Latest / Success Story with Scott Clary / Lessons - How to Unlock Authenticity in People | Jessica Zweig - CEO of SimplyBe

Transcript

Lessons - How to Unlock Authenticity in People | Jessica Zweig - CEO of SimplyBe · Success Story with Scott Clary

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  In this lessons episode, explore how authenticity serves as the foundation for personal growth
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  and sustainable business success. Discover the power of building a values-driven culture,
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  fostering psychological safety and practicing radical candor to strengthen teams and relationships.
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  Learn why aligning your actions with your values can transform how you lead, connect,
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  and thrive in both life and work.
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  And that moment when you felt very spiritual, how did that tie in to the message that you put
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  out into the world about authenticity? Why did you need to find yourself before you were able
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  to truly put yourself out there? And I think in turn create a message and even marketing material,
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  and all that superficial stuff that actually resonates with people.
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  So I used to run a different business. So simply be my company is my second company. And my
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  first company was an online magazine for women in the city of Chicago, which I ran for seven years.
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  And we built this major brand and we were super cool and we got applications every week for
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  people who wanted to work for us and brands wanting to work with us. We amass this huge audience.
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  In Chicago, it was sort of like, you know, refinery 29, but for women and this was sort of,
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  we were like the original food and fashion blog in the city of Chicago and blew up in the Midwest.
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  And that really put me on the map as an entrepreneur, right? This was from like 2008 to 2014.
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  I ran this business. And I write about this in my book, I talk about it often. The whole thing was
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  sort of like sounded on sort of a lie. Like we were so, we were struggling inside that business
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  so hard. We were my business partner and I, we kind of hated each other. We were super toxic.
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  And yet we were reaching women empowerment, like to the masses. We had no money. We were broke.
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  We could barely afford to pair employees, let alone ourselves. I was sick physically,
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  mentally and while I was partying, I was going on like 5, 6, 9, the week, like super, super unhealthy
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  on all of the levels. And yet I was like, quote, unquote successful and, you know, in demand and
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  sparkling from the outside. And so that was really at the end of that business when my inauthenticity
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  caught up with me. And I completely crashed rock bottom financially broke $100,000 in credit
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  has to ask my parents at 33 years old to help me pay my phone bill. Like it was a rock bottom for sure.
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  And so when I started simply be my company, I, I had no other choice to be honest with you, Scott,
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  than to show up authentically like to really take my story. And I was just so sick of the lie.
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  And when I started to really tell the truth in my own ways, whether that was in my blog or
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  sitting on panels or writing, you know, longer form Instagram posts about what I was really going
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  through. Something shifted and I was able to, to peer through to my community into my potential
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  clients to, you know, the media, like in a completely different way. And, and, you know, I believe
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  branding is an emotional experience and it has to be clear. And we have to have that razor sharp
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  but at the same time, deep, impactful message designed in a brand, whether that's in a look and feel
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  or a story or a message or a slogan. And so that's really what informed simply be in our approach
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  to how we build brands that is all about authenticity. You have to at the same time have that,
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  that clarity. And I think that we've accomplished that really well with our company and our clients
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  brands and, you know, my brand. And I don't think I can talk about authenticity as much as I do
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  without having that experience of what being inauthentic really did to me and my life.
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  So then, so I think that's a very powerful lesson because I think a lot of people probably fall
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  into the trap of the that you fell into when you built your first business. And I think that's
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  actually a huge issue with entrepreneurs because everybody wants to portray this ideal entrepreneur,
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  almost like caricature of what they think it should be and at least a depression and anxiety. And,
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  in some cases, like the business fails because you're so caught up in how you want to be perceived
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  as opposed to what's actually going on in your life. So when you dealt with this and you had this,
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  this moment where you hit rock bottom and you built this company back up again, you're more authentic.
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  But being authentic on social, that's like one piece of it. So how did you build the entire
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  business up very differently than when you first built up, I guess, like an inauthentic business?
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  Yeah, I love that question. So it started with my culture. It started with my values.
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  So I was a business of one me, one person, and then I hired a contractor who is now my VP of
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  marketing and my co-founder. But this was six years ago. And I decided I was going to write like a
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  company manifesto. Again, just me and Alexa, who was $2,800 on contract chase quick pay, you know,
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  like she was full of time. I created core values. I created, because I had taken a jaunt into corporate
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  America for two years. It's a whole other story. But they were a massive billion dollar company. And
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  they had quote unquote core values. And they meant nothing. The company was completely toxic. And so
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  I decided that I was going to create my core values. But they weren't going to just mean something.
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  They were going to mean everything and be the bedrock of the DNA of how we run this business,
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  which is rooted in core values of being relevant, being extraordinary, being in service, being
