2024 rolled up on us fast, and before I knew it an entire quarter had passed without us posting a new Drift. Like a pebble in my shoe, the choice of what to write about and how to break the drought was always present.
And then yesterday at 3:26 pm, on the shore of Lake Champlain staring at the dark side of the moon during totality, I found something truly worthy to share. What kept repeating in my head was. Tell them to start looking at it from the other side.
Our celestial moment has, of course, passed for now. No second bite at that apple for another 20-plus years. But we can all immediately start looking at our jobs, our goals, our relationships, the things we build and do from the other side of our careers.
Now in my mid-60s with 30 years in digital and 40 years in media and advertising, I see things through a different lens; a view that I wished I’d been able to access in my 20s, 30s and early 40s. On that side of one’s career it tends to be all about the striving, about what may be, what may come from it all. On this side, there’s a certain clarity about what has ultimately mattered, what and who have withstood the tests of time and circumstance.
To those on the other side of the career spectrum – and even for some closer to my own arc – here’s what it looks like from this side.
With every conversation and interaction with your peers, you are building your legacy – one way or another. Considering how you want to be truly remembered and valued years from now is a great way to make your choices today.
Own your intent and assume good intentions from others. Doing something just to win the point or to make someone else feel less than will never lead you to the best moves. Have an honest conversation with your inner voice.
Love the excellence over the victory. A successful sale, a monster quarter, even a killer IPO represent a handful of fleeting moments over a career. As victories go, they are transient and short-lived at best, pyrrhic at their worst. Excellence happens every day and the pride you take in your work – and the work of others – nourishes and sustains.
Your career is a network. Tend to its connections with care and generosity. While we must drive outcomes, we do not have to be transactional. Show up when you’re not expected. Put good stuff out onto your network not because of what will come back, but because it will make your whole ecosystem healthier.
Make the Choice. Be the change. Choose to be the teammate, the friend, the colleague, the mentor that you would like to have more of in your own future.
For exactly a year now, each day, without leaving home, we look into the faces of dozens of industry execs: we share meaningful phone calls with managers working to better lead and care for their teams. On a dime, and on a shoestring, we’ve pivoted into the fourth complete reinvention of our company. And we’ve spent this year on earth making a difference for good people. Who's luckier than we are?
The truth is, we’re still mostly interviewing the way we did in 2015 – and 2005 and 1995 – and it has nothing to do with the pandemic or Zoom. Our perspective on talent is compromised not because we are now hiring within the frame of a Zoom screen. It’s because we’ve always used a flawed lens to frame candidates.
The person you’re speaking to right now… the work in front of you… today… the next hour. These are the only reality we can truly impact. Look past them and you’ll lose the only resource that can never be replaced: The moment.
Without a disruptive strategy to get the January conversation, you’re just another player hanging around the rim waiting for a rebound. You deserve better. So grab the ball and take your shots.
A little more light, more vaccine being delivered, people sharing news of their vaccinations on social media. And even as the amount of light and hope spirals upward, we will simultaneously suffer through cold and storms and sadness. These things live together in winter, but in spring the light wins out. And Spring will come. Just stay focused on the light.
Now here we are, with vaccines rolling out and a sense that things are going to get better… but only in the spring. Here we are, facing winter. And we’re asking ourselves, what will it take? What will it take to keep spirits strong, to stay hopeful and resilient under the weight of COVID fatigue and Zoom burnout? It will take choices... good ones.
In today’s post, I’d like to invite you inside one of our Upstream Sales Workshops on Zoom and let you overhear some of what’s being taken away.
Nobody ever says I just wish I’d waited longer to change. I’m glad we didn’t.
It’s been said that learning is finding out what you already know. If you’ve been in a workshop with me, or if you’ve brought me in to work with your team, you’ve seen these themes play out. People speak in terms of being reminded of what works and confess I don’t know why I ever stopped doing that! The sense of déjà vu and reconnection with one’s own experience and values is an everyday thing. So what is it that you already know that I’m likely to remind you of?
Evidence is everywhere. But we only get what we look for. And when we examine it – thoughtfully, critically, unsentimentally – it tells us where we really stand… what needs to be done… how to move forward intentionally. We become better forecasters, better time managers, better teammates, better stewards of company resources – better sellers.
Empathy is the oxygen of your ecosystem. It sustains people and relationships and also acts as fuel for the fires of creativity, production and perseverance. You are A leader in this ecosystem, not THE leader. You'll lead by constantly referencing a very short list of recurring questions.
Right now, there’s an awful lot of showing up. There have been some immediate moves on diversity hiring, and a whole lot of public statements being made — including my own. But showing up is one thing: staying in is entirely another.