Coach Class
Coach Class is hosted by Dom Burch. He is a business coach and mentor. He interviews fellow coaches about their field of expertise, and inspirational leaders about what makes them tick, how they motivate themselves and others, and what it means to be authentic.
Coach Class
Interview with Fiona Lambert MD of Jaeger at Marks & Spencer
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Fiona is passionate developer of people and high performing teams. She believes this is key to a business' success.
She thrives on learning, developing and challenging herself whether in the work environment or personally.
With a proven track record in the world of fashion, Fiona has had a successful career working at Next, George, Dunelm, and River Island where she built an entirely new brand from scratch.
The bootstrapped entrepreneurial approach is something she is now applying to her new role at Marks and Spencer.
When building a team, Fiona says you absolutely have to know yourself and know what your strengths are and what your opportunities are. She knows she needs a team of people around her who will compliment her skills.
Fiona wants her people to be curious, willing to have a go, make mistakes, and learn from them. Somebody who's going to need every bit of analysis before they move forward is not really going to work in a start-up environment.
In a tiny team personalities that gel together is really important, so Fiona looks for people who don't take themselves too seriously, but take their work seriously.
Fiona says she is not necessarily a generalist. And that was one of the biggest things as a leader she needed to understand about herself. It was a massive step forward for her, recognising what her personal best is, what her skills are, which are about people, product and purpose.
"I'm a very passionate person, and being able to dial those up and not pretend to be something I'm not... Too many people try to emulate a model maybe that isn't authentically them.
"I think what I've hopefully done with the people I've worked with.
"Looking at boards that are very heavily led by men in the past, working out that you haven't got to be like them, you can be yourself and be the very best version of you. I think that's hopefully what I've bought people I've mentored."
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Welcome back to Coach Class with me Dom Burch. This is the podcast where I get to speak to inspirational leaders and coaches from across the globe. And I'm delighted this week on the podcast to be joined by Fiona Lambert. Now Fiona is the managing director of Jaeger at Marks and Spencer, having previously been in a variety of amazing roles across the fashion industry, including Next, including George at Asda, including River Island. And not only that Fiona is a passionate developer of people loves working in high performance teams, and believes that that is absolutely key to a business' success. Fiona, thank you so much for joining me on Coach Class.
Fiona Lambert:It's a real pleasure, Dom, how are you?
Dom Burch:I'm very, very well. One of the things I think that always sticks in my mind is that you were first on the dance floor and last on the dance floor at the Asda House Christmas party. And I was normally somewhere within reach.
Fiona Lambert:You're absolutely right Dom!
Dom Burch:Ha ha, let's just go back a little bit, shall we? So how did you get into fashion you studied at university, but what was your sort of first step on that ladder?
Fiona Lambert:I was bought up, my mum was a dressmaker when I was growing up, my grandmother was a dressmaker. And my great grandfather was a master tailor. So I think I was brought up seeing a lot of design and sewing going on around me. So I knew aged 11 I think it was I wanted to go into fashion. So everything was lined up for me to do that. So I studied fashion at Trent in oh gosh the 80s, which makes me sound very old. But I've got the very fortunate opportunity to start at Next, right in its early days, and work very closely with the founder, George Davies, which probably shaped my attitude to what I do. He was so passionate about products, passionate about the customer, had a real can do attitude. And in fact, I remember him saying to me, there's no such word as can't. And I think that real entrepreneurial behaviour, whether a business is big or small is what I saw right very early in my career, and certainly probably shaped how I am today.
Dom Burch:And I guess then you went with George Davies when he moved, I mean, physically moved over the road from Next, didn't he and establish what became the George at Asda brand that everybody knows and loves today.
Fiona Lambert:Yeah. And that was probably again, just, very lucky to have that opportunity. And I think it was quite interesting at the time, he approached me and said, you know, I'd love you to come join me do something, I can't tell you what it is can't tell you who it's for. But it's going to be a really exciting journey, do you want to come and join me? And it was a bit of a risk. But the I think I have got a bit of a sense of adventure, I'm willing to take a risk. And it was with clearly someone who had an amazing track record. So I jumped at the chance. And it turned out to be something that has now turned into the second biggest retailer by volume in the UK.
