Lessons - How to Unlock Authenticity in People | Jessica Zweig - CEO of SimplyBe

In this lessons episode, explore how authenticity serves as the foundation for personal growth and sustainable business success. Discover the power of building a values-driven culture, fostering psychological safety and practicing radical candor to strengthen teams and relationships. Learn why aligning your actions with your values can transform how you lead, connect, and thrive in both life and work. And that moment when you felt very spiritual, how did that tie in to the message that you put out into the world about authenticity? Why did you need to find yourself before you were able to truly put yourself out there? And I think in turn create a message and even marketing material, and all that superficial stuff that actually resonates with people. So I used to run a different business. So simply be my company is my second company. And my first company was an online magazine for women in the city of Chicago, which I ran for seven years. And we built this major brand and we were super cool and we got applications every week for people who wanted to work for us and brands wanting to work with us. We amass this huge audience. In Chicago, it was sort of like, you know, refinery 29, but for women and this was sort of, we were like the original food and fashion blog in the city of Chicago and blew up in the Midwest. And that really put me on the map as an entrepreneur, right? This was from like 2008 to 2014. I ran this business. And I write about this in my book, I talk about it often. The whole thing was sort of like sounded on sort of a lie. Like we were so, we were struggling inside that business so hard. We were my business partner and I, we kind of hated each other. We were super toxic. And yet we were reaching women empowerment, like to the masses. We had no money. We were broke. We could barely afford to pair employees, let alone ourselves. I was sick physically, mentally and while I was partying, I was going on like 5, 6, 9, the week, like super, super unhealthy on all of the levels. And yet I was like, quote, unquote successful and, you know, in demand and sparkling from the outside. And so that was really at the end of that business when my inauthenticity caught up with me. And I completely crashed rock bottom financially broke $100,000 in credit has to ask my parents at 33 years old to help me pay my phone bill. Like it was a rock bottom for sure. And so when I started simply be my company, I, I had no other choice to be honest with you, Scott, than to show up authentically like to really take my story. And I was just so sick of the lie. And when I started to really tell the truth in my own ways, whether that was in my blog or sitting on panels or writing, you know, longer form Instagram posts about what I was really going through. Something shifted and I was able to, to peer through to my community into my potential clients to, you know, the media, like in a completely different way. And, and, you know, I believe branding is an emotional experience and it has to be clear. And we have to have that razor sharp but at the same time, deep, impactful message designed in a brand, whether that's in a look and feel or a story or a message or a slogan. And so that's really what informed simply be in our approach to how we build brands that is all about authenticity. You have to at the same time have that, that clarity. And I think that we've accomplished that really well with our company and our clients brands and, you know, my brand. And I don't think I can talk about authenticity as much as I do without having that experience of what being inauthentic really did to me and my life. So then, so I think that's a very powerful lesson because I think a lot of people probably fall into the trap of the that you fell into when you built your first business. And I think that's actually a huge issue with entrepreneurs because everybody wants to portray this ideal entrepreneur, almost like caricature of what they think it should be and at least a depression and anxiety. And, in some cases, like the business fails because you're so caught up in how you want to be perceived as opposed to what's actually going on in your life. So when you dealt with this and you had this, this moment where you hit rock bottom and you built this company back up again, you're more authentic. But being authentic on social, that's like one piece of it. So how did you build the entire business up very differently than when you first built up, I guess, like an inauthentic business? Yeah, I love that question. So it started with my culture. It started with my values. So I was a business of one me, one person, and then I hired a contractor who is now my VP of marketing and my co-founder. But this was six years ago. And I decided I was going to write like a company manifesto. Again, just me and Alexa, who was $2,800 on contract chase quick pay, you know, like she was full of time. I created core values. I created, because I had taken a jaunt into corporate America for two years. It's a whole other story. But they were a massive billion dollar company. And they had quote unquote core values. And they meant nothing. The company was completely toxic. And so I decided that I was going to create my core values. But they weren't going to just mean something. They were going to mean everything and be the bedrock of the DNA of how we run this business, which is rooted in core values