How to Build a Company That Values Wellness

Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Columnist Network series, which explores the tactical thoughts and actions from Adweek’s community of high-level experts. Today, House of Wise’s Amanda Goetz shares insights from a recent challenge with mental health. Below, in her own words, she says founders have a unique opportunity to center wellness when building their team. The challenge Travel has once again become a reality of work, one I’ve largely welcomed. Over the past three months, I’ve been on dozens of planes, visiting cities for work events, photoshoots, R&D, investor meetings and opportunities for personal growth, among other things. I’ve always loved travel and the new adventures and challenges that come with it, but recently I hit a wall. On a sunny Monday morning, I found myself boarding a flight from Miami to Las Vegas, only to deplane after anxiety took over. In my years as an executive, entrepreneur and mother, I’ve found that women largely have a tendency to take on projects and work until we’re on empty. With female leaders holding just 8.1% of CEO roles at Fortune 500 companies and only accounting for a mere 2.3% of VC-backed startups, there’s a lot of pressure when you do finally find yourself at these career milestones typically dominated by men. There’s a tremendous amount of external and internal pressure to be perceived as impermeable, which ultimately creates a false narrative and amplified imposter syndrome. Through years of practice and training, I thought I’d mastered the skill of refilling my tank before I’m on empty, but this season of work and life told me otherwise. As a founder of a venture-backed business and someone who shares candidly about the process of building a company with my digital community, I fall into the trap of always wanting to be seen as strong and able to handle everything that comes my way. But we need to get real sometimes: We are people first, and life is hard. The process In building House of Wise, we developed core values of empathy—recognizing our team as people first—and putting transparency at the center of all we do: as people, in the products we deliver and how we connect with our community. Coming home from the airport, still processing the fact I would not be making it to an important in-person meeting and, frankly, feeling defeated, I was reminded by my team, with whom I immediately shared my situation, about our values. Our team established the company’s core values together, and in building our brand and company, we continue to honor those values. We speak candidly about mental health, wellness and transparency. Ultimately, the values we established at a time of zero duress are helping us stay authentic and accountable to creating a company culture and environment that protects all our well-being. Part of the process of building a new company and being a leader is living by example. In a time when my mind and body felt tumultuous, I was still at ease knowing that I could share openly about my needs and that I had already established a precedent and a company where I was supported. Through teamwork, I was able to step away for a beat and know we could still hit ambitious goals ahead of the busiest shopping season for ecommerce. The outcome? I listened to my mind and body, giving myself the mental and physical break I needed, while my team was able to take us through the finish line, hitting our biggest month of sales to date. The takeaway The most important takeaway is to build a company and culture where everyone, from the CEO to the newest intern, can feel safe communicating their needs. If the past two years have taught us anything it’s that we need to put our mental and physical wellness first and build companies and teams that offer a safe space to talk about what we need to thrive. Part of building a company with these values is also building teams with exceptional skills in their practice areas so team members can continue feeling supported in growing and succeeding in business goals. Our mental health matters, and employees will value workspaces where they feel seen, valued and cared for. Founders and CEOs should feel that, too. Life is hard, and it’s OK to slow down and take stock of our wellness. It’s even better to build that notion into your core values and stick by it during those hard times.