Marketing is fast-paced and ever-changing – making resilience essential.
Resilience enables you to navigate challenges, adapt to evolving trends and seize unexpected opportunities.
Just like our impressive Monash alumnus, Head of Strategy, Planning & Operations at Meta, Simon Woodcock, has done!
Join us as we reflect on his journey of trials and triumph and discover how resilience shaped his remarkable career – and how it can shape yours.
So Simon, why is resilience such an important trait for marketers?
Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back from setbacks. It’s about elevating your entire skillset.
With a resilient mindset, you’ll be more productive since you’ll be able to handle stress while remaining focused on your goal. You’ll be more innovative since you’ll have the courage to take risks and persist through failure. And you’ll be more adaptable when you need to work with new technologies and processes.
How has resilience benefited your career in strategy and operations?
With resilience, I’ve been able to persevere and grow through hardship.
Especially during one of the toughest challenges in my career: my transition from management consulting to a digital transformation role within a major US bank. The learning curve was steep, the new team had a different leadership style and the expectations were high.
I remember feeling a deep sense of imposter syndrome (something I’ve dealt with at multiple junctures of my career). Was I smart enough? Was I working hard enough? Was I enough?
But I was determined to stick it out. I wanted to prove to the company – and myself – that I could not only do the job but be a high performer within my role. So, instead of running away, I ran towards this new opportunity head-on. And the hard work paid off.
Overcoming these challenges and finding my feet in this role taught me that if I could make it through such a daunting situation, I could handle any future obstacle that came my way.
Do you have any advice for students trying to build their resilience?
Don’t be afraid to be the ‘dumbest’ person in the room. Embrace a learning mindset. You don’t need all the answers straight away, so take that pressure off yourself.
Instead, be the sponge. When you approach life with the goal of learning – instead of being perfect – you’ll find it far easier to persevere through difficult periods.
And look for challenges! Early in your career is the best time to seek them out. You have less to lose, you’re part of a larger system – and you’ll start building your resilience right from the get-go.
No Comments