Real-World Strategy: Mark Coad and the New Era of Advisory
March, 2026.- In a business landscape defined by hyper-specialization and unprecedented complexity, the role of the leader has had to evolve from someone who “knows how to do everything” to someone who knows how to orchestrate talent. Mark Coad, one of the most respected names in Australia’s advertising industry, has experienced this transformation firsthand. After three decades at the helm of global networks, Coad begins a new chapter as Partner and Senior Advisor at 24HR BP, moving away from lengthy and often sterile traditional consulting to embrace a 24-hour workshop model designed to extract answers from the very core of a business. For Mark, the real value of an advisor in 2026 does not lie in dictating orders, but in facilitating clarity and execution in a world where analysis paralysis is the greatest enemy of success.
In this exclusive interview with Roastbrief, Mark Coad breaks down the innovative 24HR BP 4×6 model, which has seen 85% of its clients increase their revenue in the first year. Coad reflects on his pioneering experience in robotic automation and how technology must always be an enabler of human talent, not a replacement. With brutal honesty about leaders’ responsibility to have “difficult conversations,” Mark invites us to understand why trust is the only currency that matters in advisory. Discover how his vision is helping organizations navigate the shift from linear to complex, proving that true mastery today lies in finding, motivating, and aligning experts to achieve real-world impact in business.
Q: From Agency Leadership to Advisory: You’ve spent more than three decades leading some of Australia’s most influential agency networks, including IPG Mediabrands and OMD Australia. Now you’re stepping into a portfolio career with Board roles and advisory work. What drew you specifically to 24HRBP’s model, and how does it differ from the traditional consulting approaches you’ve encountered?
A: This is a model that is proven to work. It is succinct, tight and very action oriented. These workshops are very practical, run by people with extensive experience running businesses. Having said that, we don’t have all of the answers, but we have a model that extracts the answers from the business, whilst allowing us to add practical advice from our own experiences.
Q: The 4×6 Workshop Model: 24HRBP’s approach is built around a “unique 4×6-hour workshop model” designed to help leaders solve problems quickly and build for growth. What makes this format more effective than traditional, lengthy consulting engagements? How does it change the dynamic between advisor and client?
A: As stated above…. our role is to bring a format that captures the goals and ambitions of the business, and then lay those goals out with very specific and focussed tasks in order to achieve them. In that sense, we as advisors are not telling businesses what to do, rather showing them what needs to be done.
To get to that clear and succinct strategy, and those specific goals and tactics, the workshop model uses a series of short, sharp, interactive exercises, and bespoke, practical frameworks. The feedback is that the sessions are very energetic, they provide outputs that can used and implemented immediately, and that there is a layer of real-world executive education to it all.
Q: Real-World Impact: You emphasized that 24HRBP’s focus on “real-world impact” was a key attraction. In your experience, where do traditional advisory or consulting models most often fail to deliver practical, actionable outcomes for leaders and organizations?
A: I’ve not said others often fail. But I do know that many consultants are paid to administer a narrative on the current business situation, and a POV on where that business should go. That’s not us. We work closely with a business to align on what success looks like, what we need to do to get there, and what could possibly get in the way. We then focus on specific actions to do the things that need to be done. That’s what I mean by real world.
The results of the impact we’ve had with our clients are strong. Just over 85% of the companies grow their topline revenue in Year 1. Their average growth is 31% from the full financial year before working with us, to the first full financial year post.
Q: Transformation at Scale: During your tenure at IPG Mediabrands, you spearheaded one of the industry’s first major transformations using robotic automation, a program later adopted globally. How did that experience shape your philosophy on leadership, change management, and the relationship between technology and human talent?
A: Technology is and always has been an enabler. And if we are to run the most effective and efficient businesses, we should use all means to enable that. And if those means don’t exist, find ways to create them. That is how this transformation happened. We had a business, like most media agencies, full of menial and repetitive tasks. So, we looked for better ways. It was not easy, it took significant change, and it needed people who could embrace change.
All of that does require a different approach. We needed people, including leaders, to run at these changes, not avoid them.
Q: The Trusted Advisor Role: Throughout your career, you’ve been described as a “trusted advisor to clients and organisations navigating change, growth and complexity.” What are the core principles of being a trusted advisor? How do you build the credibility and psychological safety required to have honest, sometimes difficult conversations with leaders?
A: I think it says it on the tin. Trust. And you only gain that by being knowledge, and genuine with what you do with that knowledge. I don’t mind the difficult conversations. In fact, as leaders we have a responsibility to have them. I often remind myself, and leaders I work with that very often, we are not being judged on the things we do say…we are judged harsher on the things we don’t say. And they are the hard things that everyone knows need to be said.
Q: The Industry’s Evolution: With more than three decades at the pinnacle of Australian media and marketing, you’ve witnessed profound changes in the industry. What is the most significant challenge facing leaders today that didn’t exist – or existed in a very different form – when you began your career, and how should they approach it?
A: Complexity. I started in an industry where career progression was linear. You did a job with competence and got promoted to the next one. I worked for early bosses who could do every job in the business and wore that like a badge of honour. Leaders now have no idea how to do the jobs of over 90% of their teams. Because we now rely on subject matter experts. And as leaders, we don’t need to know how to do their jobs. We just need to know how to find and motivate these people to do it well. That is a completely different set of skills.
This article fist appeared in Roastbrief.
