Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Trust Your Gut: The Importance Of Embracing The Unknown & Vulnerable Leadership With Seema Simmons, GM Of Nike Running for North America

Transcript

Trust Your Gut: The Importance Of Embracing The Unknown & Vulnerable Leadership With Seema Simmons, GM Of Nike Running for North America · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I think we have to remind ourselves that we're worthy,
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  Speaker 1: we're good. We don't have to keep proving. We have
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  Speaker 1: to appreciate who we are and to make sure that
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: we bring our voices to the tables and whatever we're
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  Speaker 1: doing to drive that.
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  Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily here, you're listening to another episode of Hurdle,
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  Speaker 2: a podcast featuring the mindset, secrets, and true stories of
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  Speaker 2: the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, empowering you
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  Speaker 2: to live a healthier, happier, more motivated life and of course,
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  Speaker 2: conquer your own hurdles. This week, I'm sitting down with
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  Speaker 2: Sema Simmons. She's a general manager of Running for North
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  Speaker 2: America at Nike, and we were able to chat live
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  Speaker 2: when I was down in San Antonio last week for
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  Speaker 2: the Running event. Sema shares her journey today from being
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  Speaker 2: a young athlete who loved team sports and group fitness
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  Speaker 2: to becoming a powerful leader at one of the world's
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  Speaker 2: most recognizable brands. In this episode, Seema gets candid about
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  Speaker 2: the unexpected turns in her career path, from pivoting away
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  Speaker 2: from engineering in college to navigating her first role in
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  Speaker 2: finance and Nike. She shares how her background a team
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  Speaker 2: Sports laid the foundation for her leadership style, emphasizing the
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  Speaker 2: importance of diverse teamwork, hard work, and letting go of
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  Speaker 2: the need to be the expert in the room. We
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  Speaker 2: also discuss how she balanced her demanding career while becoming
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  Speaker 2: a mother, the power of vulnerability in leadership, and how
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  Speaker 2: Nike is working to make running more inclusive and less intimidating,
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  Speaker 2: especially for women. Seema even offers a touching anecdote about
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  Speaker 2: the handwritten note from her mom that gave her the
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  Speaker 2: courage to trust her gut. This combos fact with actionable
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: insights on career evolution, finding balance, and the courage it
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  Speaker 2: takes to pursue your own version of success. Make sure
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: you are following on with Hurdle So we're at Hurdle podcast.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: You can also check out iHeart Women's Sports. Over at
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: iHeart Women's Sports and me over at Emily a Body.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Listen to Hurdle with Emily a Body on the iHeartRadio app,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: And with that, let's get to it. Let's get it's
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  Speaker 3: a hurdling today.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sitting down with Sema Simmons. She is the GM
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  Speaker 1: of running for North America at Nike SEMA.
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  Speaker 3: Welcome to hurdle. How are we?
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  Speaker 1: I'm good. Thank you for having me, Emily. I am
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  Speaker 1: so excited to be here with you. We are in
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  Speaker 1: San Antonio. This is the highlight of my trip to
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  Speaker 1: San Antonio. My highlight too. I've never done a podcast before. Wow,
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  Speaker 1: how does that make you feel?
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  Speaker 3: Well?
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  Speaker 1: I am a quiet and private person, so kind of
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  Speaker 1: freaks me out. But with you, I'm excited to be here.
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  Speaker 1: She has to say that. She totally has to say that,
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  Speaker 1: never done a podcast before. Do you listen into podcasts?
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  Speaker 3: I do?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, do you have any favorites? Well, I listened to
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  Speaker 1: I was listening to a few of yours.
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  Speaker 3: You don't feel.
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  Speaker 2: Know.
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  Speaker 3: I love the way that.
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  Speaker 1: You bring the storytelling to life, especially around women in sport,
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  Speaker 1: because you know that is what I'm passionate about. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I love listening to you. But other podcasts suggestions Brenane Brown,
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, just you know her advice. I always use
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  Speaker 1: the clearest kind. Oh we love clearers kind.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, I know. I'm a Brene fan as well.
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  Speaker 2: The good thing about podcasts when you're someone that's as
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  Speaker 2: busy as you is that it enables you to learn
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  Speaker 2: and like do things as you're doing other things, which
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  Speaker 2: means and what I'm getting to is, you're probably a
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  Speaker 2: pretty busy person, Sema.
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  Speaker 3: Would you agree?
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  Speaker 1: I agree, yes, Yeah. The days are busy. They can
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  Speaker 1: be long sometimes too. When someone hears that you're the
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  Speaker 1: GM of Running for North America and Nike, give me
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  Speaker 1: like a summation of what that means. Okay, So the
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  Speaker 1: easiest way to understand it is, I'm in charge of
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  Speaker 1: bringing to life all things running in North America and
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  Speaker 1: that means powering up a cross functional team. So think
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  Speaker 1: about merchandizing, brand, sales, finance, all of the functions that
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  Speaker 1: touch how we bring product to life and the experiences
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  Speaker 1: to life for our consumers. So the goal is to
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  Speaker 1: serve runners, and that is what my job is. And
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  Speaker 1: that's really fun to think about. How do we serve runners,
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  Speaker 1: especially right now with the running boom that's going on
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  Speaker 1: around the world.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the running boom. I feel like everyone's talking. This week.
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  Speaker 2: We're in San Antonio for a large conference which is
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  Speaker 2: called the Running Event. So naturally a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: that are here are talking about.
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  Speaker 3: Said running boom.
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  Speaker 2: What happens when you're in a job and something like
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  Speaker 2: that happens. I mean, does it change or has it
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  Speaker 2: changed to the way that you think and do your
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  Speaker 2: role regularly.
