30 Minutes With: Gemma Jenkins European Sales Director Richemont

Introducing Tech Hubble's first 30 Minutes With. A simple concept: we spend half an hour with one of our members, taking a deep dive into their career, listening to their advice, stories and experiences. Each interview provides valuable, personal insights and sheds light on the challenges faced and the dynamics at play across our industry.

We recently sat down with Gemma Jenkins, European Sales Director Richemont, to pick her brains on the patterns she’s seen throughout her career, her tips and tricks for managing teams and individuals, her book recommendations and her expectations moving forward. It went like this…

 If you were starting your career from scratch, what would you do differently?

My goal would be to try and understand more of the opportunities that are truly available out there, because when you're leaving university or college, you're still in your teens and often are unaware of your true interests and potential superpowers. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have appreciated the opportunity to talk to and probe people further on in their career. If you have a particular interest and know someone in the same field, you should utilise this connection to your advantage. I can guarantee most are happy to give up their time and support.

What have you seen along the way as you have built and grown teams?

As a team leader and mentor, inside and outside of Pentland, I've seen that you don’t tend to get ‘mentor’s during the early stages of your career. Its often when you start to advance in your career.. I believe that there is real benefit in bridging this gap – across all businesses – to refine talent and accelerate progression.

Perhaps [and this is] more focused towards women, but if I look back at how I started and at what I’ve now seen when growing a team, women and the more introverted characteristics that are seen amongst employees, often take a step back, whether it be meetings or projects, and the more confident personas ‘lean in’  and often have their voice heard. It’s a pattern that I’ve come across over the last 20 years. This is a real shame for two reasons on the one hand it can hinder progression of talent and on the other the business can miss out of new perspectives and ideas

This is where my first book recommendation comes in: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. I feel it provides a great example, not of the confidence, but of what the framework looks like to [be able to] lean in earlier. It’s not necessarily that the big personalities must quieten down, [but] with the work that I now do coaching women at an earlier age and entering new environments, it’s all around encouraging them to lean in and maximise every opportunity. A great example is when, after a meeting, an employee comes to me with a great idea or thought that we end up using, [but without] having the confidence to share in front of the room.

This book really inspired me. I just wish I'd read it earlier!

What can businesses do differently to create a better workplace/environment?

Firstly, we can’t expect everybody to be wrapped up in cotton wool. Businesses have a responsibility at the end of the day to create a safe space and safe environment where creativity thrives and all ideas are taken on board. Even if it is just a wall full of Post-It notes that can be stuck on anonymously by anybody – from senior management to office cleaners. adidas are a great example of a business that does it well.

Leaders can massively undervalue the differences [between] people, and the space that you create can have vastly different outputs. There are multiple theories on leading from the front versus the back, and so on, but for me, the most important factor is creating a space right for the individual. With this, naturally the output for the business will be incredible but, more importantly, people need to go to work every day and have a good time –life is too short! 

At a recent conference, I attended a talk by a woman with ADHD. Hearing her story and how to get the best out of her [as an individual] was incredible and inspiring. (check her out on LinkedIn Ellie Middleton)  I learnt many new things that I hadn't previously considered – it’s all about creating the right space. For employees with ADHD or acute social anxiety, you’ll naturally get a better output if you understand how to create optimal working conditions. Some people don’t want to work with lots of distractions and, as a leader, by understanding your team, by being able to flex your personality with them and by creating the most effective working environment, your business will do considerably better.

What needs to change in the industry to move forward collectively? And what are the changes you’ve seen already?

Lots! One of the first things that springs to mind is around transparency when it comes to sustainability. In many instances, it’s being leveraged as a sales tool, and either many don’t talk about it, or they don’t do it properly. 

Currently, brands are competing against each other, and this is a very outdated way of looking at it – [we need] more transparency, coming together as an industry and shared tools for people to use. I'm no logistics expert, but when it comes to end2end sustainability brands, businesses have to come together to find a true, genuine message that lands. Retailers need to find a way to balance stock management inventory, [at the moment] a common result is that a customer ends up being disappointed. 

The supply chain needs an overhaul. Most brands are challenged in this channel at present and it’s the consumer that suffers, and this isn’t sustainable. Many brands are experiencing supply chain issues, what the consumer sees is, on occasion, unseasonal stock for what they need– whether it’s jackets in summer or bikinis in winter – there ‘could’ be a collective review of the operational challenges, companies working together for a more productive and truly sustainable outcome. This isn’t just affecting big brands, if this continues, it will impact with greater consequence smaller retailers and businesses.

The retail landscape has changed, and this has been accelerated by COVID-19 and the reality of the last three years. The number of brands is getting considerably wider with the ease of launching a brand through social as an example, however, the number of credible retailers is shrinking dramatically. If the operational challenges continue with less big box retailers this disparity with brands and avenues to retail them will just widen. 

Choice. This is something that consumers demand and, whilst want and need are different things, consumers demand choice, and now the avenue to access it is much smaller – take logistics as an example.

Another big industry shift is the leap from a traditional wholesale model to a marketplace set up. Businesses are now gearing up to drive this business model forward and connecting inventory and retail must be a key necessity. The stats are saying that, by 2025, 55% of all retail will be done by a marketplace, so you need to leverage wholesale partners and start preparing now.

We’ve also recently seen that there’s been a shift slight from digital back into stores. People and consumers are looking for experiences, and a store poses a great opportunity to create this. We’ve looked at our analytics, and research and loyalty programs have seen a big shift in consumer behaviour. With the swing coming out of digital this year, businesses have the opportunity to create a true experience, to tell the right story and to maximise customer lifetime value.

If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look concept stores today, they do it well. From Rapha to adidas to hm, you can become part of a community, a club, grab a coffee at the  café, or find a barber in a men's section, or get your nails done, brands need to find a way to offer something that will entice, excite and inspire customers to shop and shop again.

Lastly, what would be your five book recommendations?

1.  Lean In / Sheryl Sandberg

2.  Be More Pirate / Sam Conniff

3.  Shoe Dog / Phil Knight

4.  Radical Candor / Kim Scott

5.  Leaders Eat Last / Simon Sinek

We look forward to sharing even more relevant stories, interviews, insights and experiences from our Tech Hubble members. To stay connected, sign up and receive our newsletter.

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