For retail strategist Melissa Gonzalez, purpose is found in a pivot.
Gonzalez, who is a principal at architecture, design, strategy and branding firm MG2, has released her second book, “The Purpose Pivot: How Dynamic Leaders Put Vulnerability and Intuition into Action,” featuring insights from more than 35 female executives across industries, including Emma Grede, Rebecca Minkoff, Tai Beauchamp and Mindy Grossman.
Gonzalez, who has worked with companies like Nordstrom and Victoria’s Secret, also hosts a podcast titled “The Purpose Pivot,” which has featured guests like HerMD’s Dr. Somi Javaid and Kroma’s Lisa Odenweller. Her first book “Pop-up Paradigm: How Brands Build Human Connections in a Digital Age,” explored the rise and significance of pop-ups.
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Gonzalez was inspired to write her second book after experiencing a medical emergency, which ultimately impacted her approach to her career and personal life. Gonzalez said she’d had a gut feeling something was wrong after experiencing ongoing symptoms. Upon being forced into emergency surgery, she knew she had to slow down and find a way to better balance her personal life and career. Through sharing her experience on social media, Gonzalez saw the demand for a book like “The Purpose Pivot,” given the response she received from females in particular.
“What stood out to me was…people also started to share their stories with me,” she said. “Most of them never shared because they didn’t want anybody to think they were weak. I thought, ‘Well, we have to dispel this point of view, because this is human.’ You actually become stronger through these moments we can share with each other.”
With this, Gonzalez interviewed women about their own experiences of hitting a wall whether it be due to mental health or a physical ailment to craft each chapter, centered around fostering a career, while maintaining a healthy personal life.
“It’s about reprioritizing, that well-being should sit with equal importance in your career journey and your leadership path,” Gonzalez said. “Those who have shared these stories, and it shifted their point of view, are more successful now, having had those learnings.”
In addition, Gonzalez said her experience taught her to reflect on and invest in moments of awe, such as a recent game night with her daughter. While these moments could be pushed aside to cram in more work, Gonzalez said they are crucial for showing up better.
Throughout her interviews, Gonzalez found a key similarity.
“When it came to health, a lot of them had the signals and the messages, and for them to hit a wall to be able to make change, begs the conversation ‘How do we get to a point where we don’t have to have this big crucible moment happen in order for us to step back and say, Could I do things different?’” Gonzalez said. “The hope is, by their openness, my openness, people can be more proactive in how they create change.”
To better engage readers and provide an opportunity for them to share their own experiences, the book includes a variety of worksheets and action items to learn to take stock of one’s week, delegate, to pause and reprioritize.
As she takes the book on the road, Gonzalez hopes readers will simply learn to pause and move forward with clear intentions.
“The reality is we all have varying degrees of these stories. It’s physical and mental wellness that is talked about in the book,” she said. “Mine was physical, but what stress does to our body and the ailments that it leads to and the things that we feel from a physical standpoint is often an aftermath of all the things that are happening internally. Finding more awareness of that is important, and how we speak to ourselves is a big part of that.”