Insight
When a Career Mistake Turns into a Breakthrough
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Stepping into a leadership role rarely follows a perfect plan. For Shonagh Primrose, Chief Operating Officer at Wylde Market, her entire career has been a testament to that. From science student to turnaround specialist to COO, her path was unpredictable, shaped by choices that looked risky or even wrong at first, but ultimately helped her thrive.
These reflections come from our conversation with Shonagh’s on The STOIX Podcast, where she explained how unplanned decisions, from leaving a PhD to turning down consultancy roles, ended up creating the biggest opportunities in her career.
Unplanned success
Some people plan every career move meticulously. Shonagh Primrose would tell you hers has been anything but planned. It was built on unexpected pivots and so-called mistakes that turned out to be the best decisions of her life. From abandoning a PhD to sailing around the world, Shonagh has followed a path that looks chaotic on paper but has built an incredible career in operations, transformation, and leadership.
When plans go off script
“It was completely unplanned right from the beginning.” Shonagh started out studying biology at university, envying those who had a clear path to become doctors or vets. She didn’t know what she wanted to do but fell into her studies and secured a PhD place. When the PhD was delayed by a year, it threw her plans off course. A graduate training scheme in a turnaround business appeared, which she thought would be just a year to pick up some business skills. But within two or three months, she was hooked. The PhD was abandoned, and she stayed. “I completely fell in love with it,” she explained.
“I had this big plan of what I was going to do. I’d worked really hard to get the PhD and that completely faltered. So I think that was the first sort of understanding that things don’t always go as planned and then it’s about deciding how you’re going to respond to that and move forward.” – Shonagh Primrose, COO at Wylde Market
Leaps that looked like failures
There were other bold moves that could have been labelled mistakes. Shonagh decided to sail around the world, then returned to find recruiters baffled by her CV. They told her to get a big name on her resume, so she took a job in a FTSE 100 business, planning for two years but staying seven. She described how she then turned down a consultancy offer, opting instead to start something with a friend. “Slightly unusual decision to walk away from that offer,” she admitted, but it gave her the chance to build something on her own terms.
Reframing what success looks like
Again and again, Shonagh’s plans went “awry.” The PhD fell through, a supposed two-year job turned into seven, and even her jump into consultancy felt unconventional. “Things don’t always go as planned, and it’s about deciding how you’re going to respond to that,” she shared. It was a theme across her story: what looked like detours ended up being the best parts of the journey.
A recruiter’s unexpected call brought her to run a business, which again felt like a chance she hadn’t strategised for but said yes to. Later, a friend’s startup offered advisory work, and soon asked her to join full-time as COO, where she has stayed ever since. “Weird and wonderful turns,” she laughed, summing up the winding road.
The joy of breadth over a defined path
One reason these leaps worked was Shonagh’s refusal to be pigeonholed. She never chose a single discipline. “Right from day one, I had this very holistic view of an organisation,” she said, describing the excitement of seeing how all the pieces fit together. Even when recruiters were confused by her broad skillset, she stuck with it. “In the middle of my career, I really struggled to find my place,” she recalled. But in senior roles, that broad experience became exactly what companies valued most.
“I’m not a maintainer,” she explained. “Don’t get me to maintain anything. If you’ve got a problem, I come alive with those words.”
Coaching and mentoring as a turning point
Alongside the “mistakes,” coaching played a huge role in helping Shonagh navigate transitions. “To have somebody who can really listen to me, who I can be vulnerable with, who I can share my challenges with, that’s been so helpful at those moments of transition.” Whether changing jobs or stepping into more senior roles, coaching and mentoring created space for Shonagh to work through what was next.
That experience inspired her to train as an executive coach herself, after seeing how transformational it could be. “Some of my proudest moments have been when I’ve seen teams really come together and deliver or seen a transformation in someone who was struggling at work,” she said. “To be part of that is just so satisfying and enjoyable.”
“I had an opportunity to go and join one of the big consultancy firms, and then thought, I want to do this myself. I want more autonomy. So I made the slightly unusual decision to walk away from that offer and set up with a friend of mine who was leaving a business at the same time. And we went out into the world together.” – Shonagh Primrose, COO at Wylde Market
Building trust by embracing vulnerability
As a leader, Shonagh believes that vulnerability has to start from the top. “You have to go really deep,” she explained. “This is who I am, this is what I’m great at, this is what I’m not so great at, and this is where I need help.” That honesty helps teams build trust so they feel safe enough to challenge each other and take bigger risks.
She’s seen how having those honest conversations makes teams stronger: “Once you’ve developed that, then it’s like, okay, what can we only do as a team? And then you go be brave, let’s do something big and ambitious.”
The power of diversity and tension
Diversity of thinking has been another constant lesson. Shonagh described how important it is to challenge yourself and your team with different perspectives. “There should be diversity because you can’t run a business all in one way,” she said. Hiring people who think differently, even if it creates a bit of tension, leads to better outcomes. “That ability to explore differences in a constructive way only gets you to a better answer.”
Whether on a board or in a startup, she believes those moments of healthy tension are what spark critical breakthroughs.
Why the ‘mistakes’ mattered
Looking back, Shonagh doesn’t see failures, she sees growth. “That PhD completely faltered,” she laughed, but it opened the door to a business career she loved. “I was probably the wild card,” she reflected, describing how taking jobs that seemed wrong on paper ended up making her the right person for bigger opportunities later.
And she still holds space for the unknown. Even now, she plans in five or ten-year horizons but always leaves the door ajar for surprises. “There’s always a bit of a chance for something from the left field to come out and take me by surprise,” she said.
Takeaways for leaders
Shonagh Primrose’s reflections offer powerful lessons for leaders navigating uncertainty:
- Unexpected paths can hold the greatest opportunities: A so-called mistake might become your biggest breakthrough.
- Breadth is valuable: Don’t be afraid to develop a holistic view of the business rather than specialising too narrowly.
- Coaching and mentoring transform careers: Create space to explore your next step with trusted support.
- Vulnerability builds trust: Share openly what you can do, and what you can’t.
- Diversity and challenge create stronger outcomes: Don’t shy away from tension or different points of view.
Listen to the episode of the STOIX Podcast
To hear Shonagh Primrose’s full conversation, watch the complete podcast episode here:
To connect with Shonagh or explore more of her experience and insights, head over to Shonagh’s LinkedIn profile.