It’s my 6-year anniversary with Kraft Heinz! It’s hard to believe how fast this time has gone, certainly faster than the average Ketchup pour (0.28 mph to be exact). 🎉
🧠 In that time my brain has literally been rewired. Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt due to experience. Kraft Heinz has changed me in all the best ways.
Here are 6 lessons I’ve learned that have fundamentally re-wired my brain and for which, I am grateful:
1. 👯 The Power of We – there is something akin to a “flow state” that happens when a team is surfing together. You can almost hear it: paddle, paddle paddle. It’s incredible and what transpires is so fulfilling.
2. 💲 HR is not about overhead, and it’s not about cost-cutting. Being an effective steward of a company’s resources is a critical responsibility. If it were my business, my investment, my money, would I spend it? It’s about effectively using resources and directing them as needed to INVEST in the business. Constraint breeds creativity – asking yourself tough questions about spending does not mean that you won't commit spend where/when it’s needed.
3. 🍅 You must love your brand(s). Brand love is infectious. My parents send me pictures from their travels when they see KH on the table. I will reface shelves if our Mac & Cheese boxes have tumbled over. My daughter will ask for Ketchup and if it doesn’t arrive in a Heinz bottle, she will ask if it’s Heinz with a very serious look on her face. I believe in our brands. I love hearing stories of how our brands are part of so many of our stories.
4. 🗺 Leadership. I used to think it was a level to achieve and I aspired to it. Now, through the leaders I work with, I’ve understood that it’s a privilege to earn – as #SimonSinek says, “It’s not about being in charge, it’s about taking care of those in your charge.” Can you ever say you’ve arrived as a leader? Or can you just earn another day to continue to show up and keep learning?
5. 🤕 Grace. No one is perfect. I regularly think about a rookie mistake I once made with my team. I assumed (whoops, yup, you see where this is going) that I knew what was needed. I listened not to understand but to be understood. Fail. I think about this situation weekly. There but for the grace of the team did they give me the chance to earn their trust. I can’t promise I’ll never make the same mistake again (I’m human) but I’ll be damned if I do it knowingly.
6. ❤️ Engagement was once described to me as the feeling you have on Sunday night. Are you filled with the Sunday Scaries? Not me. My cup is filled by a job whereby I might not want to jump out of bed on Monday (again, human) but I awake excited to tackle meaningful work with the coolest people helping to make life delicious for so many. I know I am doing things that make a difference.
On this my 6th anniversary, I am grateful to be given the opportunity to live my purpose and my passion.
#HereAtKraftHeinz
#LearnLikeAnOwner
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