HEART Forward: Trust and transparency with Jamie McGoun

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"HEART Forward" brings Southern Glazer’s HEART Values — Honesty, Excellence, Agility, Respect, and Teamwork — to life through authentic stories from our people.

What does good leadership look like? It’s not always a steady climb. Sometimes, one aha moment can unlock a world of possibility. 

For our very first episode of "HEART Forward," Colleen kicks it off with Jamie McGoun, Vice President and General Sales Manager, who started at Southern Glazer’s as an administrative assistant and advanced into roles in data analysis, trade marketing, and commercial sales. Today, with more than 20 years in the industry, she is a leader for our Coastal-Pacific Wine & Spirits division, supporting Diageo and Moët Hennessy.

Jamie shares how honest feedback from a colleague ultimately shaped her career for the better. After a leader at Southern Glazer’s encouraged her to show up at work as her authentic self, she experienced a transformation, saying, “Quickly, everything shifted. I was getting better results, and my relationships became so much stronger.” Now, almost 14 years later, she aims to lead her team with the same level of transparency. Hit play on the episode above to hear more about Jamie’s career journey.

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"HEART Forward," hosted by Colleen Anderson, Vice President and Human Resources Business Partner, is a short-form series designed to bring Southern Glazer’s HEART Values to life through authentic employee stories. These values define how we serve our customers, collaborate with supplier partners, and support one another. Explore career opportunities at Southern Glazer’s today.

COLLEEN: Welcome to the Southern Glazer’s HEART Forward podcast, where our HEART Values come to life through the authentic stories of our people. Each episode features real experiences that show how honesty, excellence, agility, respect, and teamwork show up in everyday moments, and why they matter now more than ever.

I'm your host, Colleen Anderson, and I have the honor of serving as an HR leader here at Southern Glazer’s. Let's dive in and discover how leading with heart shapes a world-class culture as the heartbeat of how we lead, how we connect, and how we grow.

Hello, HEART Forward community. Today, we welcome Jamie McGoun. Jamie began as an administrative assistant at Glazer’s and advanced her roles of data analysis, trade marketing, and commercial sales. Today, she's a leader for Coastal-Pacific Wine & Spirits, supporting our Diageo and Moët Hennessy suppliers. She has a passion for this industry and a deep appreciation for her team.

Jamie will share her stories around leading with honesty, and it starts with learning how to show up as her authentic self and how her team showed up when she needed it most.

Jamie, welcome to the HEART Forward podcast. To start, will you share with our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do at Southern Glazer’s? 

JAMIE: I'm currently the Vice President and General Sales Manager for the Coastal-Pacific Division in Michigan for Southern Glazer’s. I have been with the company almost 14 years and in the industry for 22 years.

Over that time, I have had the opportunity to build a lot of longstanding relationships and friendships, which has been an amazing part of being in this industry. I also think it's a great industry to work in for opportunity. There's just so much going on with change and innovation. And I'm just, I really love that. 

COLLEEN: That's amazing. Amazing in terms of your, you know, 20-plus years experience and very excited to hear some of your stories today. So let's start with what is one HEART Value that has become especially meaningful to you over time and why? 

JAMIE: So the HEART Value that is very meaningful to me is honesty. The first HEART Value. I think that honesty is the foundation for everything that we do. It's the groundwork for how we speak to our teammates, our customers, and our supplier partners. I think it builds trust and respect and fosters really strong performance.

I think that open and honest dialogue really helps our teams feel empowered and included. And having honesty and leadership is something that I've personally been able to experience over my time here. I think it is so important when you have somebody who's willing to be transparent with you.

So I have a good example of this. When I first came into a leadership role here at Southern, I really thought I had to act a certain way. I was very firm. I was very direct. Honestly, probably a little standoffish, but I was copying what I had seen work for other leaders, you know, just emulating. like what I thought was a leader and equating that to being tough. I didn't think that just being myself, quite frankly, was enough.

So, you know, I put on this, I guess, act, if you will. But that totally backfired. Totally backfired. I wasn't getting the results I wanted. And I was very quickly labeled difficult and even hard to work with, which for me was so frustrating because I knew that's just not me, who I was.

So my leader at the time sat me down. We had to have a really open and honest conversation. I don't think it was easy necessarily for me to hear. I don't know that it's always easy. It was easy for them to communicate it to me, but it was much needed. And the whole purpose or point of the conversation really was, you know, you just need to be yourself. You just need to be the person that we hired to take this role instead of what is currently happening.

So, you know, that's a lot of transparency for me in a way that I just hadn't really been approached before. So it was such a simple idea of being yourself. But my leader took the time to you know, sit me down and tell me that. So, I mean, almost immediately, you know, I changed to just instead of being who I thought I should be and just showing up as me.

And I think, you know, quickly, everything shifted. I was getting better results and my relationships just became so much stronger. You know, they were actually authentic relationships instead of just being someone I wasn't. that one conversation with me probably shifted, you know, my career in a way, because it could have gone the opposite way if someone wasn't honest with me.

