1. “If you don’t have a good story… no amount of bullshittery will help”

To say Karen Walker knocked it out of the park would be an understatement. Her keynote was about the power of storying telling and she spoke about the fact that no-one can tell you story like you can. To Karen, algorithm changes and following increases aren’t very relevant to her strategy. She believes that if you have a great story to tell, and post incredible content that stems from it – that’s all that matters.

“It needs to be all killer, no filler”

She also made some interesting points around longevity of a career (namely influencers) based solely on creating content for social media, and explained that although social media can be a great resource, it can’t be your only focus.

Karen concluded with this: “I think of Instagram as somebody else’s front yard and I don’t want to build my house on somebody else’s front yard.”

2. “Never take a role where you know how to do everything in the job description”

Becky Dawson, head of business development, at LinkedIn Australia/New Zealand’s keynote on transitioning into a career in digital was motivating and inspiring. She spoke about challenging yourself and trying the things that scare you.

She also spoke about up-skilling. Often we feel subconsciously limited by our previous education and experience (or lack there of!). Becky admitted that upon embarking on her new role at LinkedIn, she had no idea about some of the parts of her new job description, but she took it upon herself to find out everything she needed to know, by taking online courses and learning! 

This applies to both employees and business owners. You should want to be the dumbest person in the room. Becky also reminded us of things that we all know but need to keep hearing… force yourself out of your comfort zone, do things that scare you and trust your gut when making decisions.

3. “It’s time for businesses to embrace the feminine”

Last but not least, a message from Sharma Sukul Lee, founder of the plant-based meat company, Sunfed. She perfectly articulated a subject that is particularly close to our hearts – the power of feminine energy in business and in the workplace.

“Business has been dominated by the masculine… it’s the masculine traits that are rewarded in business. The language is oppressive. The focus is on short-term profits at all cost…” She urged that femininity in business shouldn’t be seen as a weakness and that it’s actually what businesses today are crying out for.

So often, ‘successful’ career women are described with words like ‘ruthless’ or ‘hard’ and although we all admire the bad-ass women in business who encapsulate this and understand why women have always needed to embrace these traits (as James Brown said ‘it’s a man’s world’), this isn’t our approach. With leaders like many of the women, including Sharma, who we heard from at Vogue Codes, we love that there is a new wave of women who are confident enough in all they have to offer without feeling the need to “fit in” to the current workplace norms.

Such an empowering day – we recommend going to Vogue Codes next year!