Claire, Author at Don't Stop Us Now

Heidi Hackemer – On Navigating the Worst

April 27, 2021June 1, 2021
by Claire

We have a very special episode this week because we’re sharing the vulnerable story of how one of our guests was subsequently fired from a high profile role in the US and how she navigated her way through the dark times that followed.

That guest is Heidi Hackemer and what she shares in this episode is so generous and valuable for all of us to hear; after all nothing is permanent and plans fall over on a regular basis.

Heidi is a leading creative who had her own brand agency in New York and also headed up the Creative Studio at the philanthropic Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) in California.

Not long after our first conversation with Heidi in July 2018 things went wrong, very wrong. Heidi was fired from CZI and not only that, when she got back to New York, she had to close her brand strategy agency, W&W too. We learnt about this because Heidi wrote an extremely brave and vulnerable article on Medium (link below) describing what had happened and how low she was feeling.

Admiring her generous honesty, we reached out to her just as COVID was taking hold everywhere round the world last year. Heidi agreed to speak with us.

After our conversation, we made a decision not to publish the interview last year, as it just felt too raw. With Heidi’s permission, we’ve all agreed that now is the right time to share the story she has been so generous in sharing with us. She’s well and truly bounced back from the lows she describes and is now the Executive Creative Director for North America at the booming global company, Oatly.

In this episode Heidi shares:

How, after being fired, she initially couldn’t stop worrying about money
Her advice for others who lose their jobs
Heidi’s generous sharing of all the things she did to pull herself out of depression and bounce back,
And the inspiring reason she shared her extraordinary piece on Medium

Even if you are securely employed right now, we really recommend you listen to this unique conversation. And if you know someone who’s lost their job make sure they listen to this too! They’ll thank you later.

Enjoy this episode with the generous, and very thoughtful, Heidi Hackemer …

Useful Links

Our first conversation with Heidi in July 2018

Medium article that prompted this second interview

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Master Meetings

April 20, 2021June 1, 2021
by Claire

This week’s future-proofing mini episode is all about making the most of meetings you attend at work. And seriously, this is one of the most important tools you have to develop your visibility and your reputation.

How many times have you sat through a meeting trying to jump in and contribute, or worse, left a meeting realising you hadn’t said anything at all?

As you’ll hear in today’s show, more than one senior executive uses the ‘15 minute Rule’ to hold themselves, and sometimes their direct reports, to account. In other words, have you contributed something or asked a question within the first 15 minutes of any meeting you attend?

Hear some terrific advice from corporate highflyer and Honeywell’s President & CEO of Honeywell Connected Enterprise, Que Dallara who’s a strong believer in making sure you’re visible if you’re at the table.

So do not miss this episode if you sometimes leave a meeting wishing you’d made a particular point or had had the courage to ask that question that had been on your mind….

Useful Links

Link to Que’s Full Interview

Que’s LinkedIn

Interview

Mouna Aouri – Supporting Female Entrepreneurs to Realise their…

April 13, 2021June 1, 2021
by Claire

Can you believe it? Almost three years ago we started this podcast and now we’re excited to be releasing this, our 100th episode!

A particular thank you to you if you’ve taken the time to review, subscribe or recommend our show as it really makes all our work that much more worthwhile. And we always love to hear from you, whether it’s guest or show ideas, or any feedback. Just email us here.

This week’s 100th episode features a woman who has a pretty incredible story. Her name is Mouna Aouri and she’s a Tunisian who started out as a bridge engineer, including working for 7 years in Japan. (And Japan is NOT an easy place for women to work!)

After running a successful business in her home country of Tunisia, Mouna now works in Singapore with Beacon Fund which is investing in female entrepreneurs in South East Asia. Not only that, she launched and runs her own online community supporting women entrepreneurs called ‘Woomentum’.

In this episode you’ll learn:

Why Mouna left Tunisia to build bridges in Japan
How her successful business and life was turned upside down by the Arab Spring uprising
How, after losing her identity as a new Mum in a new country, she picked herself up and turned her experience into a business supporting other women; and
The common mistakes female entrepreneurs make and how to overcome them.

Mouna is very open and vulnerable about the difficult time she encountered trying to reinvent herself and her career in a new country and as a new Mum, and her story of how she bounced back is really inspiring.

