Starting out with BBH’s Sarah Watson: ‘There’s a moment when you cut the ropes on doubt’

It took me a very long time to find my voice, to feel confident about speaking and who I was. That’s what excites me about my job now — helping people find their voice, whether it’s colleagues or brand clients. I can put a date on when I found mine — I was 30. There’s a reason I’ve been at BBH for so long — there have always been people who got me and encouraged me to be that way. If ever I lost my way, they’d set me straight.

There’s a moment when you cut the ropes on doubt. As a leader, you should always have doubt, but there is a moment where you become comfortable with taking responsibility for doing things a certain way and are happy to accept any consequences.

The hardest decision I ever made was when BBH asked me to move to New York, and I was expecting my first child. My husband had also just gotten a big job in London, and it was a difficult decision to move somewhere where the maternity leave is only three months, when it’s in the U.K. DNA to have six months. But I was advised by a BBH colleague not to say no to something before I had to. So I took the three months maternity [leave] and an extra month unpaid. That changed my life, and now I have a 4-year-old girl and am due to have my second. I live six minutes away from my office and have no commute, which really helps.

It’s not for everyone, though. I know others who have stepped down from leadership positions because they have felt they couldn’t do both jobs. It’s not about prejudice; it’s just the job can be so demanding — it can be like having 45 children. If you want to be home at 6 p.m. for your family, it’s a lot.

U.K. and U.S. agency cultures are similar in some ways, and in others, planets apart. Because of the scale on which American advertising operates, there’s a much more aggressive, cutthroat culture. U.K. clients are comfortable talking about value of brands and nuanced conversations on the nature of the narrative, whereas here it’s a more hard-nosed business dialogue.

My only regret is I wish I had used other people more when I was growing up. People around you are your source of strength and power and energy, particularly your bosses. I grew up with an implicit dislike of authority and not wanting to take direction or use people to help me. If I could go back and do my 20s again, I would see those above me as my access to strength rather than gatekeepers and authoritarian oppression.

I found a way to deal with stress about 10 years ago, when I just couldn’t relax and was all over the place. I went on a meditation program in the Himalayas, which involved taking a vow of silence for 10 days. It was one of the most powerful experiences I’ve ever had and later helped me with things like giving birth — being able to sit quietly and endure pain, to keep the mind still. It helps you connect with something bigger than yourself, and it gives you a better perspective.

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Image courtesy of BBH