I have carried that with me throughout now all my time here. And I want to be and and try to be that person for everybody that I work with, you know, open, honest, transparent. They're always going to get the truth from me. And I really think that, you know, that example itself lends to the authenticity of the company. really who we are. 

COLLEEN: It's such a powerful story. Jamie, you talked about how honesty fosters empowerment and connectivity, and then even sharing your personal experience as showing up as yourself and that journey of even allowing yourself to do that and a manager that really spoke that into you and the positive impact that that had on not only you, but others around you and and your career.

It's such a powerful reminder of embracing your authentic self. And, you know, speaking of your leadership, you've had quite a journey. What's a moment when you saw heart in action and thought, this is why I love working here at Southern Glazer’s? 

JAMIE: So this is a personal story, but it is incredibly easy to articulate why I love working here. While I was in my second year at the company, my son, Jack, was born with a significant and rare heart defect. It took us out of state in order to get him the medical care that he needed, all while having to leave my two-year-old son at home hours away.

So it was just an incredibly emotional time for myself, for my entire family. And I think we knew that there was going to be a lot of unexpected on this journey.

What I did not expect was how the company rallied around me. I will really never forget how the local team to the state we were living in at that point, as well as Coastal-Pacific leadership, just really gave me a ton of support. They were responsive. They stepped in. They made a lot of space for me to be present with my family.

During that time, I received calls and messages and notes from so many people in the organization. And that's pretty amazing, right? I have only been here at that point two years. So that's, that's pretty new being within a company. So as a parent, I really felt like there was nothing more important at that point. than being present with my child. And I never felt like my job was in jeopardy.

And I think when you come in to a situation like that, that hopefully many people don't ever have to experience having the trust and care of a company to want to make sure that you feel appreciated and valued was a big deal for me, a big deal. So that experience alone has created a deep sense of loyalty in me.

I have told this story to many people because I think it really shows the fact that the values just aren't a piece of paper. It's not just on a website. It truly does come to life. I think the company truly lives its values. And it's really meaningful to me. It was meaningful to my family and just something that I'll never forget. 

COLLEEN: This story that you just shared with such openness and vulnerability to all of the listeners. Thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you for sharing Jack's story, your story as a as a working mom and really navigating the unexpected and unthinkable.

And it you know, what's inspiring is it reminds us why heart matters and the power of feeling supported by a team. And especially when you're working through a difficult season. And that's a powerful reminder because the individuals that are listening, we can imagine are dealing with maybe their own form of a Jack situation. 

And for those listening, just check in on your coworkers and rally around them with what they're walking out and show up. Right. Show up as a team and support each other through good times and through hard times.

So as we look ahead, Jamie, how do you see the HEART Values helping us grow stronger as a company? 

JAMIE: I believe that agility is really important right now. It is always important, but right now there is a sense of shift in the industry. We hear it, you know, in the industry news we read, we hear it from our supplier partners. There's just a lot of change and uncertain times, if you will. But I think being agile is really about embracing that change. And that can be hard. But business is always shifting, and we need to shift with it.

I think that when we're agile together, we grow together. I think it builds trust and teamwork because we can count on each other, even when the path really isn't clear. And tough times really bring out innovation and creativity. So it's just an opportunity, really, for us to grow stronger together when we're faced with uncertainty.

To me, being agile also isn't about being perfect, which I think is really important to note. It's about staying open and connected. You know, like we said, how we show up. It's about being resilient. And I think thoughtful about how we approach every day. It just, you know, isn't the same way of going to business day after day. It's really thinking about what that day is going to look like for us and how we're going to react to things as a team.

I think that mindset will really help us continue to grow the business and learn together. I do think while fluctuations in business can cause concern, like we've seen, being agile is a practice that will absolutely make us stronger. 

COLLEEN: You know, you talk about and so beautifully the pressures of today and the pressures of the unknown tomorrow and it presenting an opportunity to find ways to make us stronger. And, you know, that's really a rally cry to all of our listeners that acknowledging the pressures, but also acknowledging that there's a an opportunity that you can ask your leader, your team, you know, let's let's brainstorm some ideas. How do we get through this more connected and how do we do this in a stronger way?

So, Jamie, I just want to thank you for sharing your story and really your stories and sharing your heart in such a vulnerable and open way. And sometimes, you know, the most powerful stories are about moments when we lead as our true, authentic self, as we learn from you. And to everyone listening, let Jamie's path remind us that heart isn't just about a set of values, it's about showing up as your true self, it's about embracing change, and it's about showing up for one another.

Let heart guide your steps today, tomorrow, and every day forward. We hope these heartfelt stories spark a deeper understanding of who we are, what we stand for, and how we can change the world and show up every day. These values aren't just words. They're the compass guiding our decisions, our relationships, and our impact.

When you lead with heart, you win with heart. And together, we're building a stronger Southern Glazer’s. We're igniting a movement where purpose drives performance and every action reflects the values that define our culture and fuel our future forward, HEART Forward.

Follow along to learn more about our HEART Values and company culture at Southern Glazer’s.