Finding one's path by adding value
I met John when I was the Strategic and Media director at Siboney/FCB. He was one of the star salespeople for Univision. He lived in Philly but would come to New York often and his meetings would be the best meetings ever. No pushiness, 100% friendly, 100% informative, 100% engaging. Truly the kind of media partner everyone would want.
Decisive Moment – Walking into one of the early Univision meetings. Univision typically brought a lot of people to agency meetings. John’s decisive moment was when he realized that he was at his best when he added value –to the team, to the client—rather than try to elbow his way to the “front of the line”. And that proved to be the ticket, because one could always count on John to bring out the best of each meeting.
What changed? – Obviously, the U.S. Hispanic Market changed. Univision changed. But one change that really shook him was the first round of layoffs at Univision. That round, the first one of many to follow shook him because of its sheer scale. In John’s words “it was the first one that was painful to see”.
How did he cope? – “you just got stronger. You just got stronger and a little bit more each time, more and more and more and more more resilient. You build up armor, no?” So, John developed a method to become and stay more resilient: “Follow the clues. Number one, couldn't be more a direct of a clue than that. Number two, don't ignore the clues. And number three, come with a plan. And so, I walked into that boss with a plan. And I was the only one that remained as a result of that. So I learned always, always have a legit plan.”
John’s advice to a CEO or CMO considering an older candidate – Older workers with 25 to 30 years of successful experience have been trained and coached. “This is just me personally by some of the best in the world. One of the things that I've come to realize in corporations is this that the CEO CMO, right, can't be everywhere all the time. And so rather than turn it into a competitive thing where it's only I need the 30 year old, there's a knowledge, there's experience, there is the sense of being able to let go a little bit. It's not a question of being threatened. It's not a question of the sense that I want, know, and I'll speak for me personally.”
To older workers – “Remain teachable, remain current. Nobody wants to hear old war stories. What I would say is that it's the ability to bring your experience to present day that you also remain teachable. And, thirdly, appreciate younger talent because they have value too.”
Catch the entire podcast here: https://youtu.be/HMQpePUBEHQ
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