Wendy is a chairperson for Logitech, a world leader in products that connect people in a natural, intuitive way to the digital experiences they care about. Wendy is also the former Chief Executive Officer of Jack Wills Limited, a British-based manufacturer and retailer. Prior to this she served as Group Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone Group Plc and Managing Director of the TalkTalk Telecom Group. Wendy was also a Partner responsible for the United Kingdom consumer practice at McKinsey & Company, and served in various marketing and brand roles at The Procter & Gamble Company.
Wendy is a non-executive director of Great Portland Estates Plc, a British property development and investment company, a member of the Finance Committee of the Oxford University Press and a non executive director of Sony. She holds a BA degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
1. Best piece of advice you’ve been given
Do less; the hardest things first; don’t relent
Focus on big goals that excite you leads to big impact. Work only gets more difficult and more complicated over time in a career so try things you don’t know about or how to do when it is lower risk. Take on as many new challenges (sequentially) as you can as early as you can in your career because there is usually someone more experience who’s success will direct depend on you succeeding too. This led me to take more considered risk earlier in my career than I might have otherwise. I have found that taking risks doesn’t always work out but when it does, it can be impactful and exciting and when it doesn’t one can always learn. Central to it all is refusing to give up!
2. Worst piece of advice you’ve been given
a) No harm in another bite of cake.
or
2) No harm in fitting in just one more small interesting thing to do onto a full plate
3. What would you tell your younger self?
Have more fun on the journey. The relationships along the way matter as much as the achievement. You won’t lose sight of your goals if you take time to see some side roads, particularly if you do that with people whom you enjoy and share learning with. It all works out in the end. Determination and optimism can carry you far.
4. What excites you most about the future of your industry?
Consumers are using technology and entertainment in ways we could not have imagined 10 years ago and the same amount of change will happen over the coming 3-5 years . The Cloud and AI are super exciting but so are advancements in connectivity which will partner to enable so much more creativity and impact across industry, community and society.
5. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
Someone I met in university who had created a successful career in business, community and family. He helped me work through how I could do that and helped me think in longer timelines with more aspirational steps and a bigger global stage than I might have otherwise. I looked to his journey as I one I could achieve and still check in with him once a year or so – he is now in his late ’90’s. His continual reinvention of himself, contributions to what matters to him and curiosity about others always inspires me.
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