Lead with Listening & Purpose

Speaker 1: [Music]

Speaker 2: one of the things to lead is to make sure that you don't forget to listen and so many times going into into new situations whether it was going from agency consultancy to a corporate to now a nonprofit world is going in and doing some Fearless listening first so you can lead

Speaker 1: effectively hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the shiled experience with Melanie you're here because you want to experience the life and business that you crave join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from Having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech Innovation magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in Barry raffy is a Visionary leader who was the first woman to run a top five communication consultancy as CEO of Ketchum and led communication and brand management for Wells Fargo she is currently serving as the interim CEO for c200 an organization dedicated to advancing women in business and providing strategic consultancy support to several CEOs of startups and midsize companies thank you for joining us Barry you were the first woman to run a top five communication consultancy as CEO of Ketchum how did that accomplishment feel for you and what advice do you have for women navigating their roles within a company and staying motivated to reach

Speaker 2: for more thanks for having me today it's so good to have these discussions and interestingly I have to say when they were about to announce my becoming CEO and putting first woman in the headline I don't want that because I felt like I had earned it for being a leader whether I was male or female and interestingly around me a lot of the women said no but it's so important that we mark this moment I did give in to that being part of the story the key for me is set your goals high early on and I also encourage a lot of women to opt in to run profit and loss pels I actually moved to Atlanta ran the Atlanta office before taking on New York and then the US and the global role so many women I saw as consultants and other things they're great in client service and sometimes they're more comfortable there and I would say to them you're running a big client you're running a balance sheet it's basic math so I would just say too as you think about your ultimate goals to get out of your comfort zone stretch yourself and try new things along that journey and many times you can do it in a company like I did at Ketchum where it was a long time and really learn along

Speaker 1: the way I love that and you paved the way for women to look at you and say if she was able to do it I can do it too and so many women have left the workforce and it's shifted throughout Co so I love hearing you say that we built in early on when I was at the agency side and you're seeing more and more of it now is flexibility for women and I often call it I I don't love the term work life balance I like to think of it as work life integration but truly everyone male or female different Lifestyles need that sometimes you have doctor's appointment or you need to run out and we were talking about go to a kids game or recital or something and there's nothing that says we can't build that into our life and still get work done and even in a client service business we were able to shift and support each other and support our clients that how we look at that moving forward is going to be more important to keeping women in the workforce and

Speaker 2: you're so right self-care is so important so we can show up as our best selves and if we someone decides to have a family they shouldn't have to choose between should I have a family and should I continue to grow in my career so I agree it's so important to look at

Speaker 1: company cultures and sustainable company cultures and see how we can continue to cultivate that for women definitely and today creating this culture of belonging where people can really bring their full selves to work sometimes empathetic we all have we go through tough things in life and if you can be more vulnerable at work and leaders can be more empathetic you're seeing that go a long way toward managing through what we've gone through the last two years but also the expectations of this next Generation moving forward so true and we all go through things some days we're going to show up in power through a full day other days life happens there's no doubt about it you

Speaker 2: believe that your superpower is that you are equal parts right brain and left brain share with us why and how has that helped you in your career for me

Speaker 1: developing both has been critical today as you look at technology and Analytics and then marketing a lot more around personalization and data that actually can drive creativity if we Embrace both we can be more strategic in our creative we can look for more Creative Solutions and be more Innovative to me I really have worked hard to develop both sides of the brain and that comes in handy as a leader and also respecting people that might be really far on the creative side and managing the creatives or the anial side because it gives you respect for kind of both approaches as well there's the surface analytics and then there's the deeper analytics and you're right when you look a little deeper it could motivate you for more and to go farther than just looking at the surface data and I I started out as an accounting major and I I love that part and the numbers but then the company I was working for said we want you to do the audit and I spent days and days and days looking at spreadsheets and I thought I'm a social person I ALS o need to be social I like the number side and I like the analytical side but I need the

Speaker 2: social aspect too it's great that you cultivated both one of the things too as you look back I don't know that when you went through all of your education you really thought about being a learner through life but as you talk about you were asked to do an audit you were asked to do new things we've been talking about stretching yourself continuing to learn and I think the world today is changing you know right now I'm learning a lot about I and how that's going to impact the business and Consulting and the work that I'm doing these days so I

Speaker 1: think you can never never stop you're so right the amount of information we have at our fingertips today it's just incredible and the speed at which things move too yeah staying current is critical in your leadership role at Ketchum and also when you led brand management strategy for Wells Fargo what do you believe are the most important

Speaker 2: elements of a successful leader one of the things to lead is to make sure that you don't forget to listen and so many times going into into new situations whether it was going from agency consultancy to a corporate to now a nonprofit world is going in and doing some Fearless listening first so you can lead effectively as a leader you have to be able to bring out the best in others and create followership and sometimes that means being more trusted than liked which was something hard for me come growing up in the South as a southern woman I always felt like you know you wanted to be liked and what I learned over the years is if people trust you and they understand why you're making decisions they might not like everything that you're doing but they can respect you and so I think trying to earn that respect trying to cultivate Talent coach them and help them be their best selves but also take the time to listen before you're decisive and make decisions are all things I try to really make I think