of being relevant, being extraordinary, being in service, being true and being kind. And that is now our that has been our our rock of success. I truly believe that having that written into the DNA from day one has allowed us to have the right messaging, attract the right clients, attract the right talent. Let go of the wrong talent. Let go of the wrong clients, you know, really oriented to how we do business on a day to day level, how we treat each other. And you know, I've listened. I started this business as a one woman shop six years ago and I have a staff of 30 people. I've really grown and stretched and learned and it's it's been one of the most difficult and beautiful journeys of my life becoming a CEO of a company like this. And is it a perfect science? No, but that has been my number one priority, frankly, no matter what is the values ensuring that we are authentic from the inside out. I say this all the time to my team. We can't preach love, light, authenticity and have anything but that inside the four walls of our organization. And that has really been I think the secret sauce to my success. So so authenticity in a business is that radical candor? It like how do you unlock that in people? Because you unlock it in yourself. But it's like it's very scary, right? Like if you ask anybody be authentic and go on social media, like they usually they have good intentions. But then they put again, they put on this like persona. So in a company as well, like that's that's always like nerve racking to be authentic to to tell your boss what you really feel, which I think is the most important thing. That's why radical candors are such a great concept. But how do you actually get the employee to have that psychological safety? To say what they want to say, to voice her opinion, to tell you when they feel that you're wrong, whatever it was all that has that all like is like that's all authenticity, right? All that all that type of communication. Yeah, I have someone to say about this. First of all, lovely, brought a radical. I make I make my entire company read that. That's one of my favorite books. Kim Scott, the author and founder was on my podcast. And I told her I'm like, getting you on my podcast is more exciting than getting Gwyneth Calderon. I was like, she's my hero. And Scott, the woman who wrote that book changed my life, changed my career. So we we practice radical candor, although it is, it is challenging, right? The concept of radical candors be able to challenge directly and care deeply at the same time. And, and not everybody has that muscle. And so a couple, a couple of things. I think it's really important to hire really good managers, really good leaders that at the very least know how to do that. I know how to practice radical candor. And I've got some phenomenal managers at my company that really read that book, love that book as much as I do and practice it with their teams. I think you have to be as the leader, as the tip of the spear, um, available and able to take feedback yourself, you know, and to create that safety with your direct report so that when they manage up to you, because managing dance, I decide is a is a skill, but I think managing up isn't even harder skill. And so I as the CEO have had to create that psychological safety to use your words with the people that directly report just to me. And that's not 30 people. That's four that have really been able to deepen their trust and safety with me that, you know, comes from me taking accountability, me being open to feedback and hard conversations, me making time to have those one on ones. Um, we also have, we also follow the book traction, which is another great book that I love by Gina Wickman. It's the entrepreneurial operating system. And every 90 days we get together as a team in a full day off site. And, and we've made it a priority. It's a ton of time for my team to do that quarterly. My whole team does that. And I always do a CEO report at the top of the day. And I reiterate a lot of our values in that. And we've got something written into our handbook called gossip is gross. Because that's really what was the demise of my first business. That was trauma from my high school and middle school days like gossip is not allowed at simply be. And if you at the very least have an issue with someone else in the company, which is bound to happen because we're all people, you have two options. One, you go to your manager about it to help you resolve it. If you're, if you're struggling with another peer or you're an adult and you go directly to that person and you have that difficult conversation, but you cannot talk shit and poison the well and create a gossip train or you're out. Like I, I will not have that. And I, we emphasize that point. It's got every 90 days. And it's really beautiful. Like my team will come to me and be like, I'm struggling. I know gossip is gross and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, about this person. Like they're very aligned to that policy because I've kind of like beaten it into their head. And I live it. You know, you have to be the example as the leader. I think that's my last point at the end of the day. You can't expect your team to do anything. You're not willing to do yourself. So that is, you know, hopefully the answer to your question is a really good question. Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the description to watch the full episode. See you in the next one.