimately benefits adland.

People are always looking for fissures between management, which we are already starting to see between Trump and Vance. If you confidently sense leaders are going to work through issues sensibly and constructively, and they’ve all got something different to bring to the party, it’s how you win. But most important is how everyone works towards a consensus.

You need a variety of views and approaches around the table, not a bunch of yes people. But this only works if you properly debate topics, and there’s constant communication. It’s vital to have a team (as I do) that challenges you and stops you blundering into massive mistakes.

It’s essential to keep us focused on what's going to work, what's flying, what's going to excite the company and what's really going to excite clients. 

Neil Henderson is chief executive officer at St Luke’s