Leaders of Change: Anu Bliss

ANU BLISS is Director of eCommerce and a 17-year veteran at J&J who made the switch from traditional brick and mortar sales and shopper marketing to eCommerce approximately 4 years ago.

She enjoys carving out ambiguous roles in the organization and trying to make sense of them. She embraces change and encourages others to follow. She loves to turn strategy into practice.

And most importantly, she is a mom of two teenagers who always keep her honest!

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? I saw the future and clearly understood that we needed to evolve with no time to waste. I have a strong passion for not wanting to leave our workforce behind. I want companies like J&J to create a continuous learning culture to make that happen. The single best way to change behavior is to model it! If I can evolve, anyone can! I really love this quick video from Melinda Gates which demonstrates this concept. Take a look!

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? Having empathy and being a cheerleader and a champion for my eCommerce counterparts in our markets around the world. I have a loud voice, and I am not afraid to use it. We have very talented, hard-working folks who need efforts highlighted, replicated and scaled. When you work on eCommerce, you can often feel like you're yelling into a black hole with no one listening. 

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? Being willing to say “I don’t know” and not having all of the answers buttoned up on a beautiful slide. As well as building a culture of “lets try it.” This may not be weird, but it is unusual in this industry. If everyone is supposed to already know have the answer, then what are we doing here?

How have you most successfully influenced change within your organization (or with your clients)? 

• Ensuring equal investment for the Bricks & Clicks customers in some of our lead markets.
• Banging the drum around the value of the non-pure play businesses in order to get the masses to care.
• Telling people that the health of the in-store business is completely influenced by the investment of the online one.

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? A few years ago, I needed a way to communicate information to a sales organization. We are a large enterprise with many rules and regulations. It would have taken me months, if not longer, to get an intranet site up and running. Instead, I went out and bought a URL for about $35 which I charged to my corporate American Express Card. It stayed up for a few months, but soon enough our IT team found it and blocked it. Undeterred I spent another $35 and bought another one. It was also blocked. I learned a lot in the process around user experience and navigation, and so it was $70 well spent!

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? Exercise. It makes everything better. It makes me too tired to even worry about the small stuff, including what people think about me. 

What are you learning right now? I am trying to understand the basics of blockchain technology. I think that we should figure out how to get people certified within our organization so that like-minded people can help us find solutions for what plagues us.

Consumers are looking for transparency in ingredients, supply chain etc. I don’t know much yet, but do understand that there are many applications of the technology beyond cryptocurrency. Instead of just throwing around the buzzword around, I am looking for a simple way to explain it to others. I may not be smart enough to use it, but I am sure that I can find others who will apply it! 

What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today?

• Going the Distance by Cake

What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why?

1. How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman: This is my go-to wedding shower gift. People should know how to cook! Without being overly prescriptive, Mark provides baseline information on sauces, chicken, desserts and vegetarian dishes that can be customized any way you would possibly want! Ironically, I am incapable of following a recipe, so this guide really worked well for me.
2. Let’s Go Europe: I know this book is probably extinct now with TripAdvisor and the like, but my friends and I couldn’t have survived without it. Since the book was so huge we would leave the pages behind in each country as we had completed them to lighten our load. Every college student, if they have the opportunity, should spend time abroad. There is no other time in your life where you will have this kind of experience without responsibility weighing on you (i.e. mortgage, kids, rent, need I go on?)

If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why? Work is what you signed up for!

That one is from my dad. Any complaint about work throughout my career has been met with that from dad.  I am so fortunate to a) have the experiences that I do, b) meet and work with the people that I have and c) travel around the globe to understand how to solve problems and d) teach! As eCommerce leaders, there is a multitude of issues, obstacles and things to complain about. But aren’t we so lucky to have these problems to solve?

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce?

• eCommerce is not profitable, so let’s not focus on it.
• Why can’t we have 100% growth again this year?
• Let’s sell the same assortment everywhere and make sure that we have full distribution! (i.e. no channel strategy)
• We should buy vs. build and use agencies to complete all aspects of copy writing and brand stewardship.
• Not sure if this is just a fad.
• Move resources from eCommerce team to the discount/drug channel

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field? Be fearless AND empathetic.

Bring people along on the journey. It's not fast, and there is no getting around hard work.

I tell anyone who will listen that being an eCommerce champion and Leader of Change means being a marketer, a salesperson, an educator/ trainer and a therapist. We have to re-balance the resources and focus to meet the shoppers needs. If we don’t, we are doing a disservice to the shopper, the retail partner and ultimately to ourselves.

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? I think that brands without a meaningful service or ability to personalization attached will die. 

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? I bought a flashlight, batteries and a red t-shirt to fulfill my 13-year-old daughter’s camp list. It is WAY too easy to knock these odds and ends off a predetermined list provided by the camp. CPGs should take note!

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Leaders of Change is a weekly interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are driving the evolution of commerce, the consumer and everything in between. If you would like to recommend a Leader of Change for consideration, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.