“Don’t mistake assertiveness for disrespect,” Nancy Hall from WPP Media US

Meet Nancy Hall, Chief Client Officer at WPP Media US—a proven leader who’s dedicated to driving growth and transformation for clients. Nancy brings over 20 years of experience with best-in-class agencies and brands to her role; she’s passionate about client service excellence and building high-impact, collaborative teams. 

Nancy’s expertise spans the full spectrum of modern marketing, from addressable media to branding, programmatic to data strategy, commerce, and more. Recently, she was named one of She Runs It’s Working Mothers of the Year for her leadership and mentorship of working parents across the ad industry. She has also previously been recognized as one of PerformanceIn’s Top 30 US Changemakers in Partnership Marketing and honored with the Leadership Award by Partnership with Children for her dedication to both professional excellence and community impact. A respected voice in the industry, her insights have been featured in publications such as Adweek, Campaign, AdExchanger, and more. 

Nancy joined Morgan James, Content Marketing Specialist at SiriusXM Media, to be a part of a special, upcoming season of the Pass the Mic Podcast called Mentor Me. In her interview, they discussed learning how to advocate for yourself, why preparation and having the data to back up your asks is critical, and her advice for Gen Z women who started working during the pandemic—plus, they revisit a previous interview about the advisor who didn’t think she could lead a business.

Listen to Nancy’s full interview below, then check out some highlights from the conversation.

Building your confidence takes time.

Highlight: “Confidence is really important for self-advocacy. And if you do the work and you prepare, you should feel confident speaking up and voicing your opinion, your ideas, or your requests. And it's uncomfortable, sometimes, to cheerlead for yourself, but it's important to do. And with time and repetition, it becomes more natural and more comfortable.” - Nancy Hall

Be assertive without forgetting your sense of empathy. 

Highlight: “Assertiveness should not ever be mistaken for disrespect. You can be assertive without being arrogant. You can be assertive and still be gracious. And if you approach business situations, work conversations, with kindness, with empathy, with appreciation, and sometimes even some vulnerability, you can really enhance your communication and truly get your point across in a respectful and impactful way. But it's important that one always has the data to back up their assertion, and that comes from preparation.” - Nancy Hall

Keep reading and learning.

Highlight: “We should always be learning, and that learning can come from asking questions and listening really closely to the answers that people give us. It also comes from reading… Reading two to three, five-minute articles per week on career development, on areas of business that you're not familiar with, on the industry that you are in, the macro and microeconomic climate, competitors, doing that reading will give you the expertise and the knowledge that will set you apart from others within your workplace or within a meeting.” - Nancy Hall

If things don’t work out, ask for feedback and make a plan.

Highlight: “Years ago, I believed that I deserved a promotion. I asked for the promotion. I did not get it. But I asked for feedback about how I could develop so that I could learn, so that I could develop an action plan to implement different aspects of the way I worked, the way I interacted with others to ultimately become more successful and perceived a little bit differently. And I executed a plan that was successful, because I was then promoted into the role I originally asked for about six months later.” - Nancy Hall

Take time to reflect on your goals—and you don’t have to do it at your desk.

Highlight: “I've always been a goal setter, and I continue to be. What has changed is that I used to write my goals down. Now I use my phone and create lists of things I want to accomplish, people I want to meet, things I want to learn, organizations I want to be a part of, events I want to participate in, and I do them as checklists in an app so that I can check off when I've achieved them because I receive tremendous satisfaction from accomplishing what I have set out to do. I use the time when I walk my dog as my personal contemplation time.” - Nancy Hall

Treat people how you want to be treated.

Highlight: “Having empathy is not a weakness, it’s actually a strength... When I started working, somebody told me that as a woman in business, I should never say “please” or “sorry,” because those words are signs of weakness. And I learned how ridiculous that is. I say ‘please’ and ‘sorry’ when it’s called for, because that’s how I treat people and how I want to be treated as well.” - Nancy Hall

Nancy’s push for preparation and learning have led her up the ladder of success. Her words remind us that committing to your goals, having the data to back up your asks, and putting in the work are all important for becoming exactly who you want to be. For more inspiring conversations like this, check out the Pass the Mic page.

Feeling Inspired? Read On.