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  Speaker 1: No, what's fun is that my time at Nike would've
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  Speaker 1: noticed is we are here to serve athletes and we
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  Speaker 1: just keep them at the center of what we do,
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  Speaker 1: so regardless of what's happening in the world, that's job
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  Speaker 1: number one. What's fun is with the running boom, there's
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  Speaker 1: more people out there signing up for races or going
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  Speaker 1: out and running with a run crew and a club.
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  Speaker 1: So there's just more excitement and talk about the sport
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  Speaker 1: that we are loving and serving every day. So I
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  Speaker 1: don't think it's changed the work, but it just brings
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  Speaker 1: actually more highlights and presents around the work. I think
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  Speaker 1: elevates the importance of it and it gets more eyes on it.
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  Speaker 1: But it's exciting to see, and especially I think in
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  Speaker 1: the women's space.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I know you yourself ran Nike's after Dark Tour
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  Speaker 2: earlier this year, but have you always been an active person?
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  Speaker 3: Has running always been a part of your routine? That's
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  Speaker 3: a great question.
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  Speaker 1: I don't even know if I would call myself a runner,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what's really funny is I think, and I
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  Speaker 1: think more women are like this too, even if they run,
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  Speaker 1: they're like, I'm not a runner. I grew up playing
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  Speaker 1: team sports, so I played soccer in basketball when I
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  Speaker 1: was younger, and then I think I transitioned to group fitness.
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  Speaker 1: So I grew up in the eighties, I was doing
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  Speaker 1: aerobics with my mom, Steph aerobics. You know, loved like
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  Speaker 1: group fitness classes and took that into college. Was always
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  Speaker 1: signed up for group fitness classes as part of my schedule.
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  Speaker 1: And so, yeah, being a fit and well has been
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  Speaker 1: an important part of my life. And I think it's
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  Speaker 1: fun right now because I have twin daughters that are
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  Speaker 1: teenagers and they've gotten into running in high school and
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  Speaker 1: they love running. And that's what inspired me to sign
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  Speaker 1: up for the after Dark Tour race. I ran out
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  Speaker 1: with them. I mean, they were much further ahead of
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  Speaker 1: me in that race. I wouldn't say we were running together,
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  Speaker 1: but we were all part of that race, yeah together,
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  Speaker 1: and to have that moment together was really fun. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's part of my life and part of
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  Speaker 1: my fitness routine.
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  Speaker 2: It's cool that you had an active lifestyle modeled for
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  Speaker 2: you by your mother, and then you brought that into
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  Speaker 2: your parenting style.
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  Speaker 3: It's very clear.
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  Speaker 2: For me as I hear that that like what an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity it is to instill that value into your own
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  Speaker 2: family and use it in that way.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I want.
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  Speaker 2: To pivot back to your team sports background. Growing up
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  Speaker 2: probably a huge component and learning for you on community
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  Speaker 2: teamwork and integrating those lessons into what you do today.
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  Speaker 2: Do you feel as though your background playing team sports
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  Speaker 2: has informed a little bit of how you lead?
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  Speaker 1: Definitely, yeah. I think team sports are a great, great
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  Speaker 1: way to learn about teamwork right, and everyone has their roles,
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  Speaker 1: especially in basketball, which was my favorite sport to play.
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  Speaker 1: I was the forward, so you knew like what the
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  Speaker 1: point guard needed to do, the center, the forward. We
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  Speaker 1: all had our roles, and I think I keep that
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  Speaker 1: in mind today when I'm with the team, especially my role.
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  Speaker 1: As I explain as a GM, I'm working with a
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  Speaker 1: cross functional team. Nobody actually reports directly to me. It's
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  Speaker 1: all indirect and pulling together a group of people with
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  Speaker 1: diverse backgrounds and really need to understand the role that
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  Speaker 1: each person plays to bring to life that power to
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  Speaker 1: do our goals and bring our vision to life right
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  Speaker 1: of serving runners, so that teamwork aspect was really important.
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  Speaker 1: And then also I think hard work, right, so you
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  Speaker 1: get out what you put in, and you learn that
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  Speaker 1: really quickly. In sports, my dad had put a basketball
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  Speaker 1: hoop up above our garage door, and when I was little,
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  Speaker 1: I just loved being out there and shooting, and so
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  Speaker 1: I got really good at my free throw. So I
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: was new if I got fouled and I needed to
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  Speaker 1: shoot some free throws, I would make those free throws.
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  Speaker 1: And that is because of the time and the effort
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  Speaker 1: that you put in, and that's something that you bring
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  Speaker 1: into your life right of like anything that you're doing,
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  Speaker 1: and especially of course in my career and in my
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  Speaker 1: work that I do, it's the hard work, the time
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  Speaker 1: that you put in that drives the results and what
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  Speaker 1: you want to get out of it. So interesting to
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  Speaker 1: think about, Okay, if I'm doing something and I might
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  Speaker 1: not be excelling as I would, hope I have this
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  Speaker 1: other skill set that I can fall back on. You
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  Speaker 1: knowing that the free throw was something that you were
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  Speaker 1: good at, and then such an applicable takeaway, like you said,
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  Speaker 1: for career and for life. Speaking of career, you did
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  Speaker 1: not go to college to become the GM of running.
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  Speaker 3: I did not. I actually never thought that would be
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  Speaker 3: something that I would do. Yeah, let's talk a little
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  Speaker 3: bit about that. Yeah, you know.
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  Speaker 1: When I went to school, actually I started studying engineering
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  Speaker 1: because I grew up in a traditional Indian family, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, the two options for me was doctor, engineer.
