From the Top of My Career to a Black Hole, and Back: Emma Sherlock on Joining the Family Business

Emma Sherlock had her own show on BBC Radio Cumbria. She'd been a journalist for the best part of two decades. She knew exactly who she was and what she was doing and she was very good at it. And then she walked into the family business and none of it counted. She went in as a very experienced journalist and a very green businesswoman. Made mistakes with people. Was quite strongly disliked. Felt physically sick going into work some days. And all of that landed during COVID, in a caravan on the land they were building on, with three kids, while making people redundant, dealing with a court case, and trying to keep other people's salaries alive when the whole sector had bombed out. It was, in her words, horrendously awful. It's taken her till now to talk about it without crying. But she kept going. Made the calls she had to make. Lived with the fallout. And learned, as she puts it, hard, sharp, steep lessons. These days the business is in its best years. The team is twelve people she genuinely loves. And she's chartered a yacht for the summer! This one's for anyone who's brilliant at what they do and terrified they might be getting the other stuff completely wrong. Listen if you... Feel like a fraud in a role you chose but didn't feel ready for Are making bold decisions and losing sleep wondering if you got them right Have ever been disliked for doing the right thing and found it harder than you expected Know you need to make a change in your team but can't face the fallout Are in the middle of something horrendously awful and need to know there's an other side Can't motivate the people around you the way you'd motivate yourself and don't know why Keywords career change, joining the family business, imposter syndrome, business owner burnout, people management, redundancy, leadership, self-doubt, reinvention, starting over, vulnerable leadership, entrepreneur overwhelm About Emma Emma Sherlock is co-director of Stan Sherlock Associates, a financial services firm based in Carlisle. LINKS: Book a coffee: https://cal.com/ben-hickman-reflectiv... Website: https://reflectiverebels.co.uk LinkedIn:   / benhickman109   Email: [email protected] Subscribe for more real stories of brave action. Life's too short to be sh*t.