Dom Burch:You know, you were instrumental weren't you in those years when it was kind of doubling in size and just growing and setting up its own shops and just moving into homeware. And it was kind of the brand just took on a life of its own. And then let's fast forward a few years and you know, you moved away from Asda went to Dunelm. But I want to get under the skin a little bit of what it was like being at River Island, I mean, given a completely different task. And you know, another challenge another risk if you like. Fiona, we want you to set up a brand new fashion outlet on your own with limited budget, we want you to bootstrap it and go and be disruptive. I mean, how how did you feel taking on that new sort of new new risk as it were?
Fiona Lambert:Well, I think that's probably part of my DNA. You know, I'd like to step out of your comfort zone. And I'm always curious, I always want to learn, I always want to develop. And I saw that just as another opportunity of seeing what I believe was a great gap in the market. And yeah, it was, it was me and a piece of paper on day one on how to recruit a team, create a brand, find a new supply base, find warehousing logistics. So it was an amazing opportunity that I learned a lot very quickly. And I quite liked the challenge actually of, you know, having to do stuff entrepreneurially and on a budget. And I think almost every big business should carry on behaving like that. And certainly, I'm taking what I learned into what I'm doing now.
Dom Burch:And that sort of thing of having the constraint of not having a huge team not having a brand that anyone knows it engenders a sense of creativity, doesn't it you have to overcome, I guess problems in a different sort of way. But talk to me a bit about how you go about building a team because I guess for that blank sheet of paper, you know that you know, what is it? What are the sort of characteristics you're looking for in those that you bring into a team knowing the sort of resilience that's going to be needed the creativity, the sort of ingenuity? What are the things that you're looking for?
Fiona Lambert:Well, I think first of all in building a team, you absolutely have to know yourself and you know, I have to know what my strengths are and where my, I was gonna say opportunities are really, and I need a team of people around me. So I think first and foremost, you need to know, who are the people who will compliment your skills. So I went into it knowing that I absolutely needed to find people who were passionate, because, hey, it's going to be fast paced, it's going to be hard work. And we will have to be very agile in what we do, because not everything is going to go as planned. So finding the people who are sort of passionate and positive, finding people who are curious, because, you know, we're going to be exploring new routes to do things, we're going to have to meet and greet various people and various processes that, you know, we have to be open minded about. So I want people to be curious, I think finding people who are willing to have a go make mistakes, and learn from them. Because you know, somebody who's going to need every bit of analysis before they move forward is not, you know, it's not really going to work in a real startup environment, because you know, you're going to not get it all right the first time around. So an ability to, you know, be honest, make mistakes and learn is very important. And actually in a tiny team personalities that get on so people who probably actually don't take themselves too seriously, but take their work seriously is what I'm looking for, because you're spending a lot of time with people in a very small environment. So actually, a gel of personalities is key.
Dom Burch:I think that's right. And one of the things that really strikes me about you, Fiona, I mean, you've been a thought leader in, you know, celebrating innovating around women in leadership, particularly and, you know, I've as I've been reflecting on the people that I've sort of gravitated towards for this podcast, a lot of them are women who I met through Asda, through the culture at Asda. Talk to me a bit about that, because you know, you were winning awards for mentor of the year, women of the future back in 2012. And it's coming into sharp focus now, isn't it to have true diversity, both from a gender perspective, but just diversity of thinking diversity of background, around the boardroom table, in your teams in order to be you know, the best you can possibly be?
Fiona Lambert:Listen, I'm 100% passionate about supporting everybody, actually. But I think I've been lucky, again, to be used as a role model for women in business. You know, I have recognised I'm not necessarily a generalist. And that was one of the biggest things as a leader that I think was a massive step forward for me, and recognising what my personal best is, what my skills are, which are about people product purpose. And I know I'm a very passionate person, and being able to dial those up and not pretend to be something I'm not. And I think, too many people try to emulate a model maybe that isn't authentically them. And I think what I've hopefully done with the people I've worked with, and certainly, you know, with women growing in business, and probably looking at boards that are very heavily led by men in the past, working out that you haven't got to be like them, you can be yourself and be the very best version of you. I think that's hopefully what I've bought people I've mentored.
