The war for talent isn’t an HR problem.

It’s a leadership one.

There has been a lot of attention over the last year on hiring rates across creative and events agencies. Who is growing fastest? Who is adding headcount? Who appears confident enough to invest in people while others pause?

What’s more interesting than the numbers themselves is what they quietly reveal.

Hiring at pace is rarely just a resourcing decision. In agencies, it has become a leadership signal. It reflects whether those at the top believe the business can expand without stretching delivery, standards or people beyond what the system can realistically hold.

Some agencies clearly believe they can. Others are betting on energy, optimism and good intent, assuming leadership will adapt as growth continues.

Recent industry analysis, including coverage in C&IT, highlights a clear divide. The agencies leading growth in 2026 are not just scaling quickly. They are growing in a way that suggests leadership behaviour has evolved alongside ambition.

This distinction matters more than ever.

Why hiring rates have become a leadership signal

Hiring used to sit firmly within the remit of HR. Today, it tells a much broader story.

When agencies increase headcount at pace, they are making an implicit judgement about leadership capacity. They are signalling confidence that decision-making, accountability and communication can scale without fragmenting. That teams will be supported rather than stretched thin. That delivery standards will hold as complexity increases.

In this sense, people decisions have become commercial decisions.

Agencies that hesitate to hire are not always lacking work. Often, they are unsure whether leadership behaviour can carry further growth without creating hidden cost elsewhere in the system. That uncertainty shows up first in recruitment, long before it appears in the numbers.

Growth exposes leadership behaviour faster than strategy ever will

Growth increases visibility. It raises the stakes on decisions. It shortens the distance between leadership action and operational consequence.

As agencies grow, leadership behaviour becomes more visible to teams, clients and partners. Decisions travel faster. Gaps are noticed sooner. Inconsistencies become harder to contain.

This is why growth acts as a stress test for leadership maturity.

When leadership behaviour adapts to this new level of responsibility, growth reinforces performance. When it doesn’t, teams begin to compensate. They absorb uncertainty. They work around unclear decisions. They carry responsibility that was never meant to sit with them.

For a time, this can look like commitment or resilience. Over time, it becomes unsustainable.

Leadership behaviour can be measured and made visible

Retention is not a people problem. It’s a leadership outcome

Agencies often talk about retention as if it were a matter of perks, benefits or workload alone. In reality, people rarely leave because the work is demanding. Demanding work is expected in this industry.

What causes people to leave is the experience of leadership as the business grows.

When decisions lose clarity.
When accountability becomes blurred.
When responsibility is pushed downward rather than held at the top.

At that point, retention stops being an HR issue. It becomes a leadership one.

This is why hiring and retention cannot be treated as separate challenges. They are two sides of the same leadership equation. Agencies that struggle to keep good people are often experiencing a mismatch between the pace of growth and the maturity of leadership behaviour required to support it.

What balanced growth actually looks like in 2026

The agencies being recognised this year for strong performance are not immune to complexity. They are not avoiding change or challenge. What sets them apart is balance.

Headcount growth is accompanied by delivery quality.
Commercial discipline is maintained as scale increases.
Teams grow without becoming overextended.

This balance does not happen by accident. It reflects leadership behaviour that has evolved alongside the organisation. Responsibility is held clearly. Decisions are owned. Expectations are explicit. Growth is led, not simply endured.

This is the strategic sweet spot many agencies aspire to, and far fewer achieve.

Developing above-the-line leadership behaviour

Performance, profit and potential are leadership outcomes

At this level, conversations about performance, profit and potential cannot be separated from leadership behaviour.

Performance holds when leadership is consistent.
Profit holds when growth does not introduce hidden inefficiencies.
Potential holds when people believe they can grow with the organisation rather than outgrow it.

These outcomes are not driven by effort alone. They are shaped by how leaders behave as responsibility increases. By how clearly they think, decide and communicate. By how well they hold boundaries and accountability as complexity grows.

This is why leadership behaviour now shows up so clearly in the numbers.

Working alongside senior leaders as responsibility increases

Why above-the-line leadership matters as agencies scale

Above-the-line leadership is not a style or a personality trait. It is a way of operating.

It is what allows leaders to remain steady as complexity increases. To make decisions that land cleanly. To hold responsibility without passing pressure downwards. To create the conditions where teams can perform without compensating for leadership gaps.

As agencies continue to navigate growth, consolidation and competition for talent, this distinction will only become more visible. The agencies that thrive will be those whose leadership behaviour can carry the weight of success without quietly eroding culture, delivery or margin.

The war for talent, then, is not an HR problem to solve.

It is a leadership one.

Why this article matters for The Leadership Line

This insight reflects the core belief behind The Leadership Line: that leadership behaviour directly shapes performance, profit and potential as agencies grow.

The Leadership Line exists to help senior leaders notice how their behaviour shifts as responsibility increases, and to develop the maturity required to lead above the line more consistently.

Not as theory.
Not as training.
But as a way of operating at scale.

Industry analysis highlighted in the latest C&IT agency rankings https://www.cit-world.com/top-agencies-2025-war-talent/article/1943471