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  Speaker 1: My dad was an engineer, and I thought that is
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  Speaker 1: a practical option for me. A few terms into it
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  Speaker 1: my freshman year, I figured out quickly, I'm like, this
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  Speaker 1: is not the right fit for me. So I switched
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  Speaker 1: over to business. Called my parents. Remember my mom cried,
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  Speaker 1: She's like, I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: Are you sure? We don't?
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  Speaker 1: You know? It just wasn't a space that was familiar
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  Speaker 1: in our family. And I said, I think this is
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  Speaker 1: what I want to do. And so it was a
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: good lesson of trusting your gut and trying to figure out, like,
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  Speaker 1: what's the right fit for you. But went into business,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: studied accounting. When I graduated, I started at Deloitte, so
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  Speaker 1: worked as an auditor. I did that for two years
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  Speaker 1: and it was fun. But you know who looks forward
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  Speaker 1: to seeing an auditor? No one. I'm like, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to be the person that tells you that, but yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I will tell you that from my experience, and I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to feel like I was part of a team
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  Speaker 1: and valued and people looked forward to seeing seeing me.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I grew up in the Portland area, so when there
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  Speaker 1: was an opening at Nike and finance, that was the
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  Speaker 1: perfect place to apply and get my feet in the door.
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  Speaker 3: And that was in two thousands.
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  Speaker 1: So I've been at Nike for twenty five years and
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  Speaker 1: I've worked in many different roles. Honestly, I had the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to work in finance for a few years and
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  Speaker 1: then move into planning and merchant. I spent a long
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: time in footwear. Product was really fun, so talk about
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  Speaker 1: being close to the athlete and listening to the voice
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  Speaker 1: of the consumer. That was really fun to listen to
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  Speaker 1: what they need and bring that to life in product,
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  Speaker 1: and then had the opportunity to move into a GM role.
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  Speaker 1: So it just it was never a path that I
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  Speaker 1: would have actually anticipated or thought of because it was
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  Speaker 1: so so diverse and so different from what I had studied.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: There's so much to double click on here. The first
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: thing I want to go to is this understanding or
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: feeling or inkling that you had that I want to
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  Speaker 1: do something different. Was that a really scary conversation to
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  Speaker 1: have with your parents?
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  Speaker 3: It was very scary. Yeah, talk to me about that.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm the.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Oldest of three kids, also the oldest grandchild on my
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: dad's side of the family, and so my parents moved
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: to the US to come to college right and to
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: start a new life for a family. So I always
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  Speaker 1: felt like there was that expectation and pressure on me
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  Speaker 1: of like, what I do is making my family proud.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm very close to my family, and that was
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: definitely something that drove me as a kid, and so
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I wanted to make them happy. I thought being an
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: engineer would make them happy. And when I figured out
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: that that is actually not what I want to do,
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  Speaker 1: I felt like I was going to disappoint them.
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  Speaker 3: And it was a hard conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Because it was when I offered a pay I think
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to move into business. That was just an
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  Speaker 1: unknown space in my family, and nobody knew what that meant. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I think it was just a space that
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: my parents had to feel they get used to and
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: feel okay with letting me explore and realize that that
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: is something that's good for me, but maybe just not
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: something that might have been in their plans.
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  Speaker 2: Did you feel as though you had pushback when you
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: garnered up the courage to tell them what you were
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  Speaker 2: feeling in your heart.
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  Speaker 1: Yes you did. Yeah, okay, I had a little pushback.
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  Speaker 1: But then I remember having that initial conversation. It was uncomfortable.
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  Speaker 1: My grandma called me next day. You know, it's a
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: close knit family and so much expectation, and I think
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: because of the love you know that they have, they
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: want what's best for you. But I think in that
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: space I had to figure out what was best for
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: me based on my feelings and not their experiences. But
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: then a week into it, I got a card from
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  Speaker 1: my mom in the mail at college, handwritten note just
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: saying she loved me. She was so proud of me,
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  Speaker 1: and she knows that whatever I do, that I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to be great at it, because that was her one
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: thing when I was growing up, The thing that she
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: would always tell all of us kids is that she
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: wanted us to work hard in life because she wanted
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: us to be able to be independent and to support ourselves.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: And so she came around and kind of just reinforced
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: that message for me. And just knowing that she said,
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  Speaker 1: you know, she loved me, and she was proud of me,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and she was supportive.
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  Speaker 3: That meant the world. It took a lot of courage
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  Speaker 3: to do that.
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  Speaker 1: And then what happened when you did that was that
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  Speaker 1: you were in alignment. And when we're in alignment, there
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: are going to be scary things that happen, but ultimately
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: what's meant to be is going to be. And so
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: to have this moment where you felt then so seen
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  Speaker 1: by your mom with that handwritten note that reminded you, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: moving forward, I'm going to continue to trust my gut,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: which is a scary thing to do. It is, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it is a scary thing. It also was a good
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: lesson of like, you can't just plan out everything right
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: because when I was little, it's like, Okay, I'm going
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: to go to school, I'm going to be an engineer,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get married. By this age, it's like,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: not everything goes to plan. Even having the girls took
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: longer than I'd expect, didn't go to plan.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: My career didn't start as a GM.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I was in finance, you know, and moved into so
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: many different roles. So I think it's like, trust your
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: gut and go with it and then have fun with
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: that journey.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Honestly, so important.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: So you apply to this finance role at Nike, so
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: different than being an auditor. Yes, probably that went hand
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: in hand with that as well. So yeah, yeah, so much.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Do you remember where you were when you found out
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: you got the job? I think yes, I was. I
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: was in a meeting at my role at Deloitte and
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: had gotten an email asking me to call the person
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: that interviewed me. So I excused myself and made the
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: quick call, and you know, you want to scream it
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: obviously at work, so I had to kind of contain
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the excitement, and when I got home had the celebration
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: with my family.
