The gender gap is far from closed, which makes supporting and championing women all the more important.
We can all learn from women leaders and appreciate them sharing their stories, successes, challenges, and failures. They serve as role models for little girls, young women, and seasoned professionals, constantly proving that women can achieve anything with hard work, dedication, and perseverance.
With that in mind, we are thrilled to introduce Learning From Failure in Sales, a series of interviews with inspiring female leaders at Taboola.
Meet Jaclyn Hadida, Taboola’s Sales Director of Australia and New Zealand
Jaclyn is an advertising veteran with more than 16 years in agency and direct media sales and is incredibly knowledgeable about the advertising landscape across brand and performance marketing.
Beyond cultivating client relationships, she is a rockstar leader (just ask her team!) who knows how to bring out the best in everyone around her. This year, Jaclyn was a 2022 Women Leading Change APAC nominee, and in 2020 she earned a Q3 Sales Achievement for APAC award from Taboola. Also, in recognition of her outstanding leadership, she was featured in a B&T profile on Women Leading Tech last year.
Read on to hear about the lessons she’s learned during her stellar career, how shifting her mindset has helped her reframe challenges, and how she approaches leadership to ensure her team is successful.
1. Describe your leadership style and what you think has worked well for you.
I take the initiative to lead by example and be present across the advertising market, brands and agencies. That thinking has influenced my leadership style, which focuses on empowering and motivating each individual by being their coaching leader. It’s important for me to pass on the knowledge and skills I’ve gained during my career but also guide each team member and let them build up their skills and experiences.
I’ve found that the best way to support my team is to have a personalized and focused approach. To create and empower a high-performing sales team, I look at each individual’s strengths, challenges, skill sets, and motivators, and use that information to create a personalized professional development plan, set short-term goals, and guide them toward success.
2. What are the difficulties you faced when you first started working?
Whenever I took on a new job, changed roles, or started at a different company, of course, I was faced with new challenges, but ultimately, my mindset is to see these as opportunities.
Coming from a publishing background and selling predominantly offline, transitioning into the digital tech landscape has by far been my greatest opportunity and most valuable learning curve to date. It’s evident that a large part of our work is to service clients and nurture those relationships. Still, we must also remember to service and support our internal teams. Cross-functional internal relationships are crucial for the success of a sales organization and each team member’s achievements.
I’ve found that communication and transparency are key to a unified team and how we position ourselves in-market to our clients. However, having various internal stakeholders contribute to success may hinder the sales process if the contribution isn’t utilized accurately, which is a delicate balancing act.
3. What does work-life balance mean to you?
When I think about a work-life balance, I sometimes need to remind myself to ‘Practice what I preach.’ It’s easy to become caught up in the fast-paced nature of our sales roles, the demands and deadlines, unrealistic expectations, and opportunities we seek.
Working from home over the past 2+ years has made me realize and has been proof that I can manage my work day effectively and be a present mother. Keeping that healthy balance between work and family life enables me to be the best version of myself to my colleagues and, of course, my family.
4. Who did you look up to? Was there a mentor in your career?
I definitely learned ‘what not to do’ from managers who hadn’t demonstrated leadership qualities nor challenged me to expand my way of thinking and growing within the media sales industry. In saying that, I’ve always been inspired by leaders who’ve learned from failure and used resilience and drive to persevere and change their stance to a growth mindset.
One influential person that has represented a successful example of female leadership is Whitney Wolfe Herd, the youngest self-made billionaire who uses her voice to fight for what she believes in. Picking herself back up after previous tensions in her last corporate job, she created a new female-led dating app that saw her climb back to the top. Her resilience and determination is a mindset to be admired and inspired by.
5. What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
Slow down.
It’s always easier to look back and recognize how you could have done things differently and what you should have done to ‘not sweat the small stuff.’ But that’s how hindsight works.
There was always time to excel, always time to grow and learn, but like many others, I was always in a rush. I’d tell myself that rewards will come from hard work, that patience is invaluable, and that the right pace is what helps your personal journey.
Even though I wouldn’t change a thing, it’s nice to look back and wonder what could have been if I had taken a second to slow down and reassess where I have come from and where I am going.
