Tiger Therapy welcomed Joanna Flint, Chief Commercial Officer at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, as the latest guest on the podcast dedicated to help individuals conquer self-doubt. The episode, entitled,”Career Lessons: Why your success isn’t all about you,” explores overcoming career challenges through the power of the mind.
Flint shares the challenge and triumph that shaped her undeniably impressive career path. She left London at 25 to pursue career opportunities in Asia. She has held executive roles with British Airways and Singapore Airlines before taking on major executive positions with Google in tech and now Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in hospitality. With a candid and authentic approach, Joanna reflects on her decision to step into a foreign industry:
“What’s the worst thing that’s going to happen?” Flint asked herself once “And the worst thing that was going to happen is that I didn’t like the job. . . I could always go back to the UK. At the age of 25 and 26 you are a different person—there’s so much you can do. I knew I could always get back to the predictable bits. I didn’t want to do what everyone else is doing.”
Flint delves into overcoming an imposter syndrome mindset, navigating self-doubt, and the significance of asking for opportunities during one’s career progression. Pippa Woodhead, Head of Podcasts at Tigerhall in Singapore leads the conversation, drawing out Joanna’s insights on success, confidence, and the daring to try.
Flint’s motto, “dare to try,” serves as a way of emphasizing that the first step towards progress falls on embracing challenges and taking risks. Listeners are inspired by Flints’s determination, leaving them ready to tackle any hesitations that may be holding them back. Flint speaks on the doubt she felt before pursuing the job at Google stating:
“I was very confident that I had delivered an outstanding impact for the organization, but I didn’t know what was next. I read the description for the managing director of Singapore role a couple of times and thought ‘I would love to do that,’ but that was it.”
When Flint’s friend at work pinged her a link to the role asking if she had seen it, her friend was incredulous at the fact that Flint had yet to pursue the position. She reminded Flint that she was not only the most qualified person in the office, but the most qualified female in the office. Flint nonetheless continued to talk herself out of the opportunity, to which her friend replied: “Do you know what, Jo, it’s not about you. It’s about doing this for all the women at Google.” Those words made Flint’s decision for her–this opportunity was bigger than her own professional story. She would be the next Managing Director at Google Singapore for the greater good of every woman in this male-dominated industry.
Woodhead and Flint continue to dive into what it means to be a woman in tech and how one’s sense of identity can be impacted by their industry. Flint details her recent transition from being a “woman in stem” to a “woman in hospitality,” which sparked an identity crisis for Flint, as she felt she was taking a step back towards her previous industry. During this transition, the COO of Google reminded Flint that she was going from a smaller role to something global, which reframed the magnitude of her new opportunity.
Tiger Therapy offers an enlightening journey into the world of career lessons and the empowering message that success is not solely about oneself, but about daring to try for the benefit of all.
Listeners can tune in to this compelling episode and explore more enriching content on Tiger Therapy available here.
Joanna Flint
Longtime tech executive, Joanna Flint leads and embraces growth. Having accelerated Google’s Singapore business as MD, and pivoted Google’s multi billion dollar data/tech partnership and Consumer Goods go-to-market across Asia Pacific, Joanna is now Mandarin Oriental’s first global Chief Commercial Officer.
For Joanna this follows a decade in the airline industry and consulting driving global technology transformation and growth programs in the areas of sales, brand, CRM, digital and customer service.
She sits on the Management Board of Mandarin Oriental, is a member of YPO, and a mentor to early stage start-ups.
Tigerhall
Tigerhall is recognized as the modern organizational enablement solution. It drives cross-functional collaboration and two-way knowledge exchange, accelerating internal change to successfully implement initiatives aligned with your strategic goals, like customer segment shifts, sales productivity improvements, customer experience model changes, M&A, or ESG.
Drawing on insights provided by over 1,500 global experts, Tigerhall tailors its high-impact resources to precisely match the unique needs of each team and individual. Whether it’s breaking down geographic and linguistic barriers, streamlining communications, or scaling internal expertise, Tigerhall provides quantifiable results that align with and actively drive your strategic initiatives forward.
Leading industry giants like AWS, HP, Adobe, Mondelez, and Cisco trust Tigerhall to conquer their challenges in managing and implementing change initiatives, no matter the scale. Plus, Tigerhall seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Teams, enhancing your daily operations without causing any disruptions.
Pippa Woodhead
Pippa Woodhead, Head of Podcasts at Tigerhall in Singapore and expanding rapidly across Asia Pacific and the US, has had her fair share of imposter syndrome moments in her career. This struggle inspired her to create “Tiger Therapy.”
She used to shy away from opportunities, stay out of the spotlight, and believe that a successful career wasn’t for her. But now, she’s done with holding herself back and is ready to embrace life fully.
During her five years at Tigerhall, Pippa conducted over 800 interviews with exceptional figures in the business world, including Fortune 500 executives, workplace happiness experts, neuroscientists, and Olympic medalists. What she discovered is that great leaders are often highly self-aware. They recognize their own limiting beliefs and know when to heed self-doubt as a valuable message and when to push past it.
Through these insightful podcast conversations, Pippa learned a lot about herself, and the medium itself became her form of therapy. With Tiger Therapy, her aim is to engage in meaningful conversations, explore people’s career journeys, discover more about herself, and share some laughs along the way.
Originally from the UK, Pippa has lived in India, Thailand, and now proudly calls Singapore her home.
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