So why not grab yourself a yummy slice of ‘100th episode cake’ 😂 and enjoy this episode!

Useful Links

Woomentum – community Mouna founded to support female entrepreneurs

Beacon Fund – funding female entrepreneurs in Asia Pacific

Link to the Woomentum Research Mouna mentioned – The Path to Success: How Women-owned Business Transform in the Era of Digitalization

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – It’s Not Personal!

April 6, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is about keeping things in perspective and not taking things personally at work. We hear great advice from one of our wisest guests, Julia Paige, Uber’s global head of Social Impact.

How often have you been rattled by something someone has said to you at work, then spent hours ruminating and worrying about how you’re perceived by others?

We both have in our time, and the wasted hours of angst trying to second-guess the motivations of others or their perceptions of us, were truly a waste of time.

Spare yourself the pain and check out this mini episode to help you realise if it’s work …it’s not personal!

Useful Links

Link to Julia’s full interview

Julia on LinkedIn

How To Episode

How to Say ‘No’ at Work

March 31, 2021March 31, 2021
by Claire

A recent Microsoft trends in work report showed that 40 billion more emails were sent in February 2021 than the previous February, due to the increase in remote working. No wonder so many of us are feeling burnt out and that our work/life boundaries are all askew!

We’re happy to say our latest ‘How To’ episode is jam-packed with tips on how to appropriately say “No” at work, whether you’re an employee or work for yourself.

We’re not saying it’s always right or easy to say “No” but what we do observe in our leadership work around the world is that some people say “Yes” way more than they need to and can be taken advantage of.

If you think this might be you, then don’t miss this episode where you’ll learn:

The reasons why we often find it hard to say “No”
Great responses you can try when asked out of the blue to do something for someone
A useful framework one professional speaker and author uses to work out what to say “No” to; and
An intuitive way to figure out what your true priorities are.

So before you reply to any more emails 😉, enjoy this episode!

If you’d like to receive and exercise we’ve adapted from one of podcast guests Dr Jacinta Jimenez that helps you define your values and then set your boundaries around your values. Send us an email at hello@dontstopusnow.co and we’ll send you the exercise.

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Future Proofing Your Skills

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode focuses on staying current with your skills in the fast changing world of work. Something that’s relevant for all of us given the pace of technology change!

In this episode, we hear from drone and tech expert, Dr Catherine Ball, whom we featured on the show about a year and a half ago. She’s a real dynamo and a passionate believer in accessible lifelong learning.

Cath is a strong believer in how important it is for corporates and individuals to think about re-training in order to keep up with where technology is taking us all. Plus she shares some great resources as well and you can see links to those below.

Our take is this: don’t get overwhelmed with the full spectrum of change that’s happening in technology, take it one SMALL chunk at a time. Think about what one new skill or piece of knowledge would be most useful for you right now in your current role to help you to continue to grow and progress? Then find a short course or expert you can learn from – it might be as simple as a free 2 hour course.

Cath also shares great advice on how networking and linking in with industry associations to help you learn and make your next career step.

So what are you waiting for? Enjoy this mini episode.

Useful Links

Dr Cath Ball’s website

Dr Cath Ball Linkedin

Kaggle (free cyber security and coding courses online)

Harvard University’s Introduction to Computer Science, EdX

Learn to Code by Dash, General Assembly

Email Marketing Crash Course, Hubspot

How to Start a StartUp with Sam Altman at Stanford University

Product Design by Google, Udacity

Competitive Strategy, Coursera – uses game theory

Interview

Dr Jacinta Jiménez – Fixing Burnout

March 16, 2021
by Claire

We’re excited to bring you this week’s important conversation with psychologist, burnout expert, author and leadership coach, Dr Jacinta Jiménez.

We’ve actually known Jacinta for some years and followed her great work on leadership, coaching and high performance with keen interest. We were really excited when she told us about her new book, The Burnout Fix.

Jacinta had broken new ground with this book deconstructing and presenting burnout in an actionable way we’d never seen before, and all of it is science backed.

Jacinta studied and obtained her doctorate in Psychology from Stanford University where she focused on peak performance, motivation and behaviour change.

What makes her so interesting to speak to and learn from is that she has also more recently spent several years in the tech startup world helping to build a coaching-at-scale business called BetterUp, in San Francisco.

