Business, Marketing, Women, and Tech — the week that was.

What a week last week was! One that was equally challenging and rewarding, balanced learning with sharing know-how and overall, was just a really good week. There were three big events last week, here’s a summary of those three …

Workshop — For Tech Startups on Hiring A Marketer in 2021

Good leaders invest in their people, even before they join the organisation. That comes through deep thought and consideration as to the exactly what is the role that’s needed, the contribution they’ll make and how they’ll be empowered to do so.

There’s actually a heavy work load in deciding what you need, and driving the process to find that diamond to join the team. When it comes to specifically hiring a marketer today, that may look different than you expect. With a rapidly changing marketing landscape (especially in B2C environments), decisions need to be made about who’s creating the strategy, what’s done in-house and what is outsourced to ‘best in breed’ providers. Only when you know this can you then ask if you need someone with strategic insight or creative flair, or if you need a designer, a digital craftsperson or a highly accountable project manager? Most businesses would love ‘all of the above’ but that’s a lot to expect of one person and nearly impossible to do any of it well.

Set them up for success by first answering the gnarly questions about business and marketing strategy, what you need from this role, what success looks like, and how you’ll support this person to succeed.

Then double down your efforts on a good recruitment process. It can feel time-consuming and clunky but done well, it’s a great investment in finding the right talent and we all know that when you get it wrong, the costs are immense.

When you’ve got them on board, help them feel confident and empowered quickly, so you and they are reaping the rewards. A little but effective move is to set up their induction for them (as in, book in the meetings for internal and external stakeholders) and weekly line manager check-ins for the first six weeks.

Here’s a good summary from “The First 90 Days” which is a great one to read if you’re the one stepping into a new role.

Keynote Speaker — Women in Leadership Forum — FMCG

I had the privilege of being a keynote speaker to over 100 women at an FMCG company’s Women in Leadership Forum last Wednesday night. It was equal parts terrifying and amazing.

While a lot of ground was covered over 30 minutes, I called out a couple of areas that I believe are important for us to talk about today, anchored on three themes — confidence, comfort zones and careering.

Ultimately, I truly believe in the immense power of diversity, that men, women and non-binary people need to all be at the table together, we need respect and true inclusion for all levels of physical ability, for all ethnicities, cultures and belief systems.

I also get very annoyed when I hear about the gender pay gap and the racial-gender pay gap, and other true, proven issues that show inequities between superficial things such as gender and ethnicity. Irate is probably the right word. We’ve known it’s an issue for a long time and I don’t think changing the ‘system’ is likely anytime soon, there’s no clear ‘how’ to change this at a systems level, so part of my purpose is to help empower women to understand ourselves a little better and to feel empowered to be and do their best at work, and, ideally negotiate well.

There’s so much evidence that outlines how women don’t throw their hat in the ring for a role unless they tick every box, and that they negotiate four times less often than men, and ask for a lot less when they do. If I can help even one woman get her own fair pay and equity, then that’s a massive win in my books!

Confidence

Extensive research by Katty Kay et al shows “there is a particular crisis for women — a vast confidence gap that separates the sexes.” And that success correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence. They say:

We need to build confidence, our own and in others. It all starts with “know yourself to grow yourself” — understand your own your skills, talent, know-how and style, chuck out the labels that don’t stick anymore, and be authentically you. The only caveat being, be you, while respecting the ethos of the culture or environment you’re in.

Confidence is contextual too, it can be there one day and gone the next, like after a failed project or a fall on your mountain bike. Then it’s a choice and that choice often involves a softer re-start.

As you move into new territory, that‘s often when confidence gets shaken. Know where you’re heading and what’s needed to get there, and be patient as you build those skills. We all start off like foals on their first day, unsure and unsteady as we try out new skills and new roles, but with patience, time and giving ourselves a break, we move from unconscious incompetence to conscious competence.

Comfort zones

A comfort zone “is a psychological/emotional/behavioural construct that defines the routine of our daily life” — Dr. Abigail Brenner.

Rhonda Britten, founder of the Fearless Living Institute says it’s our recharge space, but let’s remember it’s not our only space! Rhonda also says “They’re important as they give us safety and security due to a sense of familiarity”

But familiarity doesn’t always mean healthy or good for us does it? You might be in a career trap — that was always sales for me earlier in my career, I have competency in that area, it’s familiar, I can do it, it's comfortable. So yes comfort zones are good, they do demand less of us, we can sit with ease there and there’s a time and place for choosing to stay put.

As we’re blessed with a goal-seeking brain …

“The human brain is a goal-seeking mechanism and its ability to set goals is a master skill for it unlocks energy for change, confidence and focus”

Jon Watkins, Resilience, Performance and Self Leadership Coach at The Resilience Development Company, source: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/most-positive-changes-happen-because-you-get-involved/

We do well when we’re aiming for something. The tendency can be to do things ‘100% or not at all’, to quit your current role in psychology to become a sky diving instructor, and there’s a time and place for those big leaps, most of the time though it’s not about a leap out of your comfort zone, more a pushing out of the edges of it — an expansion. As someone who often says “all growth happens outside your comfort zone” I need to find a new version of this that better articulates the step to expand more than a leap right out.

Of course whether you choose to expand or leap out, it’ll come with a level of discomfort, and as above, it might shake your confidence a little so let’s be clear on why you’re doing it. A little discomfort is good, when it’s for the right reasons. Discomfort that leads to expansion, is a YES. Discomfort for the sake of it, because you said you would, someone else told you to, or everyone else is doing it? While you’ll likely add some tools to the kit, it’s likely to be an experience that costs you more than you gain so give it a pass.

Careering

We’re all heard ‘find what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’. Great. In theory. Some of us have responsibilities, debt, a demand for business expansion capital or a need to travel so we need something that pays the bills. So when Steve Jobs urged Stanford grads in his famous speech to “love what you do.” it only resonated with some people, some of the time.

Let’s counter that with ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ author Elizabeth Gilbert’s view on choosing a calling over a career, and why “do what you love” isn’t always great career advice.

Watch the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g7ARarFNnw

And summarised as:

A hobby is something you do, and you like it, and you don’t need anything back from it.
A job is a thing you have because we all need to pay the bills. It doesn’t need to fulfill you. You can have a life outside of your job.
A career is a job you genuinely care about.
A vocation is a “calling,” something that is wholly you.

“Think about those words: hobby, job, career, vocation, decide where you stand on all of them and don’t let go of this incredibly fierce self-accountability that it takes for you to recognise that you are in control of all of these things.” Liz Gilbert

Judge — New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards

I actually can’t say much here at all as we’re all sworn to secrecy until the big reveal on the 28 May at the Gala dinner! All I can say is that there’s merit in being in the room with intelligent, articulate, curious, impact-led, and hungry humans.

The fuel added to the fire to ensure all ventures I’m involved with do have a balance of purpose, profit and a clear pathway was immense. It would also be great to see more diversity in the founding teams, executives and Boards of our innovative companies. Watch this space!

Overall

What an awesome week. One I’m so grateful for. I expanded my comfort zone, honed some skills, had some powerful conversations, got super curious about a dozen things, met amazing people, topped up the good vibes and really affirmed that that was a week where life and work was completely ‘on purpose’. Here’s to more of that for us all in 2021!