When I heard “agency leadership”, I expected clear direction, decisions, and protection from chaos - a system in place. Creative space for exploration and time to understand the problem, test ideas, and push the work forward with intent. But you often get a double layer of control. The agency becomes the client, and the client still acts like the client. Decisions are filtered twice with little to no feedback. Risk is avoided, not because it’s wrong, but because no one owns it. There’s rarely time for research or real innovation as leadership is focused on avoiding mistakes. And the only hope for a developer is that there’s one person at the top with a clear point of view. In practice, direction is spread across accounts, stakeholders, and processes.