My Story #21 – What facing my fear taught me about business

My Story #21 – What facing my fear taught me about business

Desi Jagger's Blog

My Story #21 – What facing my fear taught me about business

I was always afraid of cutting my hair short. Long, thick hair was my identity. Then the Alien (how I call cancer) arrived, and with it – chemotherapy.

I was terrified of losing my hair. I thought I would look awful, and worst of all – that I wouldn’t look like myself. I woke up in a pool of hair on 8 March and evaluated my options – a) remain stuck in a pool of tears and fallen hair; b) try to glue it back on or c) shave it and move on. Since we had run out of glue, and it was International Women’s Day and I chose to empower myself – if I was going to lose my hair, it was going to be on my terms.

I took my time to meditate and say goodbye to my hair and hello to my scalp, which I was going to meet for the first time. I allowed myself to grieve until I was at peace. Then I organized a Champagne & Shave party. In the middle of my parents’ garden, surrounded by friends and family, I confidently and happily parted with my hair.

 

The result surprised me. Not only did I still look like myself, I felt more powerful and courageous. I let my creativity shine… in the shape of a mohawk. This unexpected choice freed up a new energy in me. A badass punk, not-sorry, blind-courage, it’s-good-as-it-is energy. A refreshing breeze in a lifetime of being the overly-considerate-perfectionist-good-girl. It’s not that I became a totally different person. Rather, I added a new element to my character that I could dip into when I needed it.

The fear of losing my hair was so much bigger than the act itself. I had made hundreds of false assumptions, weaving them into terrifying stories in my head. I asked myself – what else do I fear? And what if reality isn’t nearly as bad? Here is a video of my experience – and the lessons learnt below.

 

I summoned my newly discovered punk energy and embraced a new way of running my business.

 

Every day, I focus on my single biggest priority. Everything else on my to-do list is a bonus. The satisfaction of completing what matters most gives me energy to work through most of the other items on my list. I inevitably drop some of the tasks and I when I notice that the world is still spinning, I chose not to worry about them.

 

What is your one big priority today?

 

I do most things imperfectly. I use the first take for my videos. I don’t double check emails, even the important ones. I share draft ideas and rough calculations. I trust myself to do things well the first time round or to adjust them later on. This saves me a lot of time and energy which I reinvest in the one thing I aspire to do perfectly – my coaching. This means I show up at my best and give 110%.

 

Where would you invest the time energy you save by letting go of perfection?

 

I ask for things directly and precisely. Recently I met a businesswoman to explore possible collaboration. She asked me whether I was looking for short-term opportunities or long-term partnerships. My first impulse was to say long-term partnerships because I was afraid of sounding selfish and un-collaborative. The truth was, my big contract was just coming to an end and I needed more clients. I explained this and said my priority right now was short-term opportunities. She appreciated my openness and clarity and we came up with a few ideas that served both of us.

 

How clear are your stakeholders about your needs?

 

Leveraging this new punk energy brought simplicity and flow into my work and life. I do fewer things that matter more. I am satisfied and proud with the progress of my business. And I look forward a lot more often than I look back.

 

What fears are holding you back?

 

Get unstuck by facing your fear. You might just discover you are capable of much more than you think. Coaching is great for this! You can book your free coaching consultation here.

 

 

 

My Story #19 [P&G] How to make decisions with limited data

My Story #19 [P&G] How to make decisions with limited data

Desi Jagger's Blog

My Story #19 [P&G] How to make decisions with limited data

I wanted to implement some new in-store claims for our brand. The effectiveness of these claims was supported with internal data. I created a mockup shelf and brought it to the next team meeting for feedback.

The beauty of working in multi-functional teams was having access to experts and getting a variety of perspectives. I took the team’s feedback onboard and, at the next team meeting, presented what I believed would be the final version of the shelf claims. Easy, right?

 

Not quite, as it turned out. Everyone was excited about these new shelf claims. They wanted them to be perfect. Perfect meant proven to grow sales. Proven meant backed by data. We already had some data from the claim tests, but this was deemed insufficient. Insufficiency led to insecurity, which opened the door to a myriad of suggestions: “What if we change this color?”, “What if we change the wording?”, “I have seen data supporting another set of claims. Let’s dig into which data is more reliable…”

I was curious at first – it wouldn’t hurt to explore a few more options. I proposed another version, and then another… soon I couldn’t keep track of the latest file. The discussion spilled out of our team and crept into senior management reviews, where even more experts contributed even more opinions. We even had a vice president weighing in. It was a catch-22: we needed data proof before implementing the claims but we could only get this data after the claims were implemented in-store. Whilst we were stuck in this theoretical debate, the consumer was stuck with the old shelf claims.

 

Six painful months and no conclusive proof of the superiority of any of the versions, we simply chose one and rolled it out across stores. The following week, our competitors followed. Apparently they trusted us more than we trusted ourselves.

 

Get unstuck by choosing one option and moving forward. It may not be perfect but most times you can learn (from real data) and adapt along the way.

 

Are you stuck for lack of data? Coaching can help you explore different ways of qualifying ideas so you can move forward. Discover how by booking your free consultation now.

 

 

My P&G Story #6: “Your idea already exists”

My P&G Story #6: “Your idea already exists”

Desi Jagger's Blog

My P&G Story #6: “Your idea already exists”

Seeing marketers (myself included) struggle at retailer meetings sparked a brilliant idea in my mind. I would create a commercial training for brand managers to help them understand how retailers operate and how to best interact with them.

I shared my idea with a few people and they liked it. When I presented it to the commercial director, he said that Jenny, another brand manager, was already working on the same project. My idea would be a duplication of work and duplication of work, naturally, was on P&G’s blacklist.

I was disillusioned. Maybe I wasn’t such a genius after all. I worked hard to improve my idea so it would be better than Jenny’s (or rather, what I imagined her idea to be, since at this stage I didn’t know anything about it).

I had taken a tiny piece of information and created a negative story around it. Without an outlet, the story kept building up. What if her idea was genuinely better? I wanted to talk to her but what if I would give away too much of my idea and she stole it? I wondered how far ahead in the planning she was. Her name popped up in my inbox and my heartbeat rocketed – was she going to announce the launch of what I believed was my idea? In this case, she wasn’t, but what if she did tomorrow, or the following week? I couldn’t live with this anxiety.

This ignited my courage to speak with her. I showed Jenny my work and she loved it! She said she couldn’t wait to attend my commercial training and she would be delighted to help in any way she could. It turned out she was working on something totally different and there was no duplication.

Sigh of relief.

My idea was mine again. I just wished I had spent the previous two months implementing it rather than fighting imaginary battles in my mind.

 

Get unstuck by clarifying the facts. This may require having an uncomfortable conversation but it’s totally worth it.

 

What conversations are your avoiding right now? Coaching can give you the confidence to ask the right questions. Take the first step by booking your free consultation now.

Photo credit: LaVladina