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  Speaker 3: So I was very excited about that shift.
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  Speaker 2: My gosh, and also I really appreciated the light that
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: you shed on what in intricate journey it's been to
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: get to this point. Oftentimes I believe that we do feel,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: as you talked about before, like I should be doing
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: this or I should be doing that. There was no
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: path that you were following at Nike. So when you
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: made that first step beyond a finance role, talk to
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: me about the thought process that went with that and
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: perhaps what you had to you to trust your gut again.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I was in finance for five years, so I'd started
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: as the financial analyst, and then within five years I
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: was a senior manager of the team, and I through
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: my role, I got to support a lot of different
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: leaders and one of the leaders had reached out from
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: planning and said, had you ever have you ever considered
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: a role in this group? And I had not because
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: it'd worked so hard to move up on my team
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and I was comfortable right. I knew what I was doing,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: knew how to drive the business there. But then it
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: sparked an interest because it was a little bit closer
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: to product, a little closer to serving the consumer, and
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I thought, Okay, what would that feel like and be like?
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: And I had to talk myself into being okay of
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: not being the expert. I remember my first few meetings
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: when I had gotten the role to move into that
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I had no idea what people were talking about. So
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: many different acronyms thrown out in the meetings and deadlines.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I have no idea what this even means. And I
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: had to go and ask my team because I had
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: a team that I was leading, they were the experts.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: That was my first lesson actually for that I take
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: really seriously as a leader of empowering my team. They
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: were the experts and had learned how to what role
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: that a leader plays is really empowering your team and
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: being a little bit at a higher level, right and driving
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the strategy, finding the resources for your team versus being
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: in the weeds and the details. Honestly, I think they
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: probably enjoyed that, and then it was a good way
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: to learn as a leader, like this is the way
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I should operate because in finance I probably asked maybe
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: some more of those details because I was in all
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: of the roles and had moved through it. But it
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: was scary, and as I've moved into different functions, I
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: think I remember a leader telling me, as you move
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: into different roles, just remember what you're good at. You
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: kind of keep one foot on the ground, right, and
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: it's okay if that other one is a little shaky
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: or unstable, because at least you've got some susstability in life,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: and then the rest of it you're going to learn
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: along the way.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: That was fun. You were shooting free throws with one
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: foot right.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: You talked about also working on product, and I think
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: that is such an interesting thing, especially because it just
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: to me when I think about, like, Okay, I'm wearing
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: socks right now, but if I was wearing sneakers, the
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: sneaker is on my foot. There are so many things
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: that have to happen for that sneaker to end up on.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: My foot and the process.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: It's not like, again, you stepped into this role and
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: you understood how that worked. Talk to me a little
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: bit about what it's like to work on product at Mike.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: You what product you were working on and I'm sure
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: that evolved over time, and what you learned about.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: That creative process.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: I loved working on product because you have something tangible
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: that you're creating, right and especially when you're finished with
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: creating that product and it to the consumer or the athlete,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: to see the reaction that people have on when you
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: take the shoe out of the bag and surprise them
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: with new innovation, colors, whatever. People get very emotional right
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: on the product and they love it. I learned a
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: lot when I started working on product. First of just
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: how do you listen to true insights from consumers. So
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: there's lots of expertise, there's lots of passion around product creation,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: and we have a lot of athletes on the product team.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: So right now I work on the running team. There
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: are a lot of runners that work on our footwear product.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: They know what people need, all of the technical aspects,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: which is fun to geek out on, but then also
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: just how you make it beautiful, look good, feel good,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: right like all of those elements that are so important
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: in product. But it was fun to kind of be
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: part of that journey and understand what does it take
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: from innovation to design all the way to manufacturing, so
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: all of those nuances. Like you said, you don't realize
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: how complicated it is to make product. When I went
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to a factory for the first time, it was crazy
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: to see how big our factories are and all the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: different steps that it takes to make a shoe, and
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: then to think how many pairs of shoes are created
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: every year. So it's a complicated process, but it is
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: really fun and so fulfilling. Like I said, when you
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: kind of create something that runners athletes love.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: At the end of the day.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: And you're talking about the feedback loop, can you give
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: some insight on how that works, because I think that's
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: actually just such an interesting part of the process. Yeah,
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: you know, you start the process with a brief for
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: a shoe, and that is embedded with so many insights
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: around athletes. Whether it's a new creation, new innovation that
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: you're creating, or an update to a shoe like the Pegasus.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: The team will sit down and look at like, what
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: are some of those insights that we want to kick
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: the process off with, and then as we design and
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: build the shoe, we have samples that we test with
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: all of our athletes. One of the things that we've
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: done is really in running over index with women in
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: our testing, as we have found that women give great feedback,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: so crazy tangible feedback that's actionable, but it actually makes
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: the product better for him and her. So there's a
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: lot of feedback and insights that go in even as
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: we're creating that product. We take that feedback as they're
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: testing the footwear and the apparel and embed it into
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: how we fine tune that product before it's finalized. So
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of feedback loop throughout the process before
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: everything comes to fruition. And so you have Nike athletes
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: as a part of this process. But then you also
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: work with specific wear testers. Yes, can you shed some
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: light on that how that works? How does if I'm
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: listening to this and I'm like, well, I want to
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: be a wear tester? How does someone become a wear tester?
