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OhHello - Patty Wu
54 Plays1 year ago
"Take the first step!!"
It's Episode 54 of the OhHello.io 🌞☕️ pod/vod - and the theme/advice from this business icon is just that..."take the first step!"
After re-watching this vod, the advice is fitting given our next guest's storied career, thus far. Our featured “Hello” (aka a mentor on OhHello.io) is the former President of buybuy BABY, the leading Baby specialty retailer in NA (part of the Bed Bath & Beyond family of brands). This exec and her team, of nearly 4K people, were responsible for returning the buybuy Baby business back to growth and to record level sales, profit, and baby registries during her tenure; she successfully led the sale of the Baby business to private investors in the summer of ‘23.
With extensive leadership experience in the DTC, Retail, and CPG space, this 'Hello" was Chief Commercial Officer at both Beautycounter and The Honest Company, VP/GM of China for Mattel, Inc., and held executive roles across Walmart and The Clorox Company. A BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis, an MBA from Harvard University, and all around wonderfully empathetic person that we're thrilled to feature amongst our growing community!
“Take the first step. Reach-out. Find a mentor. What I love about the OhHello concept and community around mentorship is that mentors have really helped me find my career path. Mentors, and former bosses, have always brought me in to THEIR roles. Make sure to stay connected and be open. You don’t know how big your career will be unless you go for it.” -Patty Wu
In this episode, Patty speaks about "the notion of chemistry;" sometimes, you have bosses where you have great chemistry. Great bosses understand what motivates their team(s) and individuals. What helped Patty rise to the top was understanding what secret power each of her mentors and managers had, and then leaning in to develop those positive traits.
Her advice:
1)"Be open and let mentors and managers know what you want to do. The best mentors will help you get there."
2)"Mentorship is all about the mentor and mentee asking one another other the right questions. It’s all about being truthful." A big shout out to Paul Leinwand, one of Patty's mentors, who has helped her throughout their 20+ yr friendship.
Super grateful for this wonderful discussion, and we're so excited for you to be part of the OhHello.io tribe, Patty Wu!
OhHello.io's soft launch is wrapping-up. The feedback from the first Ohs and Hellos have been great, and we can't wait to open the gates to more awesome mentors like Ms. Wu!
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Transcript
Introduction and Career Overview
00:00:06
Speaker
Oh, hello, Patty. How are you? Hi, Jeremy. How's it going? It's great. Uh, having a great day, having a great morning. Loved our catch up session right before this. So excited to have this conversation with you. You have accomplished so much in your career and our, Oh, hello community is going to learn a lot during this conversation. I have the pleasure of knowing who I'm speaking with. Why don't you tell our audience?
00:00:35
Speaker
Who are you? Tell us about yourself. Just really quickly, I would just characterize myself as a consumer packaged goods veteran that has found their way into retail over the last few years. But at the heart of it, I'm just a consumer nerd. Really just love to understand the consumer and help her with her journey.
00:01:02
Speaker
I respect that. Thank you, Patty Woo.
Impact of Mentorship
00:01:05
Speaker
So Patty, help us understand a little bit about just what defines you as a professional, as an executive. You have incredibly accomplished career. You've gone through some of the ultimate highs of highs and lows of lows throughout your career and just a fascinating roller coaster. Yeah. And I guess what I would just say and what I love about the Oh, hello concept and community around mentorship is
00:01:31
Speaker
mentors have really helped me find my career path, right? If I think about it, you know, my career started kind of very typical, right? I did sales at General Mills, got my MBA because I'm Asian and my parents were like, you've got to get a graduate degree. And then I did the typical management consulting into brand management. And I've been very lucky because if you ever look me up on LinkedIn, you can start to see I've had a lot of different experiences. I've sat on both sides of the desk.
00:02:02
Speaker
in consumer packaged goods, whether it's on the manufacturing brand side or I've sat on the retailer side. And I just think I've been lucky that along the way, mentors and former bosses have always brought me in to their roles. And I would just encourage everybody, you know, if you have a great boss and as you move on to that next role, make sure you stay connected with that boss. And I would also just say be open, right? I think so much in life, you know, we're told like, Hey, this is your track.