Dom Burch:I think that's right, I think the other thing is, you know, you're quite influential these days, aren't you on LinkedIn, which makes me laugh, because I used to be the social media bod at Asda, when nobody really knew what social media was. And now I look at you on LinkedIn, you've got huge following, and a huge amount of impact when you you know, take a position on something, whether that's ethical sourcing, or, or even just being open about where you are in your career in your journey. So, you know, pandemic hits, you know, the startup has to close down. And then you're exploring new opportunities, that openness is a real degree of confidence, isn't it and authentic leadership for people to see that we're all human? And we all are going to go through these challenges in life and through our careers,
Fiona Lambert:It's interesting you say that Dom, but I've been quite stunned. Because as you say I, I've managed to invigorate a lot of comments on the posts I've done on LinkedIn. And I think when I started, I think that someone (like me) who I suppose who's in a senior role, maybe it's unusual to be so vulnerable. And I think it was, I wanted to share that because, you know, you talked about resilience, not everything has gone my way in the past. And actually being able to find the inner strength, the self belief, acknowledge that you don't feel great every single day is quite a humble thing to do. And I think that got a lot of response. And I had a lot of feedback actually, that could I keep posting because it was actually really helping people. I thought, well, you know, that's helping somebody somewhere who's having a low day and recognising that there's a lot of other people out there who feel like that. I'll keep going.
Dom Burch:Now let's fast forward and zoom right up to the modern day then, so very recently just started a new role Managing Director of Jaeger at Marks and Spencer. I mean, one, what an amazing brand and an amazing organisation I guess, to be joining M&S is the high street isn't it, but at a time where, gosh, you know, coming out the end of a pandemic. The most challenging year in living memory for retail, just talk to me about this challenge and why you've taken it and what you're looking forward to, to achieving?
Fiona Lambert:Well, as you said, it's, I think, an amazing opportunity. And ironically, what happens because of the pandemic, and actually, you know, the personal circumstances can be with regards to my last role, I think have made me feel like I've been doing a bit of rehearsal for this. So first of all, Jaeger is a fantastic brand with amazing heritage. And I love fashion history, I've got several books I studied at university, and I often look to a historical reference for what I'm doing. So the fact that you've got a brand that the 137 years old, with what I believe, very current sense in itself, in that it's, you know, it's a brand that was built around animal fibres. It's a brand that's built around quality, it's a brand that's built around, actually creating tomorrow's vintage. So these are garments that are made to last and the hand down. So there's a real sustainable background to the brand. That's incredibly current today. But actually, with the acquisition by by Marks and Spencers, which actually ironically is the same age and has this history. But handing myself and my team the ability to manage Jaeger as an independent business. I think it's an amazing platform. And we can we can take the best of what's modern and contemporary. And make Jaeger current while still having this real respect for its history.
Dom Burch:And where do you get your energy from? Like, where do you get, you know, when you jump out of bed in the morning, and you kind of go, I'm going to, you know, running after this opportunity. Like, we've had to squeeze this podcast in between I'm sure a meeting before in a meeting after. Where do you ge your get up and go from like Where's Where do you get you drive from? And when you'r feeling low? Where do you reac in order to recharge th batteries?
Fiona Lambert:Oh, gosh, I think I'm a bit like Tigger, actually. So I know I'm quite an energetic person anyway, I think it is positivity actually done I, I wake up believing I'm going to try and make this an amazing day and the best day of my life and almost actually, one of the you know, greatest tips I had was actually you can't change the past. So you can't in a way, push that behind you and don't worry about it. And actually, you can't necessarily predict what's going to happen tomorrow. So you might as well make today the very best day you can do.
Dom Burch:brilliant. Well, listen, Fiona, we could chat all day. I want to chat all day, but we can't because you've got to dash off and do far more important things than warble on the phone to me. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you on Coach Class. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Fiona Lambert:Great to speak to you Dom.