Becoming an effective manager doesn’t have to be guesswork — and you don’t have to “learn it the hard way”.
The New Leader’s Playbook is 16+ training modules to transform you from agency specialist to agency leader.
Become a great leaderClick here to copy an email explaining why your boss should pay for The New Leader’s Playbook
“Paddy’s The New Leader course is great training for agency leaders of any kind — individual contributors, aspirational managers, new managers, and even experienced ones. We’ve applied these trainings to our agency and seen measurable improvements across the board.”
Ross Hudgens
Founder/CEO, Siege Media
That’s awesome. And scary.
Because what’s expected (and needed) of you at work from now on is going to be vastly different from what’s been expected of you til now.
Your talent, drive, and focus got you this far — but leadership is a very different beast, and you’d prefer to tackle it with practical guidance. Smart.
You started your career as a junior, working under the direction of senior marketers, designers, and other creatives.
As you grew in your craft, you moved on to a senior role. You began to see the bigger picture, think more strategically, and solve bigger problems.
Now you’re in a leadership role. Your responsibilities are shifting from “make the thing” to “help your team make the thing”.
Because nothing will tank project success and team morale (not to mention your own personal fulfillment) faster than trying to manage a team without the right approach.
“Paddy always has been and always will be people first – we need more leaders like him in business to pave the way and bring the next generation through. Having joined Aira with very little management experience, his support, guidance and ability to read any situation has helped me personally grow and lead teams, so I know there will be a lot of valuable lessons to be learned in this course! I’d highly recommend signing up and getting stuck in.
I can confidently say that Paddy will likely be the best manager that I’ll have in my career, and I find it hard to see myself working for any one else in our industry.”
Shannon McGuirk
Client Services and Delivery Director, Aira
Being a manager (or leader, or boss — whatever you want to call it) means you’re now responsible for taking on the big, complex questions whose answers lie behind every truly successful agency.
AKA *not* the agencies with a revolving door of unsatisfied clients and a 1-star rating from former employees on Glassdoor.
So you can get the best out of your team and help them develop their careers while adapting to each of their strengths, weaknesses, and personalities
So you can coordinate tight deadlines between accounts and creative/technical teams (without disappointing the client)
So you can translate vague client feedback into action items for your junior team member (without having to expand the scope)
So you can address differences of opinion without offending (and losing) critical team members — or destroying their respect for you in the process
So you can give useful performance reviews to a team member who has potential, but isn’t quite cutting it
So you stay on top of your many shifting responsibilities, even across time zones and employee/contractor inputs
Oh yes, there’s more. 😅
Your new leadership role will also more than likely involve the big-picture thinking and strategic expertise that made you stand out as a potential leader in the first place.
But with all of the responsibilities that come with managing a team, how the heck are you supposed to carve out time for your own deep work?
Your Playbook includes 16+ modules on the work of leadership with both video and written components, AND cheat sheets to help you skip the messy middle.
Created by Aira co-founder (and manager of 50+ people)
Paddy Moogan.
I want the playbookHere’s a pre-written email that will get your boss to buy it for you
“I had the pleasure of working alongside Paddy when he was a VP at Distilled where he was renowned for his leadership skills among other things. He adapted his management style to the managee which was instrumental to enabling employees from diverse backgrounds to succeed. I still know people that say Paddy was the best manager they ever had long after he left Distilled.”
Niralee Thanki
CFO, Boclips
As we all know (*cough* from having bad managers *cough*), creative and technical skills don’t always translate to leadership skills.
The talents and experience that make you a superb graphic designer, sharp copywriter, organised account manager, or good at any other agency role don’t guarantee that you’ll be an effective leader upon promotion.
Yet most agencies promote from within and hope for the best. 🤞
What if they could equip you not just with confidence, but with real training? Without having to spend their own time or resources helping shape you as a leader?
The New Leader’s Playbook is a simple, straightforward way to ensure you live up to the potential your higher-ups see in you.
No, there are no silver bullets.
Yes, you can learn everything in The New Leader’s Playbook through experience, trial, and error.