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  true and being kind. And that is now our that has been our our rock of success. I truly believe
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  that having that written into the DNA from day one has allowed us to have the right messaging,
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  attract the right clients, attract the right talent. Let go of the wrong talent. Let go of the wrong
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  clients, you know, really oriented to how we do business on a day to day level, how we treat each
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  other. And you know, I've listened. I started this business as a one woman shop six years ago and I
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  have a staff of 30 people. I've really grown and stretched and learned and it's it's been one of
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  the most difficult and beautiful journeys of my life becoming a CEO of a company like this.
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  And is it a perfect science? No, but that has been my number one priority, frankly, no matter what
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  is the values ensuring that we are authentic from the inside out. I say this all the time to my team.
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  We can't preach love, light, authenticity and have anything but that inside the four walls of
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  our organization. And that has really been I think the secret sauce to my success. So so authenticity
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  in a business is that radical candor? It like how do you unlock that in people? Because you
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  unlock it in yourself. But it's like it's very scary, right? Like if you ask anybody be authentic
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  and go on social media, like they usually they have good intentions. But then they put again,
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  they put on this like persona. So in a company as well, like that's that's always like nerve
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  racking to be authentic to to tell your boss what you really feel, which I think is the most
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  important thing. That's why radical candors are such a great concept. But how do you actually
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  get the employee to have that psychological safety? To say what they want to say, to voice
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  her opinion, to tell you when they feel that you're wrong, whatever it was all that has that all
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  like is like that's all authenticity, right? All that all that type of communication.
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  Yeah, I have someone to say about this. First of all, lovely,
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  brought a radical. I make I make my entire company read that. That's one of my favorite books.
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  Kim Scott, the author and founder was on my podcast. And I told her I'm like, getting you
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  on my podcast is more exciting than getting Gwyneth Calderon. I was like, she's my hero.
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  And Scott, the woman who wrote that book changed my life, changed my career. So we we practice
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  radical candor, although it is, it is challenging, right? The concept of radical candors be able
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  to challenge directly and care deeply at the same time. And, and not everybody has that muscle.
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  And so a couple, a couple of things. I think it's really important to hire really good managers,
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  really good leaders that at the very least know how to do that. I know how to practice radical
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  candor. And I've got some phenomenal managers at my company that really read that book, love that
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  book as much as I do and practice it with their teams. I think you have to be as the leader, as
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  the tip of the spear, um, available and able to take feedback yourself, you know, and to create
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  that safety with your direct report so that when they manage up to you, because managing dance,
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  I decide is a is a skill, but I think managing up isn't even harder skill. And so I as the CEO
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  have had to create that psychological safety to use your words with the people that directly
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  report just to me. And that's not 30 people. That's four that have really been able to deepen their
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  trust and safety with me that, you know, comes from me taking accountability, me being open to
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  feedback and hard conversations, me making time to have those one on ones. Um, we also have,
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  we also follow the book traction, which is another great book that I love by Gina Wickman. It's
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  the entrepreneurial operating system. And every 90 days we get together as a team in a full day
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  off site. And, and we've made it a priority. It's a ton of time for my team to do that quarterly.
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  My whole team does that. And I always do a CEO report at the top of the day. And I reiterate a lot
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  of our values in that. And we've got something written into our handbook called gossip is gross.
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  Because that's really what was the demise of my first business. That was trauma from my high
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  school and middle school days like gossip is not allowed at simply be. And if you at the very least
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  have an issue with someone else in the company, which is bound to happen because we're all people,
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  you have two options. One, you go to your manager about it to help you resolve it. If you're,
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  if you're struggling with another peer or you're an adult and you go directly to that person and
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  you have that difficult conversation, but you cannot talk shit and poison the well and create
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  a gossip train or you're out. Like I, I will not have that. And I, we emphasize that point. It's got
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  every 90 days. And it's really beautiful. Like my team will come to me and be like, I'm struggling.
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  I know gossip is gross and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, about this person. Like they're very aligned
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  to that policy because I've kind of like beaten it into their head. And I live it. You know,
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  you have to be the example as the leader. I think that's my last point at the end of the day.
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  You can't expect your team to do anything. You're not willing to do yourself. So that is, you know,
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  hopefully the answer to your question is a really good question. Thanks for tuning in. If you found
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  this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you
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  want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the description to watch the
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  full episode. See you in the next one.