Meet Tina Cordes

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tina Cordes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tina, so great to have you sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our readers and so let’s jump right into one of our favorite topics – empathy. We think a lack of empathy is at the heart of so many issues the world is struggling with and so our hope is to contribute to an environment that fosters the development of empathy. Along those lines, we’d love to hear your thoughts around where your empathy comes from?

I have always felt a little out of step in the business world, especially working in digital agencies. I took the time to foster my feminine approach to being an entrepreneur thanks to Jennifer Ambrust and her Feminist Business School. She asks the question: can a business be feminist? But the more important question is how can it be feminist? She outlines the Feminine Economy which is grounded in an abundance (vs. scarcity) mindset.

This became a turning point in my career and helped me embrace empathy, generosity, collaboration and intuition as essential to being successful and fulfilled in my work.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

At the peak of my career, I decided to step out on my own. I had been working at renowned digital agencies, leading strategy teams, winning pitches, helping shape the direction of the companies. But I felt so burnt out and tired of fitting myself into an idea of what I should be.

I had ideas about what Ambeti would be, but over time it has taken on a life of its own. I call myself a strategic partner because I can step in and easily find ways to support the work that other people do — product, brand, comms strategy. I work with small design agencies who don’t have a strategy team or with larger agencies who have a very busy VP of strategy who needs someone to step in, take the reins and get the project done. Sometimes I work directly with companies and brands, but many times those folks are unfamiliar with the strategic process and don’t always see the value of strategy.

I can see the forest AND the trees. It’s fun to take an amorphous project, turn it into a set of deliverables and activities, and then dig in and do the actual work.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Curiosity is an essential skill for a strategist. Asking questions, even the obvious ones, always provides new perspectives. Some people say the strategist needs to be the smartest person in the room, I say they need to ask the smartest questions.

Synthesis is my superpower. I’m happiest when a client shares a folder of documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc for me to dig through. Doing qualitative one on one interviews are where the best strategic nuggets can be found. It just takes the time and patience to go through everything to be able to see the connections between all the pieces.

I believe being generative is an overlooked skill. Building on someone’s idea or thought makes it flourish, makes it stronger, gives it potential. I use “yes, and…” a lot.

The best advice that I was given and that I would give is ask forgiveness, not permission. Don’t wait for someone to tell you what to do or how to do it. Try things and share them and you’ll quickly learn what people find valuable.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

It’s hard to feel overwhelmed at work. And it’s incredibly vulnerable to admit to it. I’m horrible at it, but work on it.

My go-to strategy is to get away from my desk, walk the dogs, get outside, take a nap, sleep it off, whatever I can do to get some distance. Usually, I’ll have a flash of an idea and I use Google Recorder to talk through it because I can then transcribe it to a Google Doc.

And then when I’ve had a chance to reset, I make a to do list, prioritize it, and usually start by making something (anything!) that gets my “bad” ideas out, building off my notes from that Google Doc. Research and info gathering is centering. Talking through ideas sharpens my thinking and challenges me. Crafting presentations or deliverables helps me focus on the very essence of my strategy. And presenting ideas to teams or clients is cathartic. 🙂

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ambeti.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinacordes/