Thread by @richardsved, Arrived a bit late at @PizzaForLosers - sorry (sitting at the back)."Here's [...]

Arrived a bit late at @PizzaForLosers - sorry (sitting at the back).

"Here's why I'm a big fat loser!"
"I even stopped baking!"

Lovely to see @LizziHollis (and Avril!) on what she learned from her unhappy experience at a previous employer.

"The more I worked, the less productive I became"

Didn't prepare enough
Felt had to prove herself too quickly
Didn't take time to understand the organisational culture
Understanding of values was unaligned
Wasn't looking after myself - working too long hours
Eventually burnt out

Never change who you are to fit in.
You are never solely to blame.
Failure is not negative.
It is an opportunity to grow and learn.

"It's my fifth zoom call of the day, I'm propped up by a toblerone."

Now at @PizzaForLosers it's the inspirational @MsIbegbuna interviewed by (the equally inspirational) @Camalamalamz.

What happens when you set something up and you leave but you don't leave well?

So consumed with my work, but I took my off finance and governance, quite often shortcutting on it. I was hugely naive as a ceo. But I think it is symptomatic of a lot of people in the sector.

Only give up your power to people you can trust, who share your values.

@MsIbegbuna

I took my eye off the dull work. When you have to explain to accountants and lawyers why you haven't done something, you can't tell them about the 13 year old who was hungry that day. I was focused on people rather than paperwork.

@MsIbegbuna

I then had to deal with the fall out and devastation from that failure. Give yourself enough time to understand what is going on. @MsIbegbuna

Ensure your biggest strength (eg working with people) doesn't become your biggest weakness. @Camalamalamz

@PizzaForLosers

Having started an organisation, I learned I needed to find someone else to take it on after 2 years. I had to trust my instincts to get out of the way.

Bring people in who can be custodians. Give power to them.

Don't be told the right way to do things.

@MsIbegbuna

"It was 1999. I worked at Haymarket. I said I'd go to America & launch a magazine. I set up the office, hired a team. Brought the huge launch fw 2 months, had launch parties. All very glamorous. We had our own branded vodka. It was a wild time...

@browning_vicky @PizzaForLosers

Business plans were on a wing & a prayer. It was a massive extraordinary bubble, was a huge success initially, also launched in HK & Australia.

2001 - the dotcom bubble burst, advertisers went bust. It was a lost cause. It took us down. We had burned through $5m

@browning_vicky

Sometimes things fail for reasons you cannot control (circumstances conspire) - there's nothing you can do.

Look after your people when things fail. Be open, honest, kind.

Failure is painful, but it is survivable. You do go on to other things.

@browning_vicky @PizzaForLosers

"You will live to fight another day"

"That's me, that's my vodka, that's my story."

@browning_vicky @PizzaForLosers

"I kept seeing adverts for Gary Barlow's autobiography - A Better Me - it felt odd to be lectured about failure in this way, as a life lesson to bring about success."

@joemoransblog - author of "If you should fail" - about his scepticism that failure brings a redemptive arc.

Makes sense to take risk on failure in silicon valley because success can be spectacular, but does it apply more generally?

Only looking at failure in the rear view mirror of the successful, it's a cliché and inflates the merits of failure and trivialises it.

@joemoransblog

"It doesn't have to be a narrative, a lesson, it can sometimes be something that is."

It's much easier for some people to succeed, and also easier for them to 'fail upwards' because of their life advantages.

@joemoransblog @PizzaForLosers

"If you're only talking about failure as something that eventually leads to success, you're not really removing its stigma."

"I want this to be a solace rather than a lesson. Acknowledge failure as human. Failure is inevitable. It's a condition, not a process."

"I worked in advertising & was headhunted for a senior role. Then I was asked to lead a pitch. I didn't feel confident to say I'd never led one before. I'd love to say it all went well, but... it was a disaster. Mis-spelt the client's name on every slide."
@DavidMbaziira

How do we fail intelligently? It's important to put processes in place so we can learn from it.

1. Be yourself - warts & all - esp in leadership role
2. Be vulnerable - you don't have all the answers
3. Think about authority bias - leaders need to be around people who question.

"Increase psychological safety. Create environments in which people can express dissent and bring their whole serves to work."

@DavidMbaziira @PizzaForLosers

Look at yourself first.
Deliver negative feedback in person, or at least 1:1, face to face.
Recognise your own role, be supportive, embrace failure and learn from it.

@DavidMbaziira @PizzaForLosers

"Sometimes you can look pretty stupid at the start of an adventure. We set up a new startup arms length venture for a national charity. We called it project beanstalk. We focused on obesity. There was good will. It was taking shape... but it failed massively.

@HoltBe

Managers expect certainty. We didn't have answers.

Timing was atrocious. We had 1yr to establish operating model. Supportive ceo left. Sponsors got jumpy. It was alien.

The dynamic btw the 3 of us was hard. We'd been thrown together by chance. We all cried at times.

@HoltBe

Yeah, the end! 6-7 months in, we'd learned a lot. Was the charity committed to it? It was a classic "it's not you, it's us."

"We were annoyed but unsurprised. There were seeds of a good idea there. You don't have to be wrong to fail. You learn stuff by doing."

@PizzaForLosers

Shout out to @CharityNikki who has pulled this all together, and is so great to work with.

@PizzaForLosers

"This is a story about making sure you work with kind & competent people... I ended up with dickheads."

The very quotable @BethCrackles is up next at @PizzaForLosers

I was asked to sort out tickets for the gig of the year - Kylie. It had sold out in 6 minutes, so I got them through a reseller, aka a tout, aka a scalper. About £3k! I was utterly naïve. The over-priced tickets didn't turn up until the day. The MD was furious.

