1. What do you do when your predecessor was just too good to be
true?
• Let’s start with a story of a very successful career woman that is both inspiring but also perhaps humbling
(and more about the ‘humbling’ bit in a moment).
• A recent profile of Carrie Hindmarsh recounted how she rose from a position as a graduate trainee back in
1991 to become CEO of M&C Saatchi, a role she has only recently relinquished in order to take up non-
exec roles, advising both The Future Laboratory and the experiential marketing agency RPM. A
praiseworthy achievement in its own right. But the profile also informs us that she has combined her
career with motherhood, something she was only able to achieve after several rounds of IVF. And in case
you were starting to think that that’s enough inspiration to be going on with, you should also know that,
along the way, she also had to battle with breast cancer.
• In her article, Garrett gives some sound advice on how to replace self-made and self-limiting negative
comparisons with a positive, confidence-building approach to becoming a star performer in your own right
and, critically, in your own way.
• Don’t expect to be able to replicate everything that your predecessor did but do learn from her story and
take from it what you personally can build on. Collaborate – you can be pretty certain that your
predecessor didn’t do everything herself; she will have learnt how to include people with complementary
skills. Don’t be afraid of feedback – seek it out and listen to it because, good, bad or indifferent, it may
reveal aspects of yourself that you were unaware of. And be prepared to admit that you are, like everyone
else, a work-in-progress.
• It’s a recipe that I suspect Carrie Hindmarsh would largely agree with herself. And it also happens to be a
recipe that represents an important first step towards truly conscious leadership.