Nuggets and gems from Boot Camp #2 – Entrepreneurs, Social Enterprise, Charities
I’ll be honest. I was unsure about going to the 2nd boot camp. Entrepreneurs? Social Enterprise? I can’t think of anything worse than running my own company. I have absolutely no intention of doing it. I, unashamedly, love big, exciting brands with history and fame. I feel proud to work for them. And those brands don’t really do anything for the greater good, not like social enterprises. So what could I possible get from this boot camp? Well it turns out I am an entrepreneur after all. I may never create a start up or live every day to give back but I have a strong, passionate entrepreneurial spirit that my big, famous, exciting, historic brands need to give them a kick up the arse and futureproof them.
Here’s what else I learnt:
Focus on the minutiae to slowly, step-by-step achieve your big vision
Trust each other as default until proven wrong
Only employ people who have mental headroom to grow. Give the best people the biggest opportunities not the biggest problems to solve.
Say thank you at any opportunity
Adopt and harness your natural female skills – emotion, empathy, ability to listen and share.
Collaborate better not compete better – competitors don’t need to exist. Success comes to those who collaborate best.
Recruitment – get the right people on the bus and find a seat for them later
Be the master of your own destiny
Timing is everything
Think less about leadership and more about followership. Why should anyone follow you?
Add a happiness metric to your businesses bottom line
Leaders should feel like impostors and chancers. If you don’t you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.
Know thy self and to thy self be true.
Forget time management, it’s all about attention management. Pick your top ten to do today things, one must be for you not work. Delegate the rest.
Choose your mood and your story. Act it out and you will become it – good tip when presenting or in meetings.
Have an unrelenting belief in what you’re doing, even when others don’t.
Being well connected is important because it attracts opportunity and means you have a network of people ready to help you.
See the world differently. What’s the new horizon? What do you see through your glasses? Share that vision.
Coach yourself by asking these questions. Write it down, say it out loud, draw it, act it. Whatever.
– How are you feeling?
– What are you thinking?
– What are your thoughts?
Imagine if you couldn’t fail.
Embrace insecurity. Don’t be fearful of it.
Find kindred spirits in your company who are more senior than you. If there aren’t any you should question if you’re in the right job.
Think how creativity can solve a business issue. Don’t start with advertising.
The most successful businesses of years to come will balance analytical mastery with intuitive originality.
Justify the value of marketing to your stakeholders in a manner relevant to them eg to Finance ‘x% awareness if our advertising but we only paid for x% to see it’
Fostering an entrepreneurial spirit in a big company environment:
– React like a consumer.
– Judge things as the consumer you are not the marketer – listen to the song before you read the lyrics.
– Aim to hit the ball out of the park.
– Have big ambitions.
– The only thing that matters is what the customer sees. Focus externally not internally.
– If you believe in something don’t accept no, it’s just a delayed yes. Tenacity is key.
– Earn respect to earn autonomy. Prove yourself and you’ll get it.
And a 10 second MBA
– nobody has it, everybody will have it
– price it for profit, price it for sale.
And some top learnings from my table of scholars:
– Girls, think more like a man – worry less, concentrate on fewer things, play the game. Note: I’ve included this because it resonated with a lot of the other girls but, although I understand the sentiment, it doesn’t sit easily with me. I can’t think like a man because I’m not one. I can’t worry less or concentrate on fewer things because that’s not authentically me and I think they make me good at my job.
– anything is possible, be yourself to make it happen
– Be the very best you
– Be a bolder and braver version of you – grow some balls, act and stop talking
– Take a risk
– Believe you’re doing something more than your job – something good, not just commercial