00:02:32
Speaker
you have the ability to have free will as you take a look at your career and you just never know how big your career can be unless you go for it. I love that advice of being open, going for it, and just also paying homage to the bosses, the mentors, the leaders that are making an impact. That's part of the reason why we're creating both the community and the platform. Help us understand a little bit more about some of the traits or characteristics that
00:03:03
Speaker
that those mentors have the seeds that they planted to help you grow into the executive that you are today. And just being able to make those decisions, make those twists and turns, going from CPG to retail, going from sales to executive management to leading some very large companies. We'd love to hear and understand a little bit more about that process. Yeah, and I would just say like, and you and I talked about this before we got onto the podcast is
00:03:33
Speaker
the notion of chemistry, right?
Opportunities and Values Alignment
00:03:35
Speaker
And sometimes you have certain bosses where you have great chemistry. And I think a couple of things, just understanding, making great bosses that I've had understand what motivates me and help position the role so that not only do they get the best of me, but they also help me grow, right? And I would just say, you know, if you're in a situation
00:04:02
Speaker
always ask like, what else can I do or what can I learn? And also take a step back and see what your boss is really good at and what superpower do they have that you can start to cultivate within yourself. And then I think the other thing is early on in my career versus later on in my career, early on in my career, my boss was like always on a pedestal. But as you start to get more experience under your belt, you understand that they're human too. And you build that relationship with them. And
00:04:31
Speaker
I think what I see a lot of people do is that they always neglect to share with their manager, Hey, this is what I really want to do in my life. Right. And my career changed dramatically when I was open with my manager and also my manager's manager in terms of what I wanted to do. And then as you start to work longer, IE, as you start to get older, you start to have a lot of, you have a much bigger network. And I think if you let people know what you want to do,
00:05:02
Speaker
mentors, managers will naturally help you achieve that career goal. One of the things I have always wanted to work overseas, I've always wanted to be an expat and I just shared that aspiration with, and I was very open with that aspiration. So when a role opened up, I was the first one sent on the airplane. I love
Cultural Insights and Education
00:05:22
Speaker
that. And we talked about your experiences of
00:05:25
Speaker
growing up in the South and in Huntsville, Alabama, and then going to some great schools and living in San Francisco, living in New York, living in Asia. At what point in your career did you realize, huh, I want to explore. I want to travel. I want to experience different cultures. I want to experience different ways that people engage in business, in communications, in life. Yeah.
00:05:56
Speaker
A couple of things. One, you've mentioned this. I grew up in Alabama, so I think my parents really made sure that we got out and got to see the world early on. And that just instilled a level of kind of like wanderlust in me. But I think professionally, it didn't happen until I went to business school. And I think that exposure to students, you know, peers coming from other countries just really started to pique my interest
00:06:26
Speaker
And I just, you know, I did an overseas abroad study assignment in Shanghai and that just really kind of planted the seed of wanting to do something internationally. Cool. So when we're talking about bosses and when we're talking about people that we've worked with, which is called mentors, when we've talked about different mentors, who are some mentors that have had a profound impact on your career, Patty?
00:06:54
Speaker
Well, one of them is, and you just met him, Paul Weinwand. He is a partner at Strategy and, and he was, he's been a mentor of mine basically over the last 20 plus years. And what I appreciate about him is through Thicker Thin, he's always checking in. And I think it is, it's been, it's been great because there have been times where I'm like, I think I'm going to explore into this category.
00:07:24
Speaker
He never says no, but he'll ask the questions that will help me make sure that it's aligned to what my values truly are. And I'm going through this process right now looking at different roles. You can get swept up in the romance of exploring different categories, different industries. But at the end of the day, you have to know what's going to align to your values and how you operate.
00:07:52
Speaker
Mentor who really knows you can ask you those questions to make sure that in the moment it feels really awesome But as you start to think about being in the job longer working in that culture Is that going to be a soul-sucking situation and I've had that happen a few times. I had another mentor and I was choosing between a role to radically different companies on the spec, you know on on the spectrum in terms of
00:08:21
Speaker
high end versus low end or mass. And my boss just said, Hey, you know, remember, right? Like in the moment it feels really cool to be romanced by two companies. But at the end of the day, where do you feel like you can be yourself? And I think that that's a really good question because you want to make sure that you're managing the marathon of your career and your career choices as opposed to in the moment.
