10 reflections from my 10 years at Coca-Cola

10 reflections from my 10 years working in FMCG industry with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners . Would love to hear your thoughts and builds...

1. 'Start with the customer!' My career started in Field Sales covering ~160 independent retail business in Maida Vale, London. Each business I visited was the owners' pride and joy, and I only really became any good at 'sales' when I took the time to understand the customer, their needs, their consumers and how to leverage relevant offers to drive mutual value.

2. 'Fast by name fast by nature!' Working in Fast moving Consumer Goods is synonymous with high turnover, rapid product innovation, constantly changing and evolving consumer preferences. Try to keep pace with the latest trends and enjoy working and delivering at 'speed and scale'. 

3. Test, Learn and Fail. Then Succeed (and repeat). I started to uncover my passion for digital working on digital shopper marketing projects with Pierre-Luc Petard . This period of time taught me that whilst there was an appetite for digital and it had the potential to unlock exciting growth, 'success' was as much about ‘failing’ to learn from the mistakes. Half of the things we tried didn't work - the art was learning from it.

4. Keep it simple! 'Digital', 'Innovation' and a lot of the associated technology and trends can become a game of buzzword bingo, which if handled without care can cause confusion and a lack of understanding. Simon Miles taught me the art of keeping it simple - demystify jargon, bring the theory to life with everyday examples & relatable benefits.

5. Successful transformation is about People first, enabled by process and technology. Something I learned from David Martin ; the most successful change programmes I have led and worked on start with people, understanding their pains and gains; involving them in the process - from start (vision) to middle (design and development) to end (pilot, results and celebration!) - investing time in open two-way communication, a variety of training methodologies and supporting people with their adoption along the way

"What's the problem we're trying to solve?"

6. What’s the problem we’re trying to solve? I use this line nearly everyday and its one I attribute to An Vermeulen . By focusing first on the problem we’re trying to solve (or 'the job that needs to be done') helps give the team a clear purpose, allowing everyone to focus on the most important tasks at hand

7. We all have a role to play in building Inclusive Diverse & Equitable teams:- It is everyone's responsibility to foster a culture where they can be themselves, be valued and have a sense of belonging. I'm not perfect and I strive to make a small difference everyday; by learning about my own privilege and the impact it has on my view of the world; by welcoming others 'in' to share their views so we can learn from a wider variety of more diverse perspectives; by being an active ally Catherine Gillespie Toluwani Farinto

8. We all have a role to play in the future of our planet, from supporting sustainability initiatives to giving time back to work with local communities or in support of future talent. I'm proud to have supported Holly Firmin volunteering programmes every year since

9. Democratize ideas and enable change! Our team are proud of the work we do everyday to give all employees the chance to share their innovative ideas, recognizing the opportunity to accelerate change through agile methodologies and design thinking practices. I'm increasingly seeing the importance of working in partnership and collaboration to unlock new solutions to the business challenges we face today and will face tomorrow.

10. And finally... every day is a learning opportunity! Shoutout to Bal Bansal who led by example on this one as ive adopted so many of his good practices of: keeping an active network, fostering new connections by attending external events, facilitating conversation by hosting roundtables and pushing out of my comfort zone by speaking at events; sharing and learning from one another