5 Lessons Young Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Jacqueline Carlyle, The Star Of The Bold Type
As sweet as sugar, as scary as a sea, as buzzed as a bee, as stealth as a tiger…
I know that I jumbled the lyrics but that’s exactly Jacqueline Carlyle for you!
As a Boss, you have to wear different hats at work. Jacqueline sets us an example of how a leader should work during a neck biting deadline or pulling off a great event with a little-to-nothing budget left.
The Bold Type is set in the heart of New York. It revolves around three incredible, driven and passionate women, in their early twenties. Most hours were set within the glass doors of Scarlet, a magazine for women run by Jacqueline Carlyle — who has become the inspiration for many.
The show is inspired by the life of former “Cosmopolitan” editor-in-chief Joanna Coles.
You can manage a small 6 member team or run an MNC — being a boss is not a cakewalk.
But here are a few tips that Majestic Jacqueline Carlyle, played by Melora Hardin spills on team management, unbiased opinions, and putting your customers first any day.
1. Treat Your Team As A Family
We often find employers calling their team “Family” while achieving a target or celebrating huge milestones or launching a new product for which the whole team worked without realizing the setting and rising sun outside.
But this keeps Jacqueline apart — From raising a toast and saying, “To Scarlet” with that smile shimmering with glossy lipstick during the spring launch & digital revamp, to calming down Richard on his wedding day saying, “Richard, you’ve chosen to spend your life with a woman who told you exactly what she wants. That is not hard” — She has been a family to her teammates.
Also, when Kat was arrested for which she is not the reason, Jackie saved her.
Even if you can’t do this, you can pat your hardworking employees' shoulders, talk about their hobbies, life outside work, and wave at their kids if they peep in during the video calls.
2. Redraw That Blurring Line
There’s a thin line between personal and professional life — almost blurred in the pandemic world — which you can handle the Jackie way!
When Ian and Jacqueline were separating, she was going through the not-so-Jackie phase.
But when Oliver asks, “You okay?”, she misses her usual smile and killer look in her eyes, and said, “Yeah”, gasped,” I should be fine. I have a magazine to run.” and she gathered herself up to work on a kickass wedding-themed monthly issue for Scarlet while her wedding was falling apart. She did it like a queen.
Because Scarlet and her family are equally important to her.
Lesson? While working from home, you can put your personal life behind the laptop screen and also leave your 9–5 life at the work desk!
Don’t carry them either way, boss.
3. Be a Cheerleader & A Friend
I know it sounds idealistic but when Jane wrote her first political piece — Pay attention to the woman behind the clothes, Jacqueline said,
“Jane, you have this idea of the kind of writer you should be, but don’t let that keep you from the kind of writer you could be”
A short pep talk, appreciating individually, giving credits are the ways to keep your team’s spirit up. Always.
4. Trust Your Team — after all, you hired them!
Whenever Kat, Jane, Oliver, Alex, Sage, and Sutton come up with an unconventional idea, Jackie nods — BUT with a calculation. Being a boss doesn’t let you say “yes” to every crazy idea.
But, when you trust your team, you put their strengths before all the adversities.
5. Do What Is Right For The Audience And Not The Board
Every time Kat, Jane or Sutton pitch an idea to the rockstar, Jacqueline — she didn’t fear the board. She always chooses what is good for the readers of the Scarlet magazine and does not succumb to the men upstairs (the board).
So, as a boss, you can be with your team to choose what is best for the audience/customers. Let them plan/design/strategize/work for the customers and not say, “Boss wants it only this way”
Let your audience and data drive you — simple!
Because any employee wouldn’t want to let down a boss like Jaqueline Carlyle — When she was planning to say goodbye, Jane reminded her of the fearlessness she carries, which made way to the epic speech of the show!
A few episodes later, when the board fired her and replaced Pat as Editor-in-chief, the girls — Sutton, Kat, and Jane almost risked their careers and saved Jacqueline’s.
Because relationships at work are two-way streets. They can be beautiful!
As I write this at 1.28 AM, sitting on the floor of my living room, with my laptop in the most uncomfortable posture for the past 2 hours, I wish I could wake up and work at Scarlet in the morning!
Jackie is inspiring and every season brings a different side of her. If you’re a boss or aspiring to be one, which is the best lesson you can take from here?
