By Marty Wilson
Marty Wilson, stand up comic and author, is currently interviewing leading business people for his upcoming series What I Wish I Knew about Business. Here he speaks with Naomi Simson, CEO of RedBalloon, for the first volume What I Wish I Knew about Leadership.
For the last five years RedBalloon has been listed in BRW's fast lists and been the #1 website on Hitwise. Naomi won the 2008 national Telstra Business Women Awards – Innovation, and was a finalist in the 2009 Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Awards, but she is particularly proud of being voted by her team as one of the top ten Great Places to Work in Australia as well as Hewitt ranking RedBalloon with a 97% employee engagement score.
When the enormous red door at RedBalloon's offices in Pyrmont, Sydney opens, I am welcomed by both Kate, Naomi Simson's EA and X, the dog who is always joyfully panting around the office. Naomi's desk is in one corner of a huge room that is buzzing with energy. A giant readout hangs in the middle of the room—which can only be counting the current number of RedBalloon customers. It clicks over as we walk upstairs to a (slightly) quieter area for a chat. I can always tell when someone only has a short time to talk so I plough straight in by asking Naomi if she'd ever deliberately chosen a leadership style.
'Mum, shut UP about our values.'
"No." she says "I'm always just Naomi Simson—even at home—which drives my kids mad. She rolls her eyes and impersonates a pouting kid 'Mum, shut UP about our values'. Naomi laughs and continues. "In the last couple or years I've become really clear in what my role as Chief Experience Officer means. It's about making sure everyone has a clear understanding of where we're headed, and engaging people in our vision—which is to 'change gifting in Australia forever'."
Even though this is a RedBalloon tagline, Naomi doesn't say it like it's a catchphrase, but like it's something on her to-do list for the day.
So, I'm always looking for what unites people, what causes people to head in the one direction," she continues. "Which is different to a manager who has to nurture the uniqueness of the individual for the good of the whole."
I ask Naomi if her leadership has changed over time. She looks around, whispers, "I do less work," and then bursts out laughing. No one around us even looks up; it's a good sign no one is surprised to see their CEO laughing out loud.
Especially now my role has become much more about being the public face of the company: speaking, writing my blog or whatever. I don't do much handson work anymore and that's a really, really big change because over the years I've done every single job in this business except cutting code for the website. I've blown balloons, assembled packs, and designed… But now I realise that there are people who are much, much better than me at all these things."
Naomi pauses, maybe considering the question seriously for the first time. "I've learned to relax a lot. I've learned that another Christmas is always coming. Even on Christmas day, next Christmas is coming. I used to be "Arrgghh. Gotta get everything done, but now know I'm much more likely to say to myself (deep breath), 'We're building the business strategically, there will be another Christmas, and another, and another…' I don't believe 'All things come to those who wait'. Waiting doesn't really resonate with me. It should be: 'All things come to those who persist'.
As RedBalloon has won awards for being one of Australia's top ten places to work, I feel obliged to ask Naomi about one of the hot topics: leading those cheeky, upstart, selfish youngsters: Gen Y.
She practically scoffs and says, "We have some really young kids and we don't find it an issue. I believe what engages Gen Y is what engages us all – you just need a big enough 'Why?' Why are we all here? How do we each contribute? How do we make a difference to the planet? It doesn't matter how old people are, they want to know their energy and efforts have been towards something greater than they could have done on their own. They want to feel a part of something and belong.
If you realise you're part of their journey not their destination, and enter into a nurturing relationship with them, they give it back in bucket loads.
In terms of leadership Naomi sees social media turning leadership on its head.
Twitter is the greatest equaliser in history," she enthuses. "Everybody now has a voice. Never before have individuals had a voice that can instantly unite and change governments, policy or public opinion.
I ask her for an example and she immediately raises the movie Bruno. "It got amazing publicity," Naomi says. "Everyone thought it was going to be incredibly funny, then people went to see it and within 24 hours twitter had spoken and the movie was dead."
"We all have our own voice now, so we can—and will—demand greater transparency from all leadership," Naomi says.
So leaders of the past who could lead by fear—like Caesar or Machiavelli—could only do it because they could keep people in the dark, ill informed, in control. This century, leaders will come not from control, but from authenticity and transparency. You have to walk the talk or you will be found out. Which is incredibly exciting."
This is in such contrast to many leaders of the past who have a pigheaded 'I have all the answers' attitude that I find totally uninspiring. Humbleness is the greatest quality of a leader. The ability to listen, have empathy and understanding and yet have a clear vision.
You don't have to be an ars…e to achieve what you want.
I ask Naomi what advice she would give young people of today who want to learn to be leaders?
She says that leadership is definitely something you have to learn. "You've got to practice, so get involved on a committee or volunteer in some way. I was always involved with university groups, on sub-committees. In a volunteer organisation, everyone comes together and no one is really the boss. So volunteer and get involved in not-forprofit and be involved with things outside your own world.
The other thing Naomi advises is to look for mentors who are good at leading but will also be really straight with you.
That's one thing Gen Y don't have a handle on, because now you go to a kid's party and every kid has to get a prize or they get upset. Young people today need to understand that life isn't fair. This is important: Life…is…not…fair. We make our own life. So find a leadership mentor who will be totally straight with you."
To wrap I ask the overarching question I ask everyone in the What I Wish I Knew books: "If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Naomi pauses for a second or two and then says: "We all have leadership in us, so don't pretend you're not a leader. Leadership just means you stand up and become accountable for what you say is important. The sooner you work out your purpose in life, the easier leadership will become for you.
"If you really follow your dream, leadership will come from that."
Marty Wilson is a Stand Up Comic, Keynote Speaker and author of the best-selling What I Wish I Knew book series that asks, "If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?"