00:08:48
Speaker
really great sound advice. Going back to some of the guidance that Paul gave you about him never saying no, can you go a little bit deeper?
Career Navigation and Goals
00:08:57
Speaker
Like, did you mean if you're just looking for guidance from Paul or during a conversation? I think what's important and whether you are a mentor or if you are a mentee, it is about making sure that you're asking each other the right questions and that
00:09:16
Speaker
as a mentor that you're asking the questions, but as a mentee, you're being truthful to yourself, right? Because as I mentioned before, you can get swept away into the notion of a role. And if I don't know about you, but sometimes I can put blinders on and just be like, no, that sounds really cool. It must be cool, right? Whereas a mentor can come in and just make sure to say like, Hey, what did you observe, right?
00:09:45
Speaker
you know, could you really see yourself there? And just, just to do that gut check of like, is this aligned to your values and who you are as a person, how much are you going to need to change to fit in? And are you going to be, is it good change for you? Because change is good, but sometimes not all change is good, right?
00:10:09
Speaker
Absolutely. And there's a sense of tribalism in a lot of different companies and culture's incredibly important and so often it gets overlooked and people see a shiny object and then they pivot into that shiny object and then they soon realize that it's not as shiny as they thought from looking from the outside. Yeah, the honeymoon phase ends very quickly. What excites you about mentorship?
Mentorship and Giving Back
00:10:36
Speaker
What excites you about what we're building?
00:10:39
Speaker
I think the notion, for me personally, it's about paying it forward. I have been super, super lucky. And I have also cultivated the mentoring relationships that I have. And I think that, you know, it's hard, right? Especially there, sometimes you work at places without the mentoring program. And even when you do work in places with a mentoring program, they never prepare you for it. I'm just, at least that's my own opinion, right? And I've worked at some pretty like,
00:11:09
Speaker
I've heard it's some pretty great companies where they're just like, Hey, this is Jane Doe. She's your mentor. Good luck. Right. And on the mentor side, they're not prepared. And as a mentee, you're not prepared. And I've been really lucky that I, you know, I've fallen into some mentorship relationships like with Paul and, or I've been put into mentoring relationships with people that are
00:11:33
Speaker
that are seasoned, but I've also been in mentoring relationships where it's a new mentor and I'm a new mentee and it's, it's awkward. And sometimes the chemistry doesn't work out and you move on and that's okay. Gosh, I don't even know if I'm answering your question. Perfect. So, yeah, that's part of the rationale of why we're building the community of, of having
00:11:54
Speaker
mentors of all different experiences. So the mentees, the O's can meet with the mentors, the hellos and see if there's a good fit. And if there's not, it's good to have a variety. It's good to have change. It's good to be able to have different options.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, and it is a lot like dating, right? Who's going to gel, right? Exactly it. As you know, and you had said just something that you're interested in, it's just that the paying it forward, the giving back, the altruism. And that's part of the reason of why we are building this. So there is altruism and giving back because
00:12:34
Speaker
our platform is integrated into 40 to 50 different charities for now down the line in a post MVP stage, perhaps way more. What are some causes that are near and dear to you, Patti? Yeah, well, if you guys know me, I'm a pet parent. And so anything that is associated with the ASPCA or some type of shelter community, if you're in the Bay Area, the Milo Foundation is important, but any sort of pet
00:13:03
Speaker
causes are incredibly important. And then I think the second piece is also education. My dad was in research and academia and I really do feel like, you know, I am, I am grateful for the educational experience that I have had and how it opens up the world to you. So those are the two big causes for me. Amazing Patty. Any other parting words of wisdom or advice just to those watching, to those listening?
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah, I would just say take the first step and reach out. Because I think at the end of the day, mentoring is in your hands. And I was late to the game in terms of asking for mentorship. People are, I think, naturally wired to help. And I think a lot of us out there see asking for help as a sign of weakness or you're not able to do something.
00:14:00
Speaker
And I think it's completely counter, like, you should just take that first step and go and find a mentor because it will open up your world to a lot of career opportunities and personal opportunities too. Amazing. Patti, this was a wonderful conversation. Thank you. Everyone watching, take that first step. Thank you, Patti. We appreciate you. Great. Bye, everybody. Thanks, Jeremy. Take care.