Nora Gomez has spent more than three decades shaping her approach to leadership from inside complex organizations. Now, the former Fortune 500 executive is drawing on those experiences to help other leaders become more intentional about how they lead and, ultimately, how their leadership is experienced by others.
Gomez, founder and CEO of Next Generation Growth (NG GROWTH), took the stage at the Women in Nationwide (WIN) luncheon during Nationwide Marketing Group’s Primetime in Nashville with a message that framed the afternoon: “Leadership is not what we intend; it’s what people experience.”
Rather than deliver a traditional keynote, Gomez led attendees through an interactive exercise to identify what she calls their “leadership signature.” She asked them to consider who influenced the way they lead, how their teams would describe them today, and what kind of leader they want to become.
The goal was to leave with the clarity, confidence, and courage to lead authentically rather than trying to become someone else’s version of a great leader.
Gomez developed that philosophy over a career that included leadership roles at The Limited, Victoria’s Secret, Toys R Us, and Pier 1 before taking her to NFM, where she spent seven years, hired from the outside as the first female Chief-level executive.
Today, through NG GROWTH, Gomez works with companies facing transformation and leaders considering what comes next. She describes part of that work as focusing on “human intelligence and making friends with AI.”
At the WIN luncheon, however, the emphasis was decidedly human.
Gomez asked attendees to think about the bosses who had influenced them. Some recalled kindness, patience, confidence and trust. Others remembered leaders who were dismissive, passive-aggressive, or simply didn’t listen.
Gomez recalled an early boss whose volatile response to disappointing sales results taught her a lesson that would shape her own leadership philosophy: “You cannot lead by fear.” Yet over time, that same leader became a valued mentor and trusted advisor, ultimately serving as a reference as Gomez pursued senior leadership opportunities.
Her point was that leadership isn’t shaped only by the people we admire. Difficult bosses and uncomfortable experiences can teach us just as much about what we choose not to carry forward.
Gomez then asked attendees to turn the mirror on themselves and consider how their teams would describe their leadership. She shared that a previous boss described her as pragmatic, and that is the preferred description when she describes herself. The word she believes others might use is “direct.”
That difference between how leaders see themselves and how others experience them matters, particularly as businesses and workplaces continue to change.
“The style that got you here, trust me, is not the style that’s going to get you there,” Gomez said.
Perhaps the best illustration of her leadership philosophy came from her years at NFM.
An employee on Gomez’s team believed he was ready for his dream promotion. Gomez knew he wasn’t. When he came into her office and told her he was ready for the position, she told him directly that he wasn’t — and explained that other senior leaders did not yet see him as ready.
Instead of ending the conversation there, Gomez helped him understand where that perception came from and what he needed to do to change it. They brought in an executive coach and developed a plan.
Twelve months later, he earned the promotion. A year after that, he earned NFM’s highest award.
For Gomez, it remains one of the most meaningful accomplishments of her seven years with the retailer.
“The numbers were not my proudest moment. Launching a brand was not my proudest moment. He was my proudest moment,” she said.
The story also illustrated the distinction Gomez makes between being a nice leader and a kind one. Being nice might mean avoiding an uncomfortable conversation. Being kind can mean telling someone what they need to hear — and then helping them succeed.
To bring the exercise together, Gomez asked attendees to define their own leadership signatures by considering what they stand for, what people can count on them for, and what they are choosing to leave behind. For Gomez, that means pragmatic leadership grounded in clarity, transparency, directness and kindness.
That message fit naturally with Women in Nationwide, which is designed to create opportunities for women throughout the Nationwide community to connect, learn from one another and grow. WIN has expanded those efforts with initiatives focused on networking, events, learning, content and storytelling.
By the end of the luncheon, Gomez had moved the conversation beyond traditional definitions of leadership. Her challenge was more personal: Understand what shaped you, recognize how others experience you, and decide what you want to carry forward.
Or, as Gomez put it much more simply:
“Go out and lead like you.”
For more information or to contact Nora, please go to www.nggrowth.com.
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