But if you’d like to radically reduce your errors, and fast-forward to being the best leader you can be…
Every module in The New Leader’s Playbook is based directly on more than a decade of agency development experience. (In case you’re looking for impressive numbers, our 7-year-old agency that employs more than 50 people, and retains ~90% of our happy clients).
Want to emulate our success? The Playbook is your literal roadmap.
Don’t call it a Bible (but you can if you want). The guide is a rich, detailed resource that you can refer to on-demand, whenever you need it. Prefer to read instead of watch, and want to minimise distractions? Easily download the written content to read it offline.
Your video library includes process walkthroughs, demos of how to have tough conversations, and frank discussions of management areas to help you and your team grow.
Sometimes it’s not a matter of getting the right answer, but thinking about the problem the right way. Get the exact systems and frameworks that effective leaders use to solve their most urgent, high-ROI problems.
You’re gonna love these!
These easily reference-able TL;DRs will help you keep key learnings top-of-mind and ready to use.
Performance reviews. Firing. Giving and receiving feedback. Most leaders say these are the toughest things they have to do every day. With these templates and scripts, you can make these challenging discussions straightforward — and never wonder what to say next.
Test your knowledge with over 50 quiz questions across all modules, helping you retain what you've learned and apply it.
“I can say, hand on heart, that Paddy is one of the greatest managers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. While he managed me only for a brief time in the grand scheme of things, his kind and human led approach has left a long term impression on me and, to this day, influences my own people-first management style. The world would benefit hugely from having more Paddy-shaped managers in the world!”
Jess Champion
Freelance Health and Wellbeing Writer
The New Leader’s Playbook is Paddy Moogan’s latest passion project, although he hates that term.
Paddy is the co-founder of beloved digital marketing agency Aira, where he oversees a happy, highly productive team of 50+ digital specialists working with dozens of (also happy!) clients. He’s the author of The Link Building Book, and a respected authority in the SEO world.
Paddy’s guidance has been featured by some of the leading digital marketing publications, including:
“Paddy is an incredibly empathetic manager, and very intentional in his leadership. I was lucky enough to be one of his direct reports when I worked at Distilled, and I’m certain that both those who are new to management, and those who are more seasoned will find this resource tremendously useful.”
Hannah Smith
Founder, Worderist
Hi there,
I’ll get right to it: my agency co-founder and I were very intentional about the culture and atmosphere we wanted to build at Aira. We wanted to create an agency that was so effective for clients, it ended the “agency roulette” many clients suffer through.
And we ALSO wanted our agency to be a fulfilling, transparent place to work.
The process wasn’t easy, and I’ll be the first to admit we made some mistakes along the way. We struggled with scaling teams whilst keeping standards high, as well as providing the support system that our amazing team needed when they became line managers and leaders themselves.
That’s why I wrote The New Leader’s Playbook. It’s the comprehensive guide I wish I’d had when I was helping build our agency. And now it’s yours.
Cheers,
Paddy
“Paddy is a brilliant leader, mentor and friend. We worked together on a number of projects, from having Aira support me as our Digital PR agency during my time at Zoopla to collaborating together on a number of Women in Tech SEO initiatives including our recent State of Technical SEO Report. Paddy is one of my go-to people when it comes to career decisions as well as constructive feedback on conference talks and industry articles. I’m excited about this course, it’s something that’s much needed in our industry.”
Areej AbuAli
Head of SEO, Papier
Everyone takes a unique path into agency leadership. And everyone brings their own, different aptitudes and challenges to their new role.
That’s why The New Leader is designed to be flexible. Start the training modules in any order you want, and focus on developing the skills you — and your team — need today.
Accountability
Hiring Talent
Productivity
Onboarding
Managing Email
Promotions
Dealing with Underperformance
Effective Decision Making
Effective Meetings and Check-ins
Dealing with Conflict
Effective Communication
Personal Development
Managing a Remote Team
Deep Work and Focus
Giving and Receiving Feedback
Managing Strengths and Weaknesses
Sneak peek at upcoming module topics:
Dealing with Change
Offboarding Team members
Progression for senior team members
Managing managers
Probation periods
Running pay reviews
I (Paddy) thought long and hard about how to price The New Leader’s Playbook.
