The Little Mermaid Effect

The back story

Seven years ago I set up Nice and Serious with my business partner Ben. For the majority of that time I’ve been the creative director, while Ben has been CEO. Last month Ben moved to New York to set up Nice and Serious USA. So after years of creative directorship I found myself at the helm of the ship, which was both exciting and terrifying. Exciting because I could steer the direction of the company, but terrifying because I realised that I had lost my voice. Just like the Little Mermaid, I had unknowingly made a trade off with the wicked Ursula; I had relinquished my voice in return for my undivided attention on briefs and creative.

Which is why I found myself clearing my throat when I was asked to give a strategy talk at our yearly gathering last month. Truth be told, in recent years I hadn’t given much thought to the strategic direction of the business. What’s more, we were facing challenging times; some key people were leaving the company and the pipeline wasn’t plentiful. The sort of times when people look to their leader to step up.

Revisiting our purpose

So where to start? I knew I had it in me, somewhere, but my voice was raspy at best. I decided to take a day out to collect my thoughts. I started by revisiting our purpose; to make people care about serious issues. It’s a simple statement, but one which we’ve always used as a rudder to steer the ship in turbulent times. And using that as a pointer, I slowly started to piece together the story of where I wanted the business to go. Bit by bit it came together until I had my version of what I thought a strategy should look like.

Getting my voice back

I had dreamed of crushing my inaugural keynote with Steve Jobs-like prowess. But I didn’t have the confidence, or the ability. And disguising my fears would have felt disingenuous. I’ve read quite a bit about the virtues of vulnerability recently — which seems to go in the face of preconceptions of the alpha leader mould. Yet, in a small business situation, it felt more appropriate. So I gave it a shot.

I started my presentation by talking about my fears; how it had been a rocky year and how I had felt lost more than a few times. I then brought it back around to our purpose and how, despite the turbulence, it stills holds true. And from there I told the team where the ship was heading.

It wasn’t an eloquent talk: I fumbled my way through it. But I had once again found my voice, and it felt great.

Three things I’ve learned

1. If you’re feeling like the Little Mermaid, carve out some time or space away from the daily grind to think freely about why you’re in the predicament you face.
2. Revisit your personal or organisational purpose and use it to ground yourself, then to steer you through the turbulence.
3. Don’t be afraid to show vulnerability to your team. It will lift a huge weight off your shoulders and will help build trust with your colleagues.

That was a few weeks ago now and while Ursula’s tenacious tentacles still pull me down from time to time, with a renewed sense of purpose, I’ve regained my confidence at the wheel.

There are a few people that have proved hugely valuable on this recent voyage: Jeff from Within People for doing a great job helping us to define our purpose, and Rowan from Made to Move who recently told me about a formula: Acknowledgement + Courage = Action, which has proved surprisingly helpful.