Key reflections from my 3 (ish) year journey building Design @ Bazaar

Photo by Our Life in Pixels on Unsplash

This post is a theme continuation of sharing a few significant reflections and takeaways from a 3(ish) year journey at Bazaar. I’ve done a similar writeup about my Careem experience.

These reflections have shaped me and help share themes from what works, what doesn’t, and everything in between. In light of keeping it fresh and actionable, think of the following pointers as executive summaries.

Let’s go!

• Placing bets by becoming ‘the first follower’
  Even though you might be a ‘leader’, it takes courage to be amongst the first to stand by someone when its not the expectation. Everyone needs their first follower. Follow a vision you resonate with. Build a convincing case for yours. Absolutely love this video if you want a recommendation.

“If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that really makes the fire.”

• Having a strategy for culture
  We’ve all heard the phrase “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” so why not have a strategy for it? One of the things I got to experience the closest is setting up team culture. Having solid values at the core is essential, and as you scale you have to make sure they don’t just become decoration on walls. Act your values. Steadfast; protect your team culture.
• Being a solid team player is the ultimate trait to master
  If you’re someone who people love working with, both personality wise and competency wise, other things rarely would matter. Even if you feel you’re not good enough, you’d establish relationships where people will open up to you and tell you so, and help you grow!
• Growth priorities: Self > Team > Organization
  Yes, in that order. When you’d witness your mind expanding, you’d naturally impact those around you. Its vital not to misinterpret this with becoming selfish in the typical sense. Looking after your own growth will ultimately have ripple effects on your team and eventually the organization.
• Non-designers can make the best designers
  This perspective for me has strengthened overtime. Peers from different functions like customer success, growth or operations often have significantly much more access to customers (and their perspectives) than a designer ever would.
• The powerful combination of branding & performance data
  In the local context we’ve been taught historically that brand identity is subjective and its more about the ‘feel.’ While perception does hold value, I’ve seen it being misunderstood as we don’t need to measure anything we post online. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and over these years I’ve seen the benefit of being data informed as you go about curating your brand.
• Setting a global ambition, but forming local milestones
  Building something great takes time, and a lot of benchmarking of what does great look like at an international scale. Its then vital to also circle back to where you stand today, and start charting a roadmap to getting there. An example which stands our was design recruitment where we looked at all hiring processes of (M)FAANG orgs but ensured our process is cognisant of the challenges of hiring designers in Pakistan.
• Fostering next-gen leadership from day zero
  I’ve had the pleasure of hiring and coaching dozens of individuals during my time, and I understood that with time expectations from leadership evolves. For that evolution to make sense, they naturally would get the flavour of leadership on the receiving side to course correct ideals, and then start assuming leadership wherever they see gaps to fill.
• Marathon of sprints — a LOT of (intensely smart) hard work is needed for a long time
  This ones pretty straight forward but it also comes as a surprise to many. We’re in an ecosystem where we definitely have a lot of challenges, but that only means that we will have to go that extra mile to do something big and meaningful (loosely quoting Careem’s Mudassir Sheikha and what he often used to tell us.) Its definitely a marathon, but there would be phases where you’d have to run faster than you’ve ever ran before.
• Taking regular breaks and focusing on mental health
  The above implies that it will default to a burn out. Its critical that you take out time for yourself to unplug and recharge yourself, especially to keep your focus in tact. The best breaks are those where you genuinely don’t worry about what’s happening at work, and embrace the FOMO. Easier said than done, I know.
• Master the balancing act between a leader and a player-coach
  Overtime your role evolves and depending on the situation you might get management responsibilities. It’s important to always keep a close pulse on how are you doing on both fronts, get feedback from your stakeholders on your ability to balance between the two type of roles. I personally believe having some component of being hands on will always reap dividends.

Here’s to hoping not to repeating the same mistake twice, making new mistakes, and being able to support each other as we build together.