20 Questions With Louise Geller, Senior Director of Planning and Merchant Operations, Uncommon Goods

Louise Geller is the senior director of planning and merchant operations with Uncommon Goods. She’s also a Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) member! In this member spotlight, we asked Geller a series of questions about both her professional role and personal life, including the woman that inspires her, her leadership style, her advice for the next generation of female leaders, and much more.

1. What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
   I have a two-year-old, so most recently I’ve read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” approximately 15,000 times.
2. What’s a tip you have for productively leading a fully remote or hybrid team?
   I try to replicate chitchat in our remote workspace to keep people engaged with each other. When you work on site together everyone naturally talks about life, interests, etc. It can be very easy when working remotely to ONLY discuss work. As the boss, I make sure to proactively engage in “human talk” so that nobody thinks it’s frowned upon or seen as time wasting.
3. What’s a mistake you made early on in your career?
   Letting myself be taken advantage of by toxic bosses. I was uncomfortable self-advocating for a long time and it led to a lot of burnout.
4. What’s the toughest part of being in charge?
   Finding the balance between caring about people and caring about the business. I want to support everyone on my team, but I also need to support the needs of the business. When there are conflicts it can be heartbreaking.
5. What’s the best way you motivate team members?
   By being vulnerable and owning my own flaws and concerns. When we make a decision about how we’re going to approach something I will share the reasons I’m nervous about our approach and make it clear we’re all in it together.
6. What woman inspires you right now and why?
   “Barbie” recently opened, so I have to say Greta Gerwig. She delivered a beautiful balance of fun and truth-bombing.
7. What are you looking forward to the most for the industry over the next year?
   As a planner, I’m most looking forward to being far enough away from peak COVID-19 trends to feel more confident in establishing a new normal.
8. What’s one thing you look for when interviewing a job candidate?
   Often it’s how they got into the industry and why they stayed. So many of us fall into retail by accident, and at some point it’s where we are making our career. The question is whether that moment was an intentional choice or whether it was due to inertia.
9. What’s something that you learned about yourself in the past year?
   I can always adapt. I’ve been put in some uncomfortable and difficult situations both personally and professionally and found my way through.
10. What’s your favorite podcast?
    It’s not technically a podcast, but it’s “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” from NPR
11. What values are most important to you as a leader?
    Honesty, transparency and a sense of humor.
12. What’s the most important thing people should know about you?
    I’m always looking for an excuse to show you a picture of my son or my cats.
13. What practices or boundaries have you implemented in your personal life to create more work/life balance?
    Keeping app notifications off for work-related apps on my phone. I’ve also found that removing my work email app from its usual shortcut location during vacations really helps with the muscle memory of opening it.
14. How would you describe yourself in a single sentence?
    I can’t think of a single way to do this that doesn’t sound like a resume header!
15. What’s your favorite app?
    Right now it’s NYT Games
16. What do you do to recharge?
    Spend time with my family and pets, take naps or baths (or both!), and cook delicious meals
17. What’s your biggest accomplishment?
    Personally, of course it would be my son. Professionally, it would have to be the reinvention of my current team and department.
18. What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?
    Set your boundaries early and often.
19. What gets you up in the morning?
    I get up an hour earlier than my son and husband; that’s my quiet alone time for the day. Getting that quiet time motivates me more than sleeping in does!
20. What do you like most about being a member of Women in Retail Leadership Circle?
    Being reminded that I’m not alone in the challenges I’m experiencing