Life Reimagined: Tammy Janes on Transformation & Letting Go

Tammy Janes spent nearly 15 years at Unilever, built a global transformation practice from a team of two to roughly 30 people, and then was told her role was being eliminated — not because she failed, but because she succeeded so completely that the organization no longer needed her. What do you do when doing your job well is the thing that ends it? And what does it take to rebuild, network from scratch, and lead a team through a redundancy you didn't choose — all at the same time? This is that story. In This Episode: How Tammy went from wanting to be a lawyer to spending six years in management consulting across three verticals — CPG, financial services, and pharma — before finding a home at Unilever for nearly 15 years, holding 10 or 11 different roles in that time What it actually felt like to tell her team their roles were being eliminated — and how she coached half of them into other positions inside the organization while processing her own exit at the same time The six-month sabbatical she took after Unilever: why she chose to stop, what she did with the time (a personal trainer, five books, and time with her then-toddler daughter), and why she says she would tell anyone going through the same thing to do the same Why networking is the one career investment Tammy says she neglected when she felt safe — and the specific coffee chat tip her career coach gave her that made every meeting less about asking and more about giving Her personal purpose statement developed through a full-day Unilever workshop: "To be perfect enough to raise the bar" — and what the "perfect enough" qualifier means for how she avoids analysis paralysis Why organizational transformation fails when it's either rushed (60 days) or too slow (endless meetings), and the phased, win-by-win approach she believes actually sticks Episode Highlights: 00:00 - Redundancy and Pivoting 00:19 - Podcast Premise 01:00 - Meet Tammy 01:41 - Law to Business Pivot 03:35 - Consulting Beginnings 05:28 - Choosing Unilever And Purpose 09:21 - Proudest Wins At Unilever 10:27 - Agile Ways Of Working 13:24 - Team Made Redundant 16:06 - Sabbatical and Networking 21:10 - Empathy Led Leadership 23:36 - Purpose and Motivation 26:28 - Transformation Advice 27:30 - Timelines That Stick 29:59 - Career Vision Flexibility 31:20 - Life Reimagined Mindset 33:06 - Impact Beyond The Job 34:21 - Gut Check Corporate Return 36:08 - Networking Anxiety Trust 45:12 - Energy Regeneration And Balance 50:56 - Learning Through Podcasting 52:30 - Questions After Layoffs 53:37 - Closing and Call to Action Resources Mentioned: Unilever — multinational consumer packaged goods company and Tammy's employer for nearly 15 years Sofina Foods — one of Canada's leading manufacturers of primary and further processed protein products and Tammy's current employer Leaders Eat Last, book by Simon Sinek Next Up — Toronto-based women's professional organization Schulich School of Business at York University — where Tammy completed her undergraduate business degree Knorr What's for Dinner campaign — in-store marketing campaign Tammy worked on during her Canadian trade marketing role at Unilever Dove Self-Esteem Program — Unilever's self-esteem workshops for young girls; Tammy delivered workshops in schools Paul Polman — referenced as Unilever CEO during Tammy's early years; credited with embedding purpose into the business Quotes: “ If you do your job well, you should make yourself redundant in the hope that you go onto the next thing. “ - Tammy Janes “ So I took about six months off, sabbatical, just took a break. You know, I figured I'm not gonna get this time back with my daughter. I got a personal trainer, I read five books. Like, it was just a good break that I needed.” - Tammy Janes “ Why is, why are we all so scared to talk about this when it happens to people all the time?” - Sarah Jeanneault “ A really good tip of just do some quick homework before you meet with the person. Find out what they're working o