In this episode and in her new book, Jacinta deconstructs burnout and you’ll hear how:

Her own 2 burnout experiences changed and shaped her career
The telltale signs of burnout may not be what you think they are
How the focus of her work has been influenced by being one of the few Latina women in her field; and
You’ll learn about a model you can use to help prevent burnout happening to you.

So without further ado enjoy this episode with the passionate and learned Dr Jacinta Jiménez …

Useful Links

Jacinta’s new book: The Burnout Fix

Amazon Kindle link

Amazon Hardcover link

Jacinta’s website

Jacinta on LinkedIn

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Chasing Equality

March 9, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is in honour of International Women’s Day.

We don’t know about you but this feels like a bit of a watershed year in terms of gender equality and sexual harassment issues rising to almost boiling point in multiple places around the world.

Now is the time to call out inequality, injustice and gendered violence when we see them in action.

In this episode we reflect on:

Why we still need to keep gender equality on the agenda and why IWD is important
How the pandemic created a triple whammy for women
Great advice on how you can call out bias when you encounter it at work, and
How virtual meetings haven’t necessarily improved things for women’s voices being heard.

You’ll get to hear some advice from us and from one of our favourite guests, NASA’s Trudy Kortes, so enjoy this Future Proof Me episode.

Useful Links

Womens March 4 Justice website

Petition to Australia’s Prime Minister on Gendered Violence

Lesley Eccles – When Founding Another Global Startup was…

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021
by Claire

Have you ever felt totally blindsided or cheated?

That’s exactly what happened to our guest this week who spent more than ten years building a startup into a huge success, only to find the company sold by the other investors without receiving a cent. Just two years later the business was valued at over 11 billion dollars!

There’s no doubt that serial Scottish entrepreneur Lesley Eccles has ridden the startup rollercoaster on a grand scale. What we find so incredible and inspiring is how she’s bounced back from the devastating loss of her and her co-founders’ first business hit, FanDuel, to focus on starting a business all over again.

Lesley says she felt she had no alternative but to start from scratch again – but this time she’s brought her knowledge of running and scaling a technology business to build the number one relationship and self care app, Relish.

As Lesley shares her fascinating journey you’ll learn how:

Lesley, her husband and their 3 other co-founders weren’t sure if their start up would be successful until they were 7 years in
How their team, headquartered in Scotland, managed to become successful in the US market of fantasy sports building a team of 500 employees with 6million users
What lessons Lesley learnt as a result of the gut-wrenching sale of FanDuel
And why Relish is all about making the world a happier place.

Lesley’s story and lessons really are remarkable so don’t miss this episode with the resilient and gutsy Lesley Eccles.

Useful Links

Relish in the Apple App Store

Relish website

Lesley Eccles on LinkedIn

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – The Narratives We Tell Ourselves

February 23, 2021
by Claire

Hello and welcome to this week’s Future Proof Me mini-episode.

Valentine’s Day was only a week or two prior to us recording this episode and it really brought home how we’re often primed to make our self worth dependent on being loved or valued by others.

Whereas what really counts, is what we think and say to ourselves!

This brings us to the wisdom of the amazing 92 year old June Dally Watkins, whom we were lucky enough to feature on the show some time ago but still in her 90’s. Very sadly, she passed away early last year leaving an incredible legacy as a pioneering businesswoman and total inspiration.

In the first part of this week’s mini episode, you hear June talk, in her own inimitable way, about just how important it is to like and love yourself.

Then we explore the labels we can unconsciously (or consciously) give ourselves and how these can really make a BIG difference. And they’re really influenced by how much we have self-worth, love and respect.

We hear an inspiring story of how Barcelona-based innovator and futurist Cecilia (‘Ce Ce’) Tham, suddenly realised how negative the labels she was giving herself were. She changed them and her prospects changed completely with them.

What labels do you give yourself? Do you truly like and love yourself?

Enjoy this week’s mini episode to hear from two super wise, fabulous and diverse women.

Useful Links

June Dally Watkins Full Interview – Redefining What’s Possible for Women Even at 92!

JDW Website

Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend Article on June Dally Watkins:

Cecelia Tham

Cecelia Tham Full Interview – Predicting the Future

Cecilia’s website

Cecelia’s business Futurity

Makers of Barcelona (MOB)

allwomen AI Training School