Speaker 1: about as a leader that's so true and I remember moments when I was in a leadership role and I thought this is the best for the organization I'm not sure everyone's going to like it but as long as I focus on what is best for the organization going forward you're so right it does bring that trust not always easy though when a company or personal brand is evaluating how to Market and brand their products what are a few things you would advise them to think about when marketing to clients

Speaker 2: it's such a cluttered marketing land ape that you really have to hone in on what is most differentiating about your product or service and then really be consistent in how you deliver that message I've seen a lot of Brands they try to be something to everyone and it's very difficult today we just don't have very much of an attention span so really thinking about creative visuals and storytelling and ways to engage and personalize content is becoming more and more important for a brand to stand out so taking the time a little bit back to that analyzing the data understanding how people perceive your brand what you want to stand for and then strategically targeting that creative Outreach that combination is going to make more and more of a difference today and that's

Speaker 1: such good advice because our attention span is what 3 to 5 Seconds today and we're constantly being inundated with do this this will grow your brand you have to be doing this it's just so many options that you are so right in staying focused getting really clear on who the target is and and sticking to that really will make someone stand out in the marketplace and being consistent and sticking with it is hard because we get bored with our own messaging sometimes and I always say to clients like when you're bored keep going and when you are truly truly sick of it keep going because it takes a long time to embed the message into those audiences so it's a little bit like a poit local campaign you're on that stump speech and you got to go and wind it up and wind it up and that's sometimes hard for those of us that like the creative and to reinvent

Speaker 2: things all the time such good advice and I'm going to think about this the next time I start to get bored as someone who has built a career building an amplifying Brands what advice do you have for companies either large small or personal brands for how

Speaker 1: to evaluate brand position you have to really look at the competitive set and whether right now I'm working with c200 that's a women nonprofit really supporting business and entrepreneurial women that used to be kind of a rarity and now there's a lot more competitors in that space so we're thinking about how do we differentiate how do we target profit Center leaders how do we make sure as a nonprofit that even there we're thinking and then I'm working with a value based healthc care brand in a totally different set it's taking the time to watch the changing landscape make sure your positioning is very clear and crisp and memorable and also one of the things I would say I've been working with a lot of clients with lately is very simple language sometimes we get into our jargon world and every company you join in your nodding your head has their own speak and they think that resonates outside and it doesn't always so I also really try to think about Clarity and simplicity and memorable messaging tell

Speaker 2: us a little more about c200 what is the

Speaker 1: mission behind the organization c200 mission is to inspire educate support and Advance women and entrepreneurial profit Center leaders and help those that are building businesses get up to 20 million or more how hard that is so we're working with a lot of starting companies to try to get them to that next level and then really also working to help people get into either the SE suite and CEO role or large p&l roles in big organizations there's a lot of coaching peer-to-peer mentoring creating a real community and a network and a lot of our advancing women programs to take those women that have made it to c200 and lift up those behind them to have more members it's been very fulfilling to be part of that organization and I'm the interim CEO right now as they search for a new CEO I'll go back to my next role in branding and Communications but it's really been a great bridge for me and something that's Mission driven and really nice to give back to this past six months and I love hearing that especially in today's landscape that you're inspiring women to reach for more we need more Role Models we're seeing that we also need more diverse Role Models we're really trying to make sure that we represent the diversity today but there's just a lot more opportunity for women and it's been hard going through Co you're seeing more and more women kind of opting out of that path the last couple years trying to really understand that and how to support them and help them on their career Journeys magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one way that you make sure to find and live your joy each

Speaker 2: day I love that question some of it starts with your own self-care and you mentioned that before I did my yoga this morning I try to either get outside I'm lucky I live like 10 minutes from the sound and I can get out by the water in the woods a little bit so for me it's just finding that time to breathe and get stress release and ground myself for the day we talk a lot about simple Act of kindness but sometimes it's being kind to yourself and others and just taking a moment each day to say what have I done to support others or support myself and being grateful for those little things to me is just always really important and makes me feel better and smile at the end of the day I

Speaker 1: love that you say supporting others and also supporting ourselves the busier we become whether it's in our career or career in family or with our family the harder it is to take that time and to put ourselves first but we do show up as

Speaker 2: our best selves when we do that yeah one thing that's good that came out of the last two years of being home more because I used to just travel every week and was balancing you know the kids and I go from this to that and getting a little more sleep and little bit more ability to get up in the morning and do that self-care now even as we're getting busier and traveling again I'm finding more ways to do a walking meeting or get outside even if it's like your ear pieces are in while you're doing something thing is to just try to make sure you don't cut that time out where you're back in an office sitting there all day long because it just you feel the difference physically it's amazing

Speaker 1: you have built an incredible career and thank you for being on the mission to inspire women please tell us how and

Speaker 2: where we can find you I'm on LinkedIn Instagram and Twitter Barry b a r r i rafy can find me under my name in all of those

Speaker 1: places thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheed on social thank you to my editor Rich stalino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave [Music]