On the one hand, it’s basically the expertise and experience I’ve gathered over a decade, distilled into practical training and tools for Young Paddy and others like him. That’s worth a lot!
On the other hand, I want this training to be accessible both to current leaders, and to digital specialists who plan to start their new agency.
That’s how I arrived at $499: less than the cost of most digital marketing conference tickets, with much, much more actionable knowledge (and no need to take notes).
(It’s also less than half of your bimonthly paycheck, if you’re being compensated at a leadership level.)
The New Leader’s Playbook is well worth the investment. If your boss or C-suite disagrees, and doesn’t want to invest in you, just send them this email.
“Put simply – when Paddy talks about being a manager, you listen. If there’s one thing he cares about more than anything else, it’s people. Not just the individuals themselves, but helping them become a better person, colleague, and if they’re in that role, a manager. If you’re new to management, or even if you’ve been doing it for years, there’s no way you won’t learn something on this course.”
Matthew Kay
Growth & Strategy Director, Aira
Leaders aren’t born, and they don’t become great by accident.
There’s a real path to developing the skills you actually need to become the effective, capable, respected leader of a successful team.
You don’t have to “earn your lumps” or wait until you run into a tricky, sticky this-will-affect-actual-humans problem in your new role. You can level up your skills now.
Yes. If you’ve read the modules, used the cheatsheets, and watched the videos and feel that you haven’t gotten value, simply email me within 14 days of purchase and I’ll send you a full refund.
If you’re not a manager yet, but have aspirations to be, then absolutely the Playbook is for you. Many managers (especially in the agency world) are thrust into management roles with little or no training. So even if you’re not a manager yet, using The New Leader’s Playbook to prepare and hit the ground running when the time comes, will put you in a great position to be an effective manager from day one.
Definitely! If you’d like to purchase three or more licences, drop me a message with how many and I’ll get back to you with bulk pricing rates.
I’m confident that even if you’re not a manager at an agency, you will get heaps of value from The New Leader’s Playbook. The fundamentals of leadership and management are the same and I focus on these a lot throughout. My personal experience has always been agency-side, which is why I played to this strength and experience when writing the Playbook. If you’re not sure and would like to share details of your current role with me, you can drop me an email and I’ll give you an honest take on whether you’ll get value or not.
Yes! Click here to copy and paste an email that you can send to your boss to convince them that The New Leader’s Playbook is a great investment in your career. You can also grab the copy from this Google Doc.
My full-time role (which keeps me more than busy!) is at my digital agency, which means that my time is limited. If you’re looking for training for your team, drop me a message with an overview of what you’re looking for and I’ll see what I can do.
I know how hard it can be to get teams to commit to training when they are busy with their day-to-day jobs. If you need a hand with this, here is a pre-written email that you can use to get them on board and show them the value of the Playbook. It also reassures them that they don’t need to put aside days of time to learn and can go straight to the modules that are most useful to them.
Hi [Boss’ Name],
As you know, I’m really excited to take on my role. I want to make sure I’m prepared for the new challenges that managing a team will bring my way, and I also don’t want to lean too heavily on you (though I know you’re available, and I appreciate the support).
I came across this training called The New Leadership Playbook ( https://thenewleader.digital/ ), and I think it’s pretty much exactly what I need at this stage.
Essentially, it’s a detailed course on agency leadership to help me navigate the “don’t know what I don’t know” areas of leading the team. There are more than 20 modules on topics like managing email, conducting performance reviews, hiring, firing, managing productivity, and a lot more (and they’ll be adding modules, too).
There are also frameworks and cheat sheets that I think will help me become a more effective leader more quickly.
The training costs $499, which is less than most conference tickets (and I bet I’ll get a lot more out of this than a conference).
Let me know if I can go ahead and buy myself the training!
Thanks so much,
[YOUR NAME]
P.S. If you want to check it out more first, here’s a lot of info about The New Leader’s Playbook and the person who created it right here:
https://thenewleader.digital/
