CANNES — It may sometimes seem like a fast-paced media industry.
But there is ample evidence to suggest things don’t always move as fast as it seems, that there is sufficient time to move purposefully through work and life.
That’s the view of one industry leader working to make more inclusive organisations.
Changing fast and slow
“Being anchored in yourself is really the antidote to grind culture and to advertising culture,” says Belinda Smith, Founder & CEO, The Second Arrow, in this video interview with Tameka Kee for Beet.TV.
“I was actually at the IAB steering co steering, the working group that wrote the paper about the demise of the cookie in 2013. Here we are in 2022, (still) talking about the demise of the cookie.
“People telling you that things move quickly, that success is scarce, that opportunities depend on you sacrificing something that you don’t want to are really trapped in a cycle of denial.”
People for change
Smith was a director and, later CEO, through several agencies, industry groups and brands.
Then, as an ambassador for diversity for WFA and advisor to Givsly, she founded her own group, The Second Arrow, a firm helping organisations drive change with people in mind. It offers:
- Coaching.
- Executive team facilitation.
- Current-state assessment.
- Reconciliation roadmaps.
- Systems and policies evaluation.
Pausing for purpose
Smith says purpose can manifest in work as well as in personal lives.
“I find purpose in my work by asking myself if the things I’m doing are aligned to my ‘why?’,” she says.
“I really try to interrupt my automatic mode of just doing things and try to be really intentional with making a new habit of asking myself, ‘Why am I doing this thing? Is this thing aligned with what I have decided that I want for myself?'”
You are watching ‘The Mediaocean Retreat’, a Beet.TV Leadership Summit at Cannes Lions 2022.
For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
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