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Hi Jo, so what's your role at Zest?
Glad you asked! I like to think of myself as the dream weaver & vision achiever. I've always got one eye on the future and one on the here and now, I just occasionally need my business partner to keep my feet firmly on the ground, which is fine as he sometimes needs to shoot for the stars more often!
Ahh!... so that leads me on to question 2, what are the main differences between you and fellow Director Andy and what do you both bring to the Zest party?
Easy! I bring the glitter, Andy brings the gold! If truth be told we compliment each other very well, in that Andy is very much focused on the plan, the detail and what I like to call the 'essentials', whereas I'm very much about the visioning, the ambition and where we can add value to our clients bottom line. We can of course do both but we quite often play to strengths. Why not!?
I think I know what the answer may be here, but tell me... what excites you most about life at Zest?
Everything! The buzz of a Monday morning, we have our SUM (Set Up Monday) meeting, we 'check in' with what each other has been up to over a chocolate twist (or 2) and then we get down to business, the business of transforming teams, individuals and organisations!
And what type of work has you performing at your best?
I absolutely love seeing an individual whatever the level realising that they definitely do have the potential to be the best possible version of themselves. I don't care if they are getting to grips with a new role, fresh in to leadership or have been an established board member for 20 years, I get the same kick out of developing people's confidence, cutting through the complexity of day-to-day and freeing up their ability to dream big.
And what does that usually mean people say about you?
Do you really want to know!? I guess I like to think that people say that my energy can be infectious and that my years of experience (let's not get into numbers, my youthful looks tell it all!) mean that I'm always curious, always questioning and therefore always helping others develop.
Who do you yourself admire?
Let me break this down for you. Whitney, Tina and pretty much anyone that can get behind a disco beat! After that I'm a massive fan of Prof Steve Peters and in particular the amazing Chimp Paradox. I was lucky enough to hear him speak a few years ago and was genuinely impressed by his ability to map out the mind in order for individuals to get a better understanding not just of yourself but others too.
We perhaps got a bit of an insight into it there, but what excites you outside of work?
The beauty of the work that we do means that the dividing line between work and home is very thin, which is an amazing thing. I usually have quite an active and vibrant house, by which I mean lots of crazy cool kids running about causing mayhem (they probably would say the same about me!) so I'm very much a family orientated person. I love to dance, I've been lucky enough to be involved in a few acting roles in the past and I'm a big fan of a girls trip away, where I can let my hair down and chill out with friends. In contrast I also like nothing more than a good read of RED (mag), mug of tea and a couple of digestives whenever I've got the time.
Great stuff... any Jerry Springer style final thoughts before we let you get back to it?
Yes. I love what I do and this has made a massive difference to my life. The values that we have here at Zest are a true reflection of my own personal ones. I'd encourage anyone that has ambitions in 2019 and beyond to create a lifestyle that helps them become happy, productive and goal orientated, to breakdown any barriers in terms of what's stopping them and aim high.