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Our product team, our product testing team is always
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: looking for wear testers. They're looking they're building the network
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: of people that are of the sport. So if for running,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: we're looking for people that put in certain mileage each
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: week and that are good at giving the feedback too.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: It's not just about wearing the product.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: You don't just get to tests as issues and not
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: only to do the work. It's not just about getting
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the fresh new product. It's also about how can you
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: give meaningful feedback to make that product better? Because that
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: is the whole point. We want people to wear the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: product and then give us the insights to make it better.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: Meaningful feedback something that I'm sure you got as you
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: evolved through the different roles to get to where you
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: are now. Do you recall some of what maybe in
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: the moment, felt like to be some very difficult feedback
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: that then empowered you to be better and continue to
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: grow on your journey throughout Nike.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question. I think, like I said,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: my personality is quiet, and some of the feedback that
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I would get initially in my career is you're too
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: quiet and you have a different leadership style than we
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: have at Nike. And you know, that really made me
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: pause and think about how am make in advance in
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: my career if I'm viewed a certain way that is
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: not the norm of the way maybe leaders show up
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: at the workplace. And I had to find a balance
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: of being authentic to myself and keeping my personality, you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: coming through, but then also making sure that I elevate
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: my voice in those spaces and let people know that
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I have a point of view and a direction that
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I want to drive. So I had tried early on,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: like how do I be more outgoing and extrovert. It
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: doesn't feel natural, it doesn't feel authentic, And I honestly
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: feel like if you want to lead a team and
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: have people connect with you, you do have to be
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: authentic to yourself. I'm a quiet person, but in the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: forums where I need to lead a team or explain
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: something to senior leadership, I need to make sure that
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: my voice is cutting through. So I think it's about
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: combining your authentic self with understand standing how you need
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to show up in those environments and make sure that
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the work gets done and that you stand up for
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: yourself in that you can be soft but firm, kind
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: but firm, and that as I get older, is I
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: agree with you something that is so much quote unquote
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: louder and special than screaming into the void just because
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: you feel like you're supposed to be screaming.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: I agree, Yeah, don't think.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I never feel like I have to be the one
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: that does the most talking in a meeting. What I
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: want people to remember is, wow, she made an amazing point.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I want the words that I share to have that
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: impact versus she talked the whole time. And also that
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: you listened. I think that's also a really important quality
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: of a leader, is that you listen, because that's how
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: you learn what the team needs or what the consumer needs.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: And I feel like, if you're spending your time talking
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the whole time, some things that are really important to
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: listen to.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: This is really inspirational for me thinking about you as
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: you've evolved within your time at Nike. This is simultaneously
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: happening as you are building a family, right and both
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: of those things certainly have their own challenges. You spoke
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: before about that process taking perhaps longer than you had anticipated.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: How did you navigate the emotional side of that while
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: trying to level up also within your career, because it's
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: lots of balance.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: It's a lot to balance. Honestly, I think I kept
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of it in, yeah, and very private. That
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: was hard because there's so much going on in my
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: personal life, and then you try to show up at
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: work and do your best, your supportive to your team
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and giving energy to your team. It was hard for
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: me to go through all of that. What I learned
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: from that is knowing you don't know what's going on
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: in someone's life, so as a leader, to be empathetic,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: to be in tune to check in. Because I don't
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: think that I had that in my journey. Necessarily it
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: was on me. I was keeping it quiet and so private,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and so I think about that today as I'm leading
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: teams of how do I just make sure that I'm
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: there for my team, create an environment where people can share.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I have learned the importance of sharing those things and
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: being more vulnerable because I think if you show that
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: human side of yourself, people can connect to you as well.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't have done that earlier on in my career
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: of like, hey, these things are things that I'm trying
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to work on or trying to achieve, because I was
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: almost like trying to be a perfect you know, and
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: show up in a certain way. I think I've shifted
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: that of like now I'm very open with like, hey,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: this is something that I'm trying that I'm not really
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: good at.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Running is a great example. When I was running.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I'm not the fastest runner, but I'm out there and
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: I'm trying and I'm having fun.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: And that goes back to again this model behavior, like
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: you showing up and being this vulnerable leader gives others
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: permission then to say, Okay, I also don't have it
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: all together. How often are we pretending that we have
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: it all together? I know, yes, I don't know why
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: we feel the pressure to do to do that. The
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: other thing too, that you know that journey taught me
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: is when I did have my girls, it made me
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: appreciate being a mom so much more for all that
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: I did, and then also appreciated my mom.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: So much more but it helped me with the balance.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: To your point in question of you know, how do
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: you balance that busy schedule. I am very driven at work,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I also love being a mom. At the end of
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the day, my priority is to be a mom, so
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I will get my meetings and my work done, but
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I'm there for the soccer game or their track meet,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: you know. And I also find that that is important
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: to make sure that you showcase that to your teams,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: so other people with other priorities, whether it's kids or
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: whatever is going on in their life, they know that
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: there is balance and that's important.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: You had to have missed something that made you understand that.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: I think I saw other women around me sacrificing the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: time with family.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was like really loud for you to
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: see loud for me.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: And before I had the girls, I had a loss
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: that made me realize like, if I'm going and if
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: I'm working this hard to be a mom, there's nothing
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: that's going to come that's more important than this for me. Yeah,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I think it was my journey of getting to that
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: point that made me realize, like, there's nothing that's going
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: to be more important than showing up for my kids.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're doing this daily journaling challenge for the community
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: of listeners throughout December, reflecting on the year. And the
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: prompt that was for day four was just articulate two
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: hurdles that you've overcome this year. And what I find
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: to be so interesting is that often when we are
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: going through these difficult moments, we may not even give
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: ourselves enough credit for the tenacity and the diligence that
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: it requires to come out on the other side and
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: keep going. And you're speaking of quite a difficult, large
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: hurdle perhaps, but there are small things that were overcoming
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: each and every day that we don't give ourselves credit for.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: And so when you go through a moment like that
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: where you do.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Learn I am resilient, you are reminded that you can
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: push through difficult moments. It then empowers and enables you
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: to show up for the smaller ones along the way,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: as you were then stepping into your power as a
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: mom while building and pivoting continuously at Nike. How does
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: one show up for herself Because I know there's not
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: a lot of time for that.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: It feels that though as though there's not a lot
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: of time for that, there isn't. Yeah, that's such a
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: great point, Emily. I think that's the one thing that
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I think I sacrificed early on, is you just put
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: so much right, put so much into your family, so
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: much into your career, and then you kind of almost
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: burn out and you realize, I need to actually give
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: myself some time too. And then that's where I would
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: make sure that I made time to work out or
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: do something that was my time for myself. That was
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: my favorite time for myself. Go for a walk with
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: the dog, go to the gym, get a fitness class in,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: you know, go for a quick run, and then needed
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: let me time. It was minimal, but you need to
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: make that time because remember someone telling me, like, if
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: you don't take care of yourself, how are you going
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: to take care of others?
