Laura Stayt, President of Zambezi, spent years in 400-plus-person network agencies before joining what’s now the largest female-owned agency in the US. Trevor Guthrie co-founded Giant Spoon, which won Media Post’s 2024 Independent Agency of the Year. Miriam Moertl leads client services at Ardmore in Belfast, where nobody gets to hide behind the founders.
They’ve all built successful agencies using different models—integrated, experiential, strategy-focused. But they share a conviction that most indie leaders optimize for the wrong type of intelligence.
The research backs them up. TalentSmart shows 90% of top performers have high emotional intelligence, and EQ accounts for 58% of job success. McKinsey found leaders with empathy perform 40% higher. Yet most indie agencies still compete primarily on strategic brilliance and technical capabilities.
The pitch nobody sees coming
Guthrie worked with consulting group Mercer Island on understanding what separates indie pitches from holding company pitches. The finding: independents pitch closer. “You can feel them in the room,” he explains. “You can feel them coming through the screen or into the business.”
That feeling isn’t about technical capability. It’s about getting to the brief behind the brief—understanding not just what clients say they need, but the organizational dynamics, the external pressures, the historical baggage that shapes how decisions get made.
“We don’t set up the first half of our meeting explaining infrastructure,” Guthrie says. “We set up the first half of our meeting talking about their business.” That shift from agency credentials to client reality is pure EQ work.
What losing in the room costs you
Moertl has watched this dynamic play out across years of client work. “Smart wins the argument,” she says. “But if you’re emotionally intelligent and switched on, able to read the room, that’s what wins the business and retains it.”
The costs of ignoring emotional dynamics compound: weaker client relationships, lower renewal rates, ego-heavy dynamics that clients see through immediately. “Clients can see through all of that,” Moertl notes. At Ardmore, nobody gets positioned as the smartest person in the room because everyone is client-facing and equal. That structural choice forces EQ development.
Stayt frames the internal cost differently. Hiring and retaining the best people requires developing their emotional intelligence, not just their technical skills. “EQ can be learned,” she explains. “It’s less about specific frameworks and more about modeling the behavior as leaders.”
The osmosis problem
Stayt’s approach to developing EQ rejects formal training programs in favor of something harder to scale: modeling. “People learn through osmosis,” she says. “As leaders, what do we want people to see? Who are we trying to be and how are we showing up?”
That means balancing self-regulation with vulnerability. Showing up as human while maintaining control. Listening to understand what people need on both personal and professional levels. “Those are the people who are going to stay,” Stayt notes. “Those are the people who are going to continue to contribute to your business.”
Moertl’s framework focuses on awareness training across the agency. Everyone gets exposed to emotional intelligence concepts through monthly training, guest speakers, and psychometric assessments. But the key insight: “We can’t make you be more emotionally intelligent. What we can do is make you more aware.”
When the smartest idea loses
Guthrie has lived through the painful lesson that being right doesn’t mean winning. “I fool myself telling people that they bought a better idea somewhere else,” he admits. “But I think they bought people somewhere else. That’s probably the truth of it.”
The industry doesn’t have an intelligence problem. Guthrie has never been in rooms where he feels agencies lack IQ. The challenge is figuring out the complexities on the client’s side—the organizational politics, the external pressures, the preconceived notions from past work. “You’re always trying to figure out how do you help them get to that work,” he says.
Stayt sees this playing out in how indies position against network agencies. “We can pretty confidently compete in all the technical aspects, the tools, the platforms,” she notes. “What we can offer that’s different is the people. The emotional aspect. The communication and listening you really only get from a place where it’s fostered and appreciated.”
The ego trap
When asked what indie agency leaders should stop doing immediately, Moertl doesn’t hesitate: “Don’t let ego get in the way. Indie agencies don’t need to have an ego. We’re authentic and genuine enough.”
Guthrie’s answer cuts to execution: “Always roll up your sleeves. As an indie, you’re in the work. You’re not above the work.”
Stayt warns about competing on the wrong dimensions entirely: “Not losing sight of the real value that you bring and trying to compete on the wrong things.”
The pattern these three describe isn’t about choosing emotional intelligence over strategic thinking. It’s about recognizing that technical brilliance and strategic capability are table stakes. The competitive advantage comes from understanding people—clients, teams, organizational dynamics—in ways that let you help clients get to the work they want.
Learn more
Zambezi
Laura Stayt LinkedIn
Zambezi LinkedIn
Giant Spoon
Trevor Guthrie LinkedIn
Giant Spoon LinkedIn
Ardmore
Miriam Moertl LinkedIn
Ardmore LinkedIn
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Doug Zanger is the founder and editor-in-chief of Indie Agency News. He is also the founder of the Creative Bohemian consultancy, lives in the Pacific Northwest and is insufferable about it.
