Sarah Robb O'Hagan, known for transforming Gatorade after facing career failures, shares her journey. From getting fired at Virgin to leading successful marketing campaigns at Nike and Gatorade. She reveals the challenges of rebranding Gatorade post-acquisition and the importance of resilience in overcoming business hurdles.
Facing failure head-on led Sarah to become an exceptional leader at Gatorade.
Transitioning roles helped Sarah refine her leadership skills and build a strong career foundation.
Leveraging creativity and consumer insights at Nike led to successful innovation with G Series product suite.
Deep dives
Resilience and Turning Failure into Success
Sarah Robohagan's journey showcases her resilience in facing failure and turning it into success. Despite setbacks like being fired from Virgin and facing layoffs at Atari, she used these experiences to become a better leader. Her ability to confront failure head-on and learn from her missteps eventually led her to excel at legendary brands like Nike, where she created bold and successful marketing campaigns.
Transitioning and Learning from Different Job Experiences
Sarah's career transitions involved key lessons in taking steps back to move forward. After challenging roles at Virgin Megastores and Atari, she recognized the importance of reevaluating her approach and refining her leadership skills. Transitioning to Nike provided her with the opportunity to enhance her abilities to lead through others and create a successful career foundation.
Success at Nike and Personal Growth
Sarah's time at Nike marked a significant success in her career path. Immersing herself in the competitive and team-oriented environment, she aligned with the brand's values and swiftly made impactful decisions. By leveraging her deep consumer understanding and passion for the brand, she achieved notable accomplishments within a short period, receiving recognition for her contributions.
Innovative Running Event: The Run Hit Wonder
Creating a 10K running event featuring 80s one-hit wonder bands like Flock of Seagulls, allowing each band to play their famous song repeatedly to provide the perfect soundtrack for runners. Despite the tight timeline of six weeks, the event was a major success, showcasing a creative and impactful idea that continues to be a source of pride for the team.
Cultivating Creativity at Nike and Gatorade Turnaround
At Nike, a culture fostering creativity enabled individuals with structured thinking and strong creative instincts to channel ideas effectively. The speaker emphasized the importance of refining problem-solving processes and leveraging consumer insights to drive innovation. The Gatorade brand faced challenges post-acquisition, requiring a strategic shift towards meaningful innovation, resulting in the successful launch of the G Series product suite that revitalized the business amidst economic downturns and market pressures.
Sarah Robb O'Hagan is brutally honest about the many, many times she messed up on the way to transforming Gatorade. She was a rabble-rouser at Virgin, which ended with her getting fired. She took a job at Atari, even though she hated video games. How those disasters made her into the right executive to pull Gatorade out of double-digit declines.
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