As part of our Women in Leadership series, Anne Wong of Universal Pictures realises that it’s OK to make mistakes
When I began a career in advertising in the ’80s, the world was a different place.
The charts were topped with the sounds of George Michael, telling me I “gotta have Faith”, Belinda Carlisle was crooning “Heaven is a Place on Earth” and Patrick Swayze was dirty dancing to the “Time of My Life”.
It was all a perfect soundtrack to the life I felt I had; a fledgling, seemingly capable, padded-shoulder trainee account executive, in an advertising job landed directly after graduation. My first paycheck. My first job title. I was somebody.
Then came the inevitable emotional peaks and troughs that moved my naïve self-belief into a crumbling, self-hating wreck that wanted the earth to swallow me up. Such as the time I crashed the new car I was recklessly test-driving at an automotive client’s fun car rally (thankfully only the car was hurt). Or the time I accidentally threw away a bag of competition entries and had to rummage through stinking rubbish bins in the staff car park to find them.
“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure”
Regrets? I’ve had a few.
But over the course of a 30-year career that has taken me from jobs in advertising agencies to movie studios, theme parks and newspapers, what lessons have I learned?
Well, I’d love to picture myself as a platinum-coiffed Meryl Streep, sitting in a corner view office, wearing Prada and pearls, smiling serenely while giving you sage advice. Yet the true picture might be more like this: tired, stressed, messy hair, with a view of the pollution, hitting a trough of deadlines and more self-doubt. But loving it.
You see, career fact seldom resembles movie fiction, or the pages of Fortune magazine. Yes, I’ve learned to adapt, to grow, to know how to lead and who to follow. To strive for quality and challenge inequality. Like any responsible executive, I’ve been guided by words of wisdom collected over the years: “If in doubt, check it out”; “Better to do something small and excellent, than something big and average”; “Do what you love, love what you do”. There have also been wisdoms that seem harder to achieve: “Listen more than you speak”, “Stay Zen. Count to 10.”
But the big lesson is that nobody’s perfect. Deep down, I am still the same trainee account executive that makes mistakes, has fears, doubts and personality flaws. Only now, I am a middle-aged businesswoman who’s supposed to know better, having worked a lifetime.
Influences by the movie Working Girl, Anne’s advise is to give yourself a break
So if I were to travel back in time to visit my aspirational younger self, during the “Working Girl” era (1988: check it out, it’s a cute movie where Melanie Griffith goes from office lackey to top dog), I would have two pieces of advice for myself. One: “Give yourself a break. It’s ok to screw up. If your head and heart are in the right place, you’ll learn and grow.” And two: “Have patience. Life’s a journey.”
I still need to remind myself of such wisdom, even today. Because we never really stop screwing up; though we don’t tend to make the same mistakes. (I have a Pavlovian aversion to competition entries and test-driving shiny new cars). But that doesn’t mean that just around the corner, there isn’t a new lesson waiting to be learned the hard way.
As they say, the greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. It’s OK to screw up and learn, so have faith and you’ll have the time of your life.
