Every career is filled with opportunities and pitfalls. It’s how one deals with adversity and success along the way that can mean the difference between moving up the ladder, making an impact or crashing and burning. Adweek reached out to leading industry executives who shared how they did it, navigating various points in their careers from mistakes to pivotal moments to the best advice they received on the path to success.
Margaret Johnson – Chief Creative Officer, Goodby Silverstein & Partners: “… this piece of advice came from Jeff Goodby: “Draw your inspiration from everywhere, but advertising—go to museums, watch documentary films, read comic books. Pull from lots of different places.”
Kelly Campbell – CMO, Hulu: “Take a seat at the table.” It was given to me firsthand by Sheryl Sandberg early in my career at Google. I was sharing a quarterly business review. I had prepared the slides and was planning to present the deck. However, when I walked into the room, most of the seats were taken by people more senior than me, so I hesitated. She waved me over and told me to take a seat. Later, in a one-on-one with her, she told me I earned a seat at the table, and I needed to take it without hesitation.”
Raja Rajamannar – Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Mastercard: “I joined a company, and early on, I wanted to showcase my brilliance and prove to the company that I can overdeliver results. But what I discovered is that that wasn’t getting me the kind of acceptance and kudos that I thought I would get. It’s much more about your relationships and the network that you build in the company. Once you have those two, people are more receptive to what you do otherwise.”
Josh Sapan – President, CEO, AMC Networks: “Worrying that zombies would have limited appeal with The Walking Dead. The truth is, great story and great characters can inhabit any genre or format.”
4 Pro Tips: 23 Industry Execs Share Their Secrets to Success. (2018, August 5). Adweek