𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 — 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸

After more than a decade in the agency world, I'd started thinking about broadening my skillset. I knew how to lead creative teams, consistently deliver quality work under unreasonable deadlines, and manage challenging personalities inherent to the business. I was good at my job, and I had the track record to prove it.

So when the opportunity came to join Nestlé USA as their end-to-end POP display manager, I took it. More business exposure. Better money. A chance to grow beyond the agency world. Seemed like the smart thing to do.

What I didn't expect was how quickly I'd go from expert to completely lost.

Here's the thing: I didn't walk in blind. Before Nestlé, I was on the supplier side at WestRock — directly involved in developing display programs for the Confections & Snacks division. I knew the pipeline. I'd sat in rooms with their Marketing and Technical Packaging leads. I'd built relationships with some of the key stakeholders I'd now be working alongside.

That history is also what got me the job.

What I didn't realize was how much it was working against me. From the supplier side, you see just one part of the process — the artwork, the specs, the handoffs. What's invisible to you is everything that has to happen on the brand side to make any of it possible. I thought I understood the job because I understood the output. I didn't account for the entire system behind it.

Once I started my job, reality of the role hit. No defined process. No roadmap. Every functional team — demand planning, supply planning, marketing, sales, finance, master data, technical packaging, legal, procurement — knew their slice and reacted when called upon. Displays got launched by running from department to department, chasing requirements, hoping you hadn't missed a critical stakeholder who might surface just days before art release.

Every skill that had made me valuable in the agency world was essentially irrelevant. I was starting over — in a chaotic, complex, sink-or-swim environment, with a confidence that turned out to be completely unfounded.

What saved me was repetition, observation and help from a very kind PMO (thank you @todd smith). Over a dozen programs in, patterns started to emerge. Lead times, sequencing, hidden dependencies. The chaos didn't disappear, but I started to see the shape of it.

Looking back, I wasn't walking in blind. I was certain I had the right map. Until it got me lost. And certainty is a much harder thing to question.

#CPG #ShopperMarketing #POPDisplay #CareerTransition

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