22 Aug 2022

Bravery, strength and learning from mistakes. 

Earlier this month I sat down at Advertising Week APAC to share advice for aspiring leaders. Here are four key learnings drawn from my career so far. 

Trust in those who trust in you

A large chunk of my career was spent at Unilever - 16 years in fact. Towards the end of my time an interesting new opportunity arose. 

But because I loved what I was doing, and had an internal doubt about whether I would be able to do the job, I hesitated in putting my hand up. 

I was really lucky to have a hugely supportive boss, who gave me some advice that has stayed with me. He said, “It’s time to put your big girl pants on and be brave. Because without bravery there isn’t going to be any progress.” 

So I took that advice and nabbed the opportunity. And this prompt started my learning journey. I had to work out how to balance my life, travel, kids, and everything else besides. But getting that advice from someone I trusted and looked up to gave me the courage to take that step.  

This is a lesson I’ve applied again and again. Sometimes it might not always be successful, but without bravery and taking chances, progress will never come. 
 

Being wrong is just the start of being right

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my career turned out to be my biggest learning opportunity. In 2016, when I commenced at Jurlique - a global premium skincare brand, with D2C and retail channels across 23 markets - I was joining a company which had gone through nine CMOs in nine years. I saw this as an incredible challenge and a chance to employ the toolkit I had compiled at previous roles.

I didn’t anticipate that although my marketing and leadership toolkit worked in a well oiled machine, my new environment was vastly different. I was entering a business with many existing challenges and its team weren't ready for it. I had to start from scratch, and rethink how I was going to take this brand to a place where it could realise its full potential. 

I had to develop completely new tools along the way. And the learning curve was phenomenal. The first thing I did was put a great team around me. In the end, we delivered some terrific results. Yet my mistake was thinking the business was ready for what I had planned, when in reality it took time and patience to turn things around.
 

Invest heavily in talent and upskilling

I was lucky enough to grow up in a professional environment where there was so much investment in talent. For me, it’s about continuing this trend, and making sure every person in my team sees the value in taking time to improve themselves.

My biggest focus today is giving marketers the capability to control the future of their careers. I want to ensure data-driven marketers are set up for the future so they can make the right choices for consumers. And that means preparing them for the challenges on the horizon. 
 

Grow your business with inspiring individuals

When we look at the future of ADMA, it comes down to investing in people that have judgement, drive and influence.

Being able to problem solve, re-examine ways you were originally taught, and deal with the challenges you need to overcome is key to growing within a business. For me, it's the passion to transform and lead a team that makes an individual stand out. 

Equally important is the ability to engage not only with your direct team, but to collaborate across the business. This is absolutely fundamental to growing successful organisations. 

Ultimately, people learn and grow into roles, and it’s important leaders are on this journey with them.