Juanita Johari
When it comes to taking up new challenges I truly see it as an opportunity. One to expand my horizons and at the same time to really test my mettle. Even when it is a brand-new prospect or an area where I have a little familiarity, I’m driven by the need to constantly better my professional position. I guess that’s part and parcel of life where change is constant and that we are limited by our own imagination.
This approach is consistent with the five dimensions of an entrepreneurial mindset – high self-efficacy beliefs, an internal focus on control, a growth mindset, intrinsic motivation and a high level of resilience.
I feel that when you have a strong belief in your capabilities and experience – any challenges that are presented to you are just waiting to be conquered. The recent pandemic also overthrew a lot of us from our comfort zone as many were forced to take that leap for survival. Whichever way your story, those five dimensions will be able to steer you towards success, whether immediately or eventually.
Similarly, entrepreneurs look for opportunities to solve a problem, meet a demand, to be able to bring to market a solution that can delight their customers. Here’s where at times a leap of faith is required, and the question that you have to ask yourself is if you are willing to make the jump. There’s no right time to do it, you just have to make that turning decision.
What’s your USP?
I started off my career in communications about 23 years ago, during the economic slowdown, and managed to secure a job straight after my last final exam paper. My motivation was solely to survive, being a single mother at that age. I was able to see the silver lining from that setback, of the advantage I felt I already had – that from the start I always knew at a young age that I love writing and I pursued my degree in the course of my interest despite my parents sending me to uni to do foundation in pure science for me to further my studies in medicine. I’ve always been headstrong in knowing what I want in life and I was determined to land a career in communications.
Knowing what I was good at, I worked hard to gain as much knowledge as I can so that I could move up quickly. I learned that to move forward, I must be willing to take on any challenges, and really treat it as an opportunity for me to showcase what I am capable of bringing to the table. I didn’t even need to bring down anybody to move up – I just had faith that the results speak for themselves. Being in that situation where I needed to be successful, gave me that edge as I was focused on the outcome. So, everything I did at work served a purpose towards obtaining that desired outcome – everything needed to be structured with plans B and C as a backup. One must always have an alternative plan because things won’t always go as planned – and I learnt all that through life’s hardest lessons.
I didn’t care much about the stereotypes and although being different during my university days was considered strange, I discovered that being different at work made me stand out from the rest. That was an advantage that I embrace til now. It’s my USP – find your USP.
Be aware of your strengths and know your market
Knowing your area of influence, and understanding what is within your control and what isn’t also help you to focus your approach on overcoming the challenges – you know the saying, if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself? This is only true when you really know your strength and weaknesses. I always knew that I have strong persuasive skills with a knack for writing. Throughout my career, I’ve written for internal news bulletins, annual reports, press releases and even messages from C-suite members. But, as writing styles can be totally subjective, I have had my fair share of criticisms that can totally derail my confidence – in one company I was in which had CEOs turnover almost every year, I was deemed an excellent writer by one and totally rubbish by another – that really hit me hard to the nerves. It made me question what I was doing in the past decade, was I really that bad?
So, what do you do when you’re being told that your product is bad? Could it be that it is really bad or could it be that it is meant to be consumed by a different target audience – a CEO who was educated in creative vs a CEO who graduated from the finest accounting school, both have different backgrounds and with different ways of processing information.
It’s easy to lose that faith in yourself but you must not. Faith in oneself is the most priceless value you have on yourself. When everyone else will beat you up emotionally, you must not do the same to yourself. And when you know what you can do – you will not shy away from stepping up when you are called upon.
Do it differently but plan well
A good entrepreneur has a product that the customer wants, a great one knows what the customer wants even before they themselves know. But the trick is knowing that nothing ventured is nothing gained – you must be willing to put your ideas out there and see what happens. Of course, a lot of research prior to that would help more and you’ll probably see the gap that you can fill.
Taking that leap of faith is also about having a growth mindset. If you are “stuck” in the same position wouldn’t a change potentially bring you a different result? If you put in the effort, surely you are in a better position to achieve success? I remembered when I was tasked with a project with zero spending as we were facing some challenges in terms of budget for a huge initiative during the pandemic – part of the craziness of comms – on one hand, you’re strapped for resources while on the same time having to show value to the management through the good and bad times.
So I did what I’d always do – whine for a bit to people I’m close to and then moved on to actually getting the work done. In taking the leap there’s no time to lose, one needs to look at the situation from a broad perspective and spend time strategising. One needs to be highly creative, think outside the box and leverage different channels for different messages and target audiences to achieve wide coverage effectively. You’d also need to leverage the strengths of your team members for them to achieve what you envisioned, speak to subject matter experts to endorse the topic and pitch that information to specific sections of different media outlets who would bite and chew. Having a good product helps but working in a reputable organisation gives you an extra edge. I don’t believe in hard selling a product and knowing who can benefit from the topic would make the persuasion much easier.
How you can show value to your audience
The pandemic also taught me that all of us are connected one way or another and what you do can impact me indirectly and vice versa. We need something from each other for our survival, as I need you to wear your mask so that I won’t get infected, and you need me to stay home if I’m having symptoms so that you and your family remain healthy. Whatever you do can benefit me and the steps I take can benefit your family member – I am just being general here. With this line of thought, I approached that project based on the belief that the topic I am pushing out for awareness would benefit one group and if it’s written interestingly enough, interest will grow.
Our plan was to target media for specific topics relevant to those channels. We’ve never done it before but it was my success story at the end of the year when KPIs come into play. I’m not proud of the unfairness of that challenge because free PR is a thing of the past but I was thrilled to have proven my worth in the division.
Seek that value you bring to your target market and follow through with the strategy that you have set.
Be careful not to get entangled in “the noises”
Another aspect to consider is how our intrinsic motivation shapes how we deal with problems or challenges. There will always be noises that can bring you down but what are you here for? You’re here to add value to the environment you’re in – I don’t get myself into office politics and let the bosses handle them. To me, my job is to make my boss look good. I don’t mind being a ghostwriter and not being credited as long as the boss knows it’s my work.
Now that I am in a senior leadership position I see how difficult it is not to get entangled in politics but it feels so dangerous. These are what I call noise – they shouldn’t affect your work yet they can distract you from your focus. So try to limit yourself from indulging in the noises or it can really damage your spirit or worse, harm others in the process.
Conclusion
Throughout my journey, a common theme emerges, folks who take the leap often have a high level of resilience – but this doesn’t just come automatically, this is shaped based on experience, every good and bad decision, every lesson learned, you learn to be resilient and the more resilient you are the more likely you are to take [calculated] risks and jump into the unknown.
So here I am, having taken another leap, another role in a new industry during the great resignation, feeling so fortunate that an organisation had that much faith in me to lead a regional role. Like finally, after more than 20 years, a reciprocal faith in myself for both parties to take that leap. It wasn’t an entirely smooth journey but it took this long for me to see how it all pan out.
So, how was your journey when you took that leap of faith? And if you haven’t, do you feel a certain push?
Juanita Johari is the Head of Corporate Communications, APAC at B. Braun Group. A constant passenger of the roller coaster ride in Corporate Communications for the last 20-plus years, fully appreciating the highs whilst navigating the lows. Even after all those years, she finds some form of exhilaration in new surprises and new ways to get the job done. A firm believer in celebrating small wins as the glue to keeping a strong team intact, she currently leads a lean team overseeing a regional role in an MNC based in Penang and spends time commuting [almost] every weekend to KL where her heart lies.