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: And I always want to take care of others. I
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: think that was the example that my mom set. I
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: love that she's there for everyone, and I think that's
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: what I modeled and I saw that in her and
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: I wanted to be that. But there's only so much
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: you can do for everyone else. If you're burnt out
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: and you can't take care of yourself, Yeah, how have
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: you helped your girls understand that. I don't think I've
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: ever actually said anything to them, but what I think it's,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: you know, show leading by example, right, showing them that
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: they see the work that I put in for my career.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: They also see that mom shows up for me at
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: a school event or anything that they need. So when
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: they moved to college, which was also just another big
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: shift this year that we went through, they they had
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: written me a card as they were moving and what
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: they told me, which meant so much to me because
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you just don't talk about it every day and you
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: don't assume that your kids see you in this light.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: But they're like, Mom, you're a badass at work, but
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: we appreciate like how much you showed up for me
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: every day, and you know, you don't get thank yous
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: from teenagers at all. Yeah, So that meant the world
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: to me to just know that my girls actually recognize
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: that as they were growing up, and I think that
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: just kind of hopefully will be something that they take
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: away with them to how they Yeah, Yeah, it meant
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: It really did mean the world to me. And what
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: a full circle moment because you talked about the note
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: that your mom wrote you and she said, I see you.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: I see that this is important to you. I will
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: support you no matter what you're doing. This is a
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: testament to the young woman that you raised. You're getting
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: a lot, You're getting a lot of great notes. I
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: hope that you're writing some notes. And do you write
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: some notes? I love you know.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: And in an era where we text and do so
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: much digitally, my favorite is to get a card. I
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: still like, the only thing I want on my birthday
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: is a handwritten card.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, handwritten notes.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: And as I get older, I understand the value of
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: curating and creating and gifting experiences in time over anything
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: material like a new PEG premium respectfully, is very nice
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: thing to give. However, I would much rather like go
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: to a cooking class with my dad. Yeah, yeah, something
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: like that. Yeah, you don't get back the time. And
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: I'm sure that that's a really big lesson that you've
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: learned as you have gone through raising your daughters, and
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: you do so much travel for your job.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: Let's talk a little bit.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Let's go back to the job side of things and
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: talk a little bit about this era that you're in
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: now as the GM of running up North America. You said,
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: working cross functionally and with all these different people. But
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: from like a snapshot, if you have to talk about
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: a day, you're like, this is cute. I just think
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: that people still are trying to understand what it would
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: look like.
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what does a GM do? Yeah?
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: I know people ask me that all the time because
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: they'll have that on their career plan. I want to
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: be a GM ow what does that mean?
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: I don't even know.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: I think as they see, like, hey, that's the person
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: that leads the business.
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: I get to lead running.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: I mean that is pretty cool at Nike, you know,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: that was the heart of our brand, right and where
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: it's I feel proud every day to be able to
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: work on the sport that created our brand.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: But what that looks like every day? I mean there's
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of meetings and I sit in a lot
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: of meetings. I do a lot of presentations, which is funny,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: you know, to think about as someone that does not
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: like presenting and talking in front of people. I spend
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of my time and the presenting is like
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: sharing our plans, sharing the vision. My job is to
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: make sure the vision of where we are going in
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Nike Running is clear, and so we're constantly sharing that
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: we're problem solving, you know, where there's things we're trying
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: to deliver a season and bring things to life, like
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: for example, we just got through marathon season, right, it's
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: my team that brings those experiences to life for the
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: consumers in the cities.
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: Can we get really granular? Yeah?
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: Okay, so it's my team that brings us experiences to life.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: So what's on a deck for an experience? Like, give
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: me an example of New York City Marathon?
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Are you making a deck on New York City Marathon? Yeah?
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: My team makes a deck and you know it's around
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Like how does the brand show up around the city.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: So I'm sure anyone that has seen a major marathon
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: recently has seen those cheeky lines on the billboards. You
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: know that Nike brings to life. That's in a deck?
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: Was the boat? Was the ferry and the deck? Yeah?
