RyanCap CEO Simon Ryan on why the best leaders never stop learning

Building a successful media business is one thing. Building one, scaling it at speed, and selling it to an international buyer within three years is another entirely.

Simon Ryan knows a thing or two about leadership under pressure. After more than 25 years in media, including CEO roles at Carat and Dentsu Aegis Network, Ryan founded RyanCap in 2020, growing the independent agency group into one of Australia's fastest-rising businesses before its acquisition by Paris-based Cosmo5.

So what does leadership look like when AI is rewriting the rules, talent expects something different from employers, and change has become the only constant? Mediaweek sat down with Ryan to talk about building culture, making tough calls, and why the best leaders are the ones still willing to learn.

1. Everyone's talking about AI transforming business. From a leadership perspective, what do you think AI can never replace?

AI will continue to transform how we work, but it will never replace judgement, values or human leadership.

At RyanCap, we've always believed that technology should augment people, not replace them. That's exactly how we've approached AI at Foxcatcher. We refer to it as augmented intelligence, because the objective isn't to remove people from the equation; it's to enable them to spend more time solving complex problems, building client relationships and creating value.

Leadership is ultimately about making decisions when there isn't a perfect answer. It requires empathy, courage, trust and accountability. AI can analyse millions of data points in seconds, but it cannot understand human motivation, inspire teams through uncertainty or make principled decisions based on experience and values.

The future belongs to organisations that combine intelligent technology with exceptional people. That's a RyanCap ethos.

2. How has AI changed the way you make decisions? Has it made you a better leader, or has it forced you to trust your own judgement even more?

It's done both.

AI allows me to make decisions with significantly better information. We now have faster access to data, scenario modelling and predictive insights than ever before. That allows leadership conversations to focus less on gathering information and more on interpreting it.

However, AI has also reinforced the importance of judgement.

The most difficult leadership decisions rarely involve incomplete data; they involve competing priorities, people, culture and long-term strategy. AI informs those decisions, but it doesn't make them.

At Foxcatcher, we've seen AI unlock measurable productivity and operational capacity while supporting revenue growth without increasing headcount. Those efficiencies create more opportunity for our people rather than simply reducing costs.

Ultimately, AI has made me a more informed leader, but experience, intuition and accountability remain the final decision-makers.

3. The best leaders used to be the people with the most experience or expertise. In an AI world where everyone has access to the same information, what becomes the real competitive advantage?

Information is no longer the competitive advantage.

The advantage is how quickly you can turn information into better decisions and then execute them through people.

For RyanCap and our brands, our competitive advantage comes from combining data, technology and human expertise across strategy, media, analytics and innovation. Foxcatcher extends that capability by using AI to increase capacity and improve efficiency, allowing our specialists to spend more time delivering strategic outcomes for clients.

In an AI-enabled world, curiosity, adaptability, collaboration and execution become more valuable than simply knowing the answers.

The leaders who continue learning faster than everyone else will outperform those who simply know the most today.

4. Many CEOs say they're embracing AI, but employees often worry about jobs, purpose and relevance. How do you lead people through that uncertainty without losing their trust?

Transparency is critical.

People don't fear technology; they fear uncertainty.

From the beginning, we've communicated that AI is about creating opportunity, not replacing talented people. Our focus has been on removing repetitive, low-value tasks so our teams can spend more time on strategic thinking, creativity and client engagement.

Our Foxcatcher experience demonstrates that approach. The additional capacity created through AI has enabled us to support growing workloads, protecting key roles without immediately adding headcount. More importantly, it has allowed our people to focus on higher-value work.

Trust comes from involving people in the journey, investing in new skills and being honest about both the opportunities and the challenges.

When people understand that AI is something they're working with rather than competing against, they become far more confident embracing change.

5. If you were mentoring the next generation of leaders today, which qualities would you tell them to develop that will matter even more because of AI, not less?

The technical skills will continue to evolve, but the enduring leadership qualities won't.

I'd encourage future leaders to focus on:

• Curiosity: Continuously learn and question assumptions.
• Critical thinking: Don't accept every AI output at face value; understand context and challenge conclusions.
• Adaptability: Technology will change faster than any career path.
• Emotional intelligence: Understanding people will become even more valuable as automation increases.
• Integrity: AI amplifies decisions, so values matter more than ever.
• Communication: The ability to simplify complexity and inspire people remains uniquely human.

The leaders of the future won't be those who compete with AI. They'll be those who know how to combine human judgement, creativity and empathy with the power of AI to build stronger businesses and better outcomes for clients, employees and the wider business community.