WW Chief Brand Officer On Why Taking Career Steps Back Is a Good Thing

When you think about the line of work Gail Tifford is in, it comes as no surprise that her persona is rich with positivity, authenticity, and raw human emotion. In our industry, displaying emotions can often be seen as an unfavorable trait. But on the contrary, it’s Gail’s superpower and the driving force behind her success. Jokingly comparing her career journey to the popular nostalgic game, Chutes and Ladders, Gail started her career as an attorney. After realizing it wasn’t the perfect fit, she left her law career and went on to pursue different marketing roles throughout her career before becoming the Chief Brand Officer of WW (formerly Weight Watchers). With a personal connection to the WW brand herself, Gail is responsible for building brand loyalty, driving impactful revenue, and overseeing global strategy. As the co-chair of Adweek’s DEI Council, it is clear that Gail cares about driving meaningful change wherever she goes. Now that’s the power of emotion. Discover more about Gail’s non-linear career journey, how she is keeping her mind, body, and soul nourished during these times, and how she tackles stereotyping in the workplace head-on. How did you get to where you are today? My career has not been a straight line. Sometimes I had to take a step back in order to take a jump forward. I started my career as an attorney and quickly realized that my head and heart just weren’t in it. So I took a side step and joined Unilever as an Assistant Brand Manager. I spent over 10 years at Unilever in a variety of marketing roles and went back after working at Viacom so I could pursue my passion of helping build purpose driven brands in the digital age. I had to take a step back to take a jump forward. When the call came from Weight Watchers, a brand that had made such a difference in my personal life years before, the opportunity was so exciting and overwhelming all at once. But, after spending time with my current CEO, I knew it was a risk worth taking. Tell us about what you are doing now. My focus areas over the last two years have been the strategy and execution of pivoting from Weight Watchers to WW, launching The Healthy Living Coalition in effort to unite business leadership and accelerate solutions that address global nutrition and food insecurity, and welcome key partners into the WW family such as Ciara Wilson and James Corden. Women often attribute much of their success to the support from the people they surround themselves with. How do you foster strong professional relationships as you grow in your career? For me, a relationship is a relationship and I find it hard to distinguish between professional and personal relationships. When I meet someone, if there is a real connection, I care about them as a person. And it’s easy for me to foster those relationships. Early in my career I relied on formal networking to widen my circle. Today, I have more informal get-togethers with people I have met throughout my career. My favorite right now? Virtual happy hour. What’s one way you’ve invested in yourself that’s had the most impact over the course of your career? What about within the past year? Nourishment of my mind, body and soul. Taking continuing education classes to keep learning, committing to a personal trainer at least 2x a week for my body, and planning exotic trips with my family to feed my soul. With COVID, my travel has of course been limited so I have committed to local travel and exploration in the woods around my house. I have invested in hiking boots, snow shoes and have started a 10,000 step daily challenge. If you drive by my house, sometimes you might see me walking up and down my driveway in the dark! How do you view work-life integration, especially now, and what advice can you share with others who may be struggling with it? “Do the best you can when you can”. Everyone’s lives are different right now. Some are raising young children at home without help, some are living alone and experiencing intense loneliness and some may be caring for elderly parents. As long as you get your job done, the hours are unimportant. Delivering is. Life comes first and it’s important to take care of yourself and those who need you. And it’s important that your team and your boss understand what your particular situation is. For me personally, as long as you get your job done, the hours are unimportant. Delivering is. Can you recall a situation where you've dealt with typecasting in the workplace? And what advice do you have for other women on how to overcome typecasting at work? As the Co-Founder of #SeeHer, I have been so focused on stereotyping. I have been stereotyped my entire life as I am a very emotional person. I like to confront this stereotype head on if I know I am walking into a situation where I have been stereotyped. In a nice, even funny way sometimes, but it shakes people out of their unconscious bias patterns and I believe has made a difference. What’s one tip you can share or something you’ve learned on how to handle salary negotiations or raises? I always ask myself “What is the worst thing that will happen?” They will say no. If you don't ask for what you want or what you feel you deserve, you will never get it. Many women still struggle with this so I try to make it a point to acknowledge and reward women on my team who deserve it but who maybe just haven’t gotten up the courage to ask. Who has helped you in your journey and how did they help shape your career? My mother was the first woman I saw who could be a wife, a mom and a successful businesswoman at a time when it wasn’t so acceptable for women. She always inspired me to follow my dreams and showed me you can have it all (just maybe not all at the same time). There are two other women that took tremendous risks in hiring me. Laura Klauberg hired me into her marketing team at Unilever when I was a lawyer, taught me how to be a caring empathetic leader, and is still one of my closest friends. My current boss, Mindy Grossman, also took a risk hiring me and has taught me never to settle for mediocrity and to always speak my truth. What’s the single best piece of advice you’ve ever received? “Being vulnerable does not mean you are weak, in fact it can actually be a superpower”. Being vulnerable and sharing my feelings and experiences has allowed me to gain and keep my teams trust, which in return makes me more effective as a leader. This has had a ripple effect, creating greater levels of communication and empowering teams to collaborate and innovate. What does success mean for you? Success for me means leaving this world just a little bit better when I leave than when I got here, from my family to my company to my community. If I can accomplish that, then I will have achieved success.