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: So if you're listening to this and you're not familiar this,
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: they wrapped the Staten Island ferry in a Nike ad
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: and it was it was epic, But it's like who
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: comes up with the ferry? Like, I just my mind
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: is blown to think. Like someone one day was like,
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: you know what we should do. We should wrap the
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Staaten Island ferry in an.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: That's the fun part of the job, right, and how
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: that comes to life is thinking about the consumer journey
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: of like, oh, those runners have to be on the ferry, right,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: and they're going to see that tagline, you know, like
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: making sure that we're in front of the runners and
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: meeting them where they're at. That is all like the
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: premise of the things that will show up in the
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: deck y, you know, whether it's you know, wrapping the
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: faery or the shakeout run that we're partnering with many
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: run clubs in the city to bring over fifteen hundred
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: people showed up for the shakeout run the day before
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: the race, So all of those experiences how we bring
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: energy along the race course. Those are really fun things
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: to work through.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: And I'm also sensing this through line of I'm going
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: to think really big yes that I like get excited
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: about that because someone says to me, if you had
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: to think about like you're like, what's your dream thing
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: that you want to do in twenty twenty six or
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: what do you want to do at LA twenty eight, Right,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: it's really empowering to think of being in a situation
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: where you feel comfortable enough to say, I'm going to
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: have the audacity to throw out what some might think
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: to be is a crazy idea, and I'm surrounded by
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: people that aren't going to be like, you're absolutely ludicrous.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, I think that that is the energy that
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: we feed off of.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Honestly, we want to do something that is bold, that's
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: distinct Nike only. I think our brand is known for
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: doing things that maybe others wouldn't even breaking for. Was
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: you know a great example of that breaking too, like
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: going after things that people might say that's impossible. Yeah,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: you know, that's actually what gets us fired up. It's like,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: well then let's go after it and make it possible.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: I love that vibe.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: And also, do you feel like you get flack And
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: I guess, like I'm not saying Sema, but I'm saying Nike.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: It's very signature to Nike to be like, we're going
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: to do these crazy things. And I think that like
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: if you go on Instagram and you're scrolling through reels
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: like people are making fun, like there's a vibe, there's
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: a Nike vibe.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: It's like I'm the biggest, the baddest in the room.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: I'm here to make my presence known, and I believe
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: that that can be perceived in a couple of different ways.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: It can be perceived as we have this ego, et cetera,
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: and it can just be HI, I'm here and I'm
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: standing in my power, and I'm going to be the
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: person that makes the loudest noise, something that's counterintuitive sometimes
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: to who you are as someone who doesn't want to
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: always be the loudest in the room.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, your brand wants to be the loudest in the room.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: The brand wants to be the loudest in the room.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: But you know, we're a big brand and we're aware
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: of the impact that we can make. I think that's
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: why we go after those audacious goals because we can
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: and we should. And it starts with the athlete. The
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: athletes are the ones that have those audacious goals. It
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: was Faith that wants to go after breaking the four
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: minute mile barrier, and we're there to help her as
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: a brand power that up. I also think, though, you
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: balance it with how you show up for consumers every day.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: You know, that's the shakeout run, that's the guidance that
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: we can provide through our training plans for the consumers
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: that have the goal of running their first marathon or
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: a faster time. So I think it's that balance of
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: things that we do at scale, which people might say like, Okay,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: that's Nike doing their Nike thing. Yeah, and we will
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: always do that. It's also the intimate moments that we
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: think about to hopefully create more of those human connects
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: and make people feel a part of the community, not
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: necessarily like, hey, this is Nike doing something. I want
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: to talk about the future of running as Nike sees it.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: This year, you as a brand really came forward and
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: invested in women with the after Dark series, making a
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: really big push to target her within the you know,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: confines of whatever you're allowed to tell me.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: Is that something that we will continue to see going forward.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: Yes, you will see a continued focus on serving women
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: and running. It's something very close to my heart. It's
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: something that a lot of people are very passionate about
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: at Nike. And again it goes back to serving re
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: women are signing up for more races. She is out
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: there running with us, and we will continue to think
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: about ways to serve her across product and experiences. And
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited. I had some of the ideas there
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: we're cooking out.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I feel like I also know things that
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: we're not talking about right now, but I'm just reeling
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: it in respectfully, speaking of after Dark, how does brand
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: gauge success with something like that, Like, yes, selling out
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: is exciting, Yes the pr is exciting, But what's like
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: the success metric?
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: Like, did Nike see this as a massive success? Yeah?
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: I think we saw it as a massive success because
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: we heard from women that they wanted to come back
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: and race with us again. And I think that's what
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: we want. We want to get women to the starting
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: line and across the finish line and then come back
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: again and run with us. And just having that positive
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: sentiment that she enjoyed the experience and felt the power
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: of the collective meant more to us than you know
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: the number people that are there. But just let's bring
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: her back and have her run with us and bring
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: some friends next year, bring some friends. Yeah, what are
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: you thinking about for the next year?
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: Dude? So I did.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: I ran all of the world major marathons and finished
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: them two years ago.
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: It's amazing, loved it.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Congratulations you I do have Sydney on my vision board.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: I think in twenty six I've never been to Australia,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: I know, and it's a big trip.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: Have you been to Australia?
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: I have, Okay, Yeah, I went for a work event Setney.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Oh it's amazing.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: And so I'm sure if you went for a work event,
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: you weren't there for as long as you wish that
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: you could be. So my thought process is that I'll
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: probably run the Sydney Marathon this year and I'm aiming
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: to be in that part of the world for give her.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: Take around ten days. I feel like you have to
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: be there for that long.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think it would be great to experience
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: that and we'll be cheering you on.
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, you'll be cheering me on, I know. Speaking of
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: goal setting.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: GM, of running for North America, what's on your vision
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: board moving forward for your career?
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: I actually feel like right now I'm in my dream job.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: I love my job. I love you so passionate about running.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: I've got a great team, and I like the GM
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: role because it is bringing people together and leveraging their expertise.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: But I wouldn't be mad at going back to product someday.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: So you know, I think the GM space, our product
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: role are areas that I'm super passionate about, So I
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: am open to that. And honestly, since I never knew
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: like what was the next thing that was coming, I'm
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: open to what are other areas that I could learn
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: and grow?
