Two years isn’t a long time in business, but it is long enough to prove whether an idea has weight. When we launched Ladyship, we knew we didn’t want to build a shinier version of the agency model we were already familiar with. Having both spent decades at global networks and independents, we came out the other side with a clear sense of what worked, what mattered, and what needed to change. So, we built something different.

In an industry built around pitch theatre, hierarchy and transactional relationships, Ladyship is actively proving something different. We believe that when you build a business around trust, senior talent and the realities of what people actually need to thrive and feel good in their work and life, you create the conditions for better business. In our interview with Jack Cousins from Transform magazine at Cannes Lions 2026, we shared a behind-the-scenes look at how we built Ladyship and what ‘different’ looks like in practice.

Our way of working at Ladyship is built around three core principles: Craftsmanship, Partnership and Leadership. These are the daily disciplines that guide how we listen, challenge ourselves and each other, and make decisions. In the conversation, these three principles became a way into a bigger question: what do businesses need most right now?

At Ladyship, our dedication to precision is one of the ways we show we care. It shows up in our strategic choices, the words we choose, the visual systems we build, the way we shape a presentation and the extra question we ask when something is technically ‘done’ but not quite right yet. We sweat the small stuff because it’s rarely small in impact. Ultimately, it’s all about care, carried all the way through.

One of the most critical aspects of strong leadership is the ability to make the calls that count in the moments that matter. Not once risk has evaporated or after every opinion is gathered. Great leaders are those able to make firm, swift decisions even when the information is incomplete, the pressure is on and delay has a real cost.

In a business landscape increasingly defined by speed, scale and complexity, the ability to pause, listen and interpret is becoming a genuine competitive edge.

Ladyship: How two agency founders built a global consultancy on candour and craft. Ladyship is rethinking the consultancy model through senior-led collaboration, direct client partnership and a deliberately lean structure.

We get asked about AI constantly at Ladyship. How we're using it, whether it's changing our work and whether we're worried it will replace the things that make what we do distinctive.

Most consultancies talk about partnership. Many genuinely think that weekly check-ins and agreeable language count as effective collaboration. At Ladyship, we believe true partnership is shaped in the moments that demand more.

For decades, the creative and corporate world favored a single, narrow template of a leader: white, male, linear, unemotional, ‘objective’. Anyone who fell outside that archetype– especially women and BIPOC – carried a second job: managing how they were perceived.

We can all feel the traditional agency model buckling under its own weight. Feast-or-famine hiring. Layers on layers. Benches full of poorly utilized talent. Before we founded Ladyship, we were part of that rigid system, too.

I’ve never been the kind of creative who fits the mold. Not your classic graphic designer.

All day I've been reflecting on the show, and processing all the feelings it's left me with. Above all it reminded me how complex women’s lives really are — especially when ambition and care live side by side.

LBB speaks to co-founders of the new creative consultancy about setting up their own business, getting rid of internal complexities, and bringing their design and strategy partnership to clients