4 Ways Adland Can Bridge the Mentorship Gap

We need to nurture new talent

Ad agencies love to talk about talent—attracting it, retaining it, growing it. But the unspoken truth is this: Without mentorship, talent can’t truly thrive. What was once the lifeblood of advertising culture has been sidelined in the race for speed, efficiency and scale.

Nearly every ad executive I meet traces their success back to a mentor.  According to the CNBC Workplace Happiness Survey (2019-24), 76 percent of people think mentors are important, but only 37 percent have one.

The result? Rising stars without guides, leaders without successors and agencies without the cultural glue that sustains them.

Now, the mentorship gap is only growing wider. The rise of AI, coupled with widespread layoffs and the reliance on freelance talent, is eroding senior guidance and disrupting continuity. A recent study found that 47 percent of Gen Z employees feel that they receive higher-quality mentorship and career advice from AI tools compared to their managers.

The good news: Mentorship hasn’t disappeared. It just needs a refresh and a little more intentionality.

Here are four ways agencies can close the gap and reignite the power of mentors:

Define Mentorship for Your Agency

In a recent agency executive search, I spoke with a group of highly accomplished candidates for a “Head of Brand Strategy” role. To my surprise, while they all listed “mentorship” as an attribute on their resume, none could properly articulate what it meant or how they did it.

Many people mistake mentorship for management. Providing feedback, reviewing work, or helping junior teammates are valuable forms of guidance. But they’re not mentorship.

True mentorship goes deeper. It’s built on authentic connection, mutual respect, curiosity and trust. It’s not formal or assigned. It evolves organically between people who are genuinely invested in each other’s growth. The key is to get clear on what it means in your world and make sure everyone understands it.

Reconnect Generations

The recent waves of layoffs have thinned the senior ranks, leaving juniors in the driver seat without maps.

Here’s the thing: Senior talent doesn’t have to vanish with layoffs or retirements. Agencies can re-engage veterans as coaches, advisors or fractional leaders, ensuring the wisdom of experience stays accessible to the next wave.

One powerful way to build cross-generational mentorship is to involve veterans and younger talent as expert advisors on key campaigns or pitches. The goal is not to impress clients, but to develop opportunities for learning and inspiration.

Also, passion projects have a unique way of bringing people together and with them, mentorship often grows naturally. Back in my agency days, some of my most career-enriching experiences came from working on pro-bono projects with legendary ad pros.

Make Space for Organic Connection

The last thing agencies need is another rigid, box-checking mentorship program. Too often, candidates describe these programs as overly formal and transactional. You show up, go through the motions and leave without any real growth.

What’s missing are the unplanned moments where learning actually happens: the impromptu coffee after a pitch, the “walk me through how you’d tackle this brief” conversation or the late-night brainstorm that turns into a mini masterclass.

Agencies can foster these moments by being intentional about creating space for them. Encourage shadowing opportunities that let juniors see how leaders think in real time. Experiment with reverse-mentorship pairings where younger talent teaches emerging tools and perspectives. Carve out time in calendars, for conversations without a client-driven agenda.

Actively Shape Future Talent

Mentorship must be woven into the very structure of an agency as a long-term investment. Agencies can translate this into action by valuing their tenured full-timers, recognizing and rewarding leaders who actively grow talent and embedding mentorship into succession planning (so future leaders are shaped long before promotions arrive).

Agencies that lead this way don’t just retain their best people. They become magnets for the next generation of industry talent.

At its heart, advertising is the art of teaching and persuasion—lessons that begin within agency walls before they ever reach an audience. Agencies can no longer afford to let mentorship fade into the background. By weaving it into the daily rhythm of agency life, rather than treating it as an optional add-on, they don’t just fill a gap, they reignite the human engine that drives creativity, curiosity and adaptability in an era of rapid change.