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: But right now I am thankful for being in running.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so cool to hear that you've been so
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: open to learning this entire time.
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: You've been so open to feedback this entire time.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: When someone hears from you, myself included, they're inspired, I'm
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: sure by your journey. If you had to offer advice
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: to someone that is aspiring to this level of leadership,
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: that is aspiring to getting to a place where maybe
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: they hold their dream job, what do.
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: You have to offer them?
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say, be curious and then enjoy the journey.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: So don't be about, hey, I want to be in
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: this role in ten years. Specifically, it's great to have
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: a vision, but it may not always go kind of
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: exactly as planned. I would have never mapped out my
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: career the way it was, and so I think it
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: was okay with just moving in different areas. Sometimes those
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: roles are not always like hey, each one is a promotion.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes you have to take those lateral moves
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: to learn something new and a new area that then
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: sets you up for the next big one. But I
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: think just take each step as a way to learn
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: something new, build that network, and have fun with it.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: People ask me why I've been at Nike for twenty
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: five years. It is because I've had the opportunity to
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: do so many different things and work in so many areas,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: and it's the people that keep me there.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: Well, that was what I was going to ask you,
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: is that I it's interesting about the sneaker industry because
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: I do feel like you see this a lot. You
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: see folks that have been at brands, whether it be
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: ni He or a competitor, and they've been there for ten, fifteen,
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five years.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, why do you think of that as I think
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: there's so.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Much passion in that space, and you know, you build
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: a lot into a brand and you want to see
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: your vision come to life. So I think that keeps
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: people in a space where you're working towards those bigger
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: goals and it feels like, you know, you build a
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: family at work too. You're close to your teammates. It's
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: a competitive environment, but there's so much passion around what
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: everyone is doing, and then that builds such a fun
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: culture that I think keeps people there.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: I obviously have a very different job, but I get
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: to see what it is that you do, and it's
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: so funny because there are so many aspects of our
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: job that are quite fun and outside of the box.
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: Like you're talking about traveling to run with your daughters, yeah,
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: and like that's kind of part of the job, right,
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: And for me, I'll have friends that are like.
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: How's kindergarten today?
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: And like, just because I'm not today sitting with an
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: Excel spreadsheet does not mean that there aren't moments when
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: I am like literally like where's the money coming from?
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: I don't know what's going on.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: But to your point, I do think that a reason
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: that people stay around this climate for so long is
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: because there is a lot of joy and almost at
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: times opportunity to play. And that is something that can
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: be so lost in the working environment. Is like the
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: beauty of playing and the beauty of taking risks and
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: doing new things.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it gives you that space to imagine. Yeah, I
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: mean that is fun, right, It's not. Every day is
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: almost different, you know, going back to your question around like,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: what does a GM do?
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: I feel like every day is pretty differ.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: You've got different problems to solve, different dreams to think about.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: It's fun to have that creative space. And today your
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: first podcast, my first podcast, how did I do em?
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Theesema, You've done so well before I let you go.
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: Today, someone maybe for your role, I would say, maybe
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: someone comes to your LinkedIn and they see you as
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: this GM of running. But when you look in the mirror, Seema,
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: what is it that you see looking back at you?
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: I see someone that has put in the effort and
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: that has worked hard to make my mom proud, to
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: make my daughters proud. And so that's who I see
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: in the mirror, and that's what I keep in my
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: mind as I show up every day. Yeah, and what
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: an important reminder again when you said earlier you were like,
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: I realized very quickly that my number one priority was
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: being a mom. To look in the mirror and see
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: someone that makes yourself proud. Sell worth is how you
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: feel about yourself when you're by yourself, and you're never
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: going to get that from how you show up necessarily
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: in one specific meeting.
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: Right, it's that.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Opportunity to look in the mirror and be like, no,
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: I'm good with what I see. Yeah, it's so important.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: It's so important. I think we have to remind ourselves
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: and that we're worthy, we're good. You know, we don't
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: have to keep proving ourselves. We have to appreciate who
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: we are and you know, we have goals, right, We're
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: not perfect, but I think to just appreciate the value
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: that each of us brings, it's really important, and to
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: make sure that we bring our voices to the tables
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: and whatever we're doing to drive that.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: Right now, you have an opportunity to offer yourself a
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: piece of advice. Let's go back to when you made
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: that decision to say, I'm not going to be what
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: I thought that I was supposed to be. I'm not
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: going to be a doctor. I'm going to tell my
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: parents and that I'm kind of leaning in this other direction.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: Knowing what you know, now, what would you tell your younger.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Self, my younger self to just continue to trust myself,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: don't second guess it, don't question myself. You know, it's
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: hard because it's when you're younger, you want to fit in,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: you want to be like everyone else. You also want
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: to meet the expectations that those around you have for you.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: So I think if I would have known like it's
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: okay to think differently and to be myself and to
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: trust myself, that would have been helpful to hear as
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: a kid. Yeah, and what I'm also hearing you say
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: is like the importance of being honest with yourself about
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: the expectations you have for yourself, because those are going
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: to be what's most important along the way.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, absolutely, Sima. I'm so happy that we did this.
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: I'm so honored that you allowed me to be your
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: first podcast. I know you're not the most active on
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: social but if someone wants to keep up with you,
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: if someone wants to keep up with Nike, where do
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: they find you?
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: You can find me on LinkedIn. Yeah, and then also
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: on Instagram too. Okay, Yeah, amazing.
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: Another Hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.