Helen Mitchell... Getting to know our leadership team
Getting to know our leadership team. Meet…
Helen Mitchell
Chief Strategy Officer, Istoria Group
1. Where were you born - and brought up?
I was born and brought up in Cheshire - in Altrincham, just south of Manchester.
2. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a teacher to start with, probably like a lot of kids who look up to their teachers, but then, from the day I saw the film ‘Working Girl’, I wanted to be a successful businesswoman, preferably with my own office and a dedicated secretary just outside the door! I watched that movie over and over and even started buying notebooks, pens and little folders to get into practice!
3. Tell us about the career journey that brought you to Istoria Group?
I went into the advertising industry when I started my career, working for a classic old-school agency in Manchester with a Creative Director and Copywriter team. True to the era, Friday afternoons were spent eating cake and going to the pub, often with clients in tow.
In my next role at much larger agency, I got to do many more things, such as large-scale campaigns including TV. I also discovered two key things I loved – strategy and the importance of data-driven insights. After working at another small Manchester agency, I began to feel restless and ended up moving to Bristol in 2008, immediately loving its creative-but-relaxed vibe. I worked for two more ad agencies across television, digital, branding and direct marketing before joining Istoria Group. I met Sam and Claire and it all just worked.
4. What do you most enjoy about your current role?
Strategy! I’ve always been fascinated by seeing how people relate to brands - what motivates them and makes them react in a certain way. I love the sense of joy when you get it right – experiencing that whole arc, starting from hard data to the final emotional uplift and seeing results have a real-life impact, feels fantastic.
5. What does a typical day look like for you?
My days are highly structured and compartmentalised, both as an executive and a mum. The youngest in the family wakes us around 5/5.30 and we go straight into the mad scramble for breakfast and school and nursery preparation, always with the news on in the background to absorb what’s going on in the world.
Once the children are gone, I catch up on what happened overnight at work and see if I need to react to anything immediately, before opening my ‘CEO of My Life’ notebook and setting my day’s main goals. I add in meetings and block out time for prep and actions, allocating future space for anything I can’t fit in. Once the plan is in place, I have a cup of tea and a still moment to focus before starting on the day’s tasks.
At the end of the day, family dominates once more. After reading, bathing and putting the kids to bed, there’s some short-but-precious personal leisure time. I might read, play netball, use my Peloton or watch TV.
6. Which part(s) of Istoria Group’s ethos are you most passionate about and why?
Balancing people with profit. I’ve always been passionate about the importance of good people and it’s one of the main reasons I joined Istoria Group. What we do is entirely based on that. Keeping your team feeling safe and secure, inspired and appreciated is absolutely key to good business. I’m always amazed by what people can achieve whilst balancing whatever’s going on in their real life.
7. What have been the biggest lessons of your career to date?
There have been three great lessons –
You can achieve anything with good people. Always employ those you think are better than you and who come up with things you might never have imagined.
Always get started. When there’s something challenging ahead, pick up a pen and write a skeleton plan. Procrastination is a killer.
There’s a solution to everything. When something’s not going right, it’s easy to slip into negative modes, but having enough experience of life to have perspective really helps. There’s always a solution and always a way to make things work out.
8. What drives and motivates you?
Loyalty. I’m a very loyal person, in life and in work, and I expect the same from others. Loyalty breeds trust and respect and is a very underrated attribute.
The desire to make things better also motivates me. I’m a natural people-pleaser, always thinking about how I can improve something or make someone happier.
Finally, the desire to breathe life into a good idea drives me. I love the energy spark that comes when a really entrepreneurial concept kicks in and takes form.
9. Do you have any tips for being a successful company leader?
Leadership is a privilege. It doesn’t mean you’re a big cheese. It’s about being humble and grateful and working on creating the most amazing team possible and being truly thankful for their hard work. Be at the ready to spot talent and recognise people not only for what they can do, but for what they are.
10. What kind of people do you most enjoy working with – both as colleagues and as clients?
Genuine people. Warm, straightforward people who’re driven to succeed but not by their egos. I like people with plenty of passion – there’s nothing wrong with emotion – and who are good at listening.
11. Do you have any mantras or quotes that inspire you in your work?
I have a few that I self-administer! It’s very important to recognise what kind of energy you’re bringing to each day and to aim appropriately. If you feel amazing, then ‘today’s the day’ is a good working mantra. If you have low energy, then ‘do what you can’ can be the best order of the day.
Nineteenth-century American pastor George Washington Burnap said something worth bearing in mind as a guiding principle: 'The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.'
12. Who do you personally admire in the wider world?
I’m inspired all the time by all those who come through adversity. And by people at work and my friends and family - there are too many to mention.
I’m inspired by my husband and his great attitude to life. He’s the definite yin to my yang. Where I worry about everything and am always thinking ‘What if?’, he’ll counter by saying ‘So what if it does?’
Further from home, I’m a huge admirer of the New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, not only for her leadership during Covid-19, but for her incredible achievements – becoming Prime Minister aged 37, having a baby whilst in office and being so real about it in the way she speaks. Also, for the way she handled the white supremacist terror attack in her country in March 2019, immediately calling for changes to the country’s gun laws.
13. Where would we find you at weekends?
Always outdoors. Usually at the coast at our caravan in Devon.
14. Name a book everyone should read?
I’m an avid reader, so it’s hard to choose one, but a short story I read recently – ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’ by Charlie Mackesy - is just beautiful. It reminds you of everything that’s important in life.
15. What future ambitions still burn for you?
I have plenty more to achieve at Istoria Group and would additionally like to work more with young entrepreneurs, helping contextualise and add wisdom to their great ideas and energy.
Helen Mitchell, Chief Strategy Officer, Istoria Group