Authenticity key to leadership, mentor says

The last time Tory Archbold was in Perth, she launched Megan Gale as the face of David Jones.

“That was over 20 years ago,” the business founder and former PR identity said.

Ms Archbold, who carved a successful career heading her own PR firm for more than two decades, spoke at a Mouve Real Estate lunch at Matilda Bay yesterday.

Fiveight chief executive Paige Walker, Brinkhaus Jewellers founder Doris Brinkhaus, Character Communications founding director Emma Scanlan, and Morrison founder Richard Poulson were among those attending the high-profile event.

In 2019, Ms Archbold closed her PR firm, following the launch of client Drew Barrymore's Flower Beauty, to start business support enterprise Powerful Steps.

Speaking for the first time in Perth since her business launched, Ms Archbold recalled some pivotal moments in her career that prompted her to ditch PR to pursue business mentorship.

It was a near-death experience in 2013 that was the catalyst for change.

“My 'aha' moment came like many women and men in the room, when you’re climbing the ladder of life, and you become the ultimate people pleaser, because you want to be the best at what you do,” she recalled.

“To lead you have to put in all of those crazy hours, you work those time zones, and you come home and you’re just exhausted and you get up and do it again.

“I was due on a flight to London a decade ago now, and I was hosting a big media event, and 72 hours beforehand I could feel that my body was giving way. I remember it took me an hour and a half to walk up the road to get a coffee.”

The next day, Ms Archbold felt her appendix rupture.

Paramedics needed to revive her several times in the ambulance, and when she got to hospital she was operated on at 2am and diagnosed with septicemia.

At the time, Ms Archbold was at the top of her game. With more than 20 staff in her business, she was working with multi-million-dollar brands including Seafolly, Nespresso and Jurlique.

She continued running her company, but knew something had to change.

“I had to learn how to live my life again, I had to learn what was important to me, who I wanted to surround myself with, but most importantly I had to prioritise myself,” Ms Archbold told the audience.

“I had 12 rounds of antibiotics, the surgeon told me it was going to be six months recovery, it ended up being two to three years.

“I hid behind a mask, I’d have hair and make-up teams come to my house, I’d be driven to meetings, I'd fall asleep in the car, I’d go in and perform. I’d win the world’s biggest brand accounts.”

Ms Archbold created frameworks to build businesses to be valued at $1 to $100 million plus, but was as she described it, “broken”.

“My aha moment was [asking] 'at what cost to yourself is it to be successful?'” she said.

Her advice to the dozens of businesspeople in the room was “don’t put yourself last on the list”.

“Make sure that whatever you do lights you up ... anchor your every move to your values, your integrity and your purpose and that's where the magic happens,” Ms Archbold said.

“Most importantly that’s where you find your power, and when you realise that you’re not alone in this world, you can ask for help.”

Ms Archbold highlighted a scenario where she worked with a South-East Asian executive during COVID, who attracted a greater following by exposing his vulnerabilities.

“He runs a multi-billion-dollar business … and has a licence to a lot of high-profile retail brands,” she said.

“He would always turn up completely polished … [but] … during COVID he actually got cancer, he had his stomach cut open.

“On LinkedIn … he took off his shirt, and showed all of these horrific cancer scars. Every week, he gave an update when he had team all around South-East Asia, every week, the following grew, the engagement grew.”

Ms Archbold added that her respect for this man grew as a result of seeing his authenticity, advising other businesspeople to show their true selves.  

“It’s so important to show your vulnerabilities, because we’re not bulletproof,” she said.

“I think that the more people understand who you are … the more people stay with you … which is the way you build great businesses and teams.”

Ms Archbold said her impression of Perth was that there was a high level of collaboration between competing businesses, which she found heartening.