Being blind in business

“I didn’t do very well at school…it felt like something to endure rather than enjoy,” Liz Jackson shares candidly; an unexpected statement from a successful businesswoman bestowed with an MBE and honorary doctorate. “I left at 16 with very little to show for the experience!” Liz was born with an eye condition that made school challenging. “My tunnel vision made certain things tricky and I was pretty embarrassed of my condition; I wanted to hide it…I didn’t want to be treated differently.” Like the majority of teenagers, Liz focused on fitting in – blending in to the rebellious norm – and ignoring her ominous prognosis that she would eventually lose her sight. “Every time I went to the eye hospital the doctor would say, ‘You will go blind.’ But I wasn’t going blind, so I stopped believing them. I didn’t want to keep hearing a prognosis that wasn’t happening, so at 14 I stopped going.”

On leaving school in 1989, Liz worked in sales for a business as part of a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) – a vocational training programme introduced to help school leavers with job skills and work experience – where she worked for eight years, initially based in the UK, then moving to the American office. She found herself excelling, developing new skills and unearthing natural business acumen. It was also during these early years in her career that Liz was exposed to authentic and life-changing faith in Jesus. 

Liz grew up going to church, “but it was more of a traditional thing, not the main focus of our lives”. It was enlightening for Liz to meet Christians through work for whom their faith shaped everything. Initially, she appreciated her Christian colleagues’ authentic love and concern, their offers of prayer as she navigated the highs and lows of her late teens and early 20s. But while working in America she started attending church and made a commitment of her own. “I discovered a God who had called me, who had created a future for me…I knew that there was purpose and mission behind everything.”

All part of his plan

In these early days of a personal faith, Liz was able to lay a firm foundation of identity, trust and security – just before a cluster of life events occurred in her mid-20s. Within the space of a year, Liz launched her own marketing business, fell in love with the man who would become her husband and became blind – completely losing her eyesight over three months. “At the time I really felt that it was all part of God’s plan. And looking back now, I know it really was.” 

Liz took going blind in her stride. “I’d just learned this practice of prayer; every morning thanking Jesus for all his blessings on me. When you get to the end of a prayer like that, everything is in its place.” Liz seized life, embracing her natural optimism, genuinely overcome by the joy brought by her family and friends and the daily blessings of having all her needs met. “I remember someone saying to me at the time, ‘Liz, if you eat three times a day and you’ve got a roof over your head, you are in the top two per cent of the wealthiest people on the planet.’ I didn’t feel I had the right to feel anything but gratitude.”   

Reconciling daily tough business decisions with faith can be really hard

For Liz, becoming blind became, and has remained, a practical issue. “If you can’t drive, what do you do? If you can’t read paperwork, what do you do? If you can’t do a VAT return, what do you do?” It became a matter of problem solving – one that ultimately led, in part, to the growth of her fledgling business. “I think if I hadn’t lost my sight I would have had a poverty mindset to those first few years of my business – determined to do everything myself. But I had to delegate everything I wasn’t efficient at.” Through a government support scheme, Liz was able to employ a PA, releasing her to focus on the thing she was really good at – engaging with people. Naturally a people-person, Liz leaned into this gifting. “I focused on looking after clients, recruiting people, training people, infusing people…And I think as a blind person, you listen better. So perhaps my performance was better because I really listened to people…I focused on what I was good at, and it just made me a really whole person…I’m sure that’s why the business grew about 75 per cent a year for the first few years.”

In school, Liz’s eye condition was something she wanted to hide; in her 20s it became something she leaned into, it even became a USP for her business. “There weren’t many women running scale-up companies at that stage that grew at the rate mine did. There were definitely no blind ones! So we got tonnes of PR; I was much more memorable than my competitors, which, again, fuelled growth.”

Joy-driven

It’s tempting to assume that business success is driven by ambition, determination and sheer hard graft. But for Liz, the most significant motivator is joy. “I don’t think I’m particularly clever or anything like that. I just really love work. I love building things; putting one stone on another and seeing what can happen. I access everything through humans. And I just love listening to them describe their lives, their potential, their futures, their skill sets, their talents. And then seeing what happens when you bring those amazing human beings together; what gets built and what can be achieved! It’s so exciting.” 

I don’t think I’m particularly clever or anything like that. I just really love work

Liz joyfully and energetically built her marketing business for 17 years – during which time it was voted the top female-run company in the UK – before joining Initium Corporate Finance in 2015 as sales and marketing director. She acknowledges that there have been challenging seasons, especially during recessions and the pandemic, which required tough decisions regarding resizing and restructuring the company that inevitably impacted employees. “Reconciling daily tough business decisions with faith can be really hard. We’re asked to forgive 70 times seven – endless forgiveness – how does that translate into the workplace?” Liz leans into prayer to resolve these questions, which often don’t have simple answers, wrestling with her conscience and trusting the Holy Spirit to guide her. Ultimately, for Liz, success is knowing she’s in step with God’s purposes, doing what she can to give way to her own desires to further God’s kingdom.

The bigger picture

Liz believes that all the joys and challenges of her business journey are worth it; she sees her work as part of a bigger picture. “In a world where our politics is just so bewildering, there is something that the world of business can achieve. I believe business can have an impact.” Liz enthuses about entrepreneurs and the endless possibilities of their creative minds, constantly breathing new concepts, new ideas, new products, new energy into life. “I think business leaders will always create a way to make our nation great, despite the headwinds. I see that; that joining together, that collaboration. I see that courage…And it’s the author of creation – the ultimate creator – who enables it all to happen.” initium.com

Words by Jane Knoop