@BethCrackles

What I learned?

It's about the leadership I thrive under and the people I want to work with. She made me feel like sh!t and wasn't constructive at any point, didn't acknowledge how I was feeling, & how I was trying to remedy it.

@BethCrackles @PizzaForLosers

Next time I had that kind of stress, running big charity event (even featured in Daily Mail), there were so many opportunities for me to be a loser. There was no way I could have done it without gd management. When I thought I was losing my mind, was welling up, she was there.

"I only work with people I trust. Some people are shit people. You can choose not to work with them."

"Stay near the radiators, and away from the drains."

"Bad things will happen. It's how you respond."

Loved this session, @BethCrackles - filled with truth-bombs and F-bombs!

Now @PizzaForLosers it's @davidlale of @CharityPeople.

By 2005/6, we were growing quickly, we came up with a new brand: People Unlimited. Also entered new sectors. Then the global crash happened. Recruitment stopped overnight. And new corp sector competitors in shrinking market.

Many charities had no idea who we were. This was a disaster. We lost a lot of clients. Diversified too much. Lost our brand. Nearly went bust.

"What are we actually here for?" we asked ourselves. We'd lost our sense of identity. We'd had a sense of loss since then.

@davidlale

Went back to being @CharityPeople & recovered.

1. If things are going badly, do not brave it out on yr own or hide - be brutally honest & frank with everyone. Listen.

2. Stick to what you're good at (know your strengths).

3. Know your weaknesses & when to let go!

@davidlale

"Hello, I'm Simon Scriver. I'm a professional fundraiser-ish. You may know me as the less likeable one in Nikki & Simon"

@ToastFundraiser @PizzaForLosers

I used to run a fundraising agency. We were quite successful. We grew. My definition of success was that you move up the ladder and you earn more. But it really never ended. There was always more to do. So much pressure. I sacrificed relationships, free time, my health.

"It was hard for me to lose something I'd worked on. I didn't learn from it, because I did the same thing again. Again I sacrificed my personal life. People will give you as much as you can take on. We invite it. Again my peanut brain couldn't take it any more & it popped."

"The wolf is constantly at the door, but I've become better at drawing the line. I need to remember to mind my brain and say no to stuff. Time has become so valuable to me now. It's not easy to put yourself first."

@ToastFundraiser @PizzaForLosers

"Some days it's OK to only help one person. And some days, it's OK if that one person is you."

Thank you @ToastFundraiser
@PizzaForLosers

"I was ready for a new challenge. I thought I may be depressed. I planned to tell my boss. But I used the meeting to quit my job. I got a new job and felt like a winner. The anti-depressants went in the bin. I persevered and got results."

"The day a staffordshire bull terrier weed on me while it's owner continued to declare her love for it was a career highlight."

@JLevyUK

The next job was my proudest "I told you so" - 1 day in, excitement evaporated & felt uncomfortable. Total lack of direction. Couldn't bear the idea of the job not working out, I carried on regardless. So desperate to succeed, I hadn't done my research properly on the org'n.

My relationship broke down. I became homeless. I didn't tell anyone. I tried to carry on working, feeling exhausted. Months passed. I was desperate for help. Support I received as a homeless person was my first time as a beneficiary. The kindest people I'd come across.

@JLevyUK

My biggest failing was not accepting how I was feeling over a 2.5 year period. I was obsessed with my work. It hid frustrations I had with my disability. It wasn't about trying harder. I was trying too hard. I resented being a vulnerable person. Today my life is back on track.

"I was scared to reveal my homelessness because I thought it might hurt my career but if you do think less of me, so be it."

"It's fine to celebrate success, but it's more important to heed lessons of failure. Failure is an event, not a person."

Thanks @JLevyUK @PizzaForLosers

"I didn't want to be kicking myself for the thing I didn't even try to do."

Now at @PizzaForLosers it's the brilliant @LucyCaldicott on pursuing a career in politics on top of her successful charity career.

I had an hour to decide whether to go for a thing I wasn't going to win. I set 3 goals.

1. Give it my best shot.
2. Inspire people for local elections
3. Spend time doing what I enjoyed - talking to people.

Selected as candidate 1 month before 2019 election.

@LucyCaldicott

Nerve wracking to be Dudley South candidate, knocked on thousands of doors.

"If you don't think politicians work hard for every single vote, I'm just putting this out there."

I learned that behind every single door was a story, and I was interested to hear it.

Learned:
* importance of humour
* I can push myself too hard
* about own resilience - could get up & get on with it despite knowing I'd lose
* surface isn't what's going on underneath
* importance of breaking out of my bubble
* built confidence to be more public

@LucyCaldicott

"I had to lose it all to gain it all. It's a story about leadership, hustling, taking risks, and the power of my imagination."

Finally it's @MarthaAwojobi who got the job of her dreams & then ... Covid.

"I was about to be in London without a job in the middle of a pandemic."

"I had no plan. I still don't. But I have a vision. A new generation of sector leaders who look like me.

Now @MarthaAwojobi's on everybody's lips, and it wasn't an accident. I made that happen. I believed in myself, while crying & terrified. I stepped into my imagination."

"I wasn't going to stay in my lane. I curated #BAMEOnline. I love my work, and I love who I built it with."

"I had to redefine what a leader I would follow would look like, and become that person. Unafraid what needs to be said."

Aside: #BAMEOnline was just ... brilliant.

"As soon as I failed, I soared. I lead with my values. The sector needed that, and the sector needed me. It made me trust my friends & believe in my community. Never see a loss as just a loss. It is always an opportunity."

@MarthaAwojobi @PizzaForLosers

Latest Threads Unrolled: