The Invisible Mentor

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Here is the second part of the interview with Jenny Pickles who has worked in the publishing industry for 15 years. What are five great ideas from the interview, and which bits of the interview can you use?

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I have worked in the publishing industry since 1995, firstly at Emerald Group Publishing Ltd initially  in the Editorial department.  Here I was responsible for organizing the annual best paper awards for excellence and managing a suite of real estate and environmental scholarly journals. In 2000 I transferred to the Business Development department and took on responsibility for digital licensing, reprints and permissions.  Two years ago I was lucky enough to be offered the role of Associate Director of Global Rights at John Wiley & Sons in the UK. This involves responsibility for all secondary licensing of the many thousands of books and journals published by Wiley including translation rights, permissions and digital licensing.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Since moving to the south of the country to take up my new role my work/life balance has not been especially good, so I am working at building a new network of friends and areas of interest – a work in progress.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

Would like to spend more time with my family – I am sure most people would wish for that.  I try to visit as often as I can and they visit me, but this is definitely at the top of my to-do list after I retire and don’t have to juggle limited time and the need to earn a living.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Respect people and they will be more likely to respect you back. Listen to people, they often have interesting and important things to say that you can learn from, spend your money wisely but enjoy your life too, you only get one chance to get it right, aim to leave the world (or even just your workplace or community) in a better place than you found it, be kind and always try to see the other person’s point of view – I don’t always practice what I preach but I try to work at it – it definitely improves both the personal and business aspects of life.

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I like the theatre, music, and spend a great amount of my time immersed in a good book – usually thrillers, mysteries and I am not averse to a little supernatural element here and there, my particular favourites of the moment are Harlen Coben, Kathy Reichs, Dean Koontz, Diana Gabaldon,Tess Gerittsen and Andew Gross.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Talking to my colleagues over drinks or a good Thai meal always works for me. We usually come back to the office with lots of ideas.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

See mentor section above

How do you define success?

Fulfillment at a job well done or an achievement worked hard for.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

The willingness to work for it without stamping on others in the process.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Outlined above

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

As above

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Ah now that is a challenge in itself. Assuming they don’t all have to be alive now – if they do I will need to rethink –

1. Stephen Fry (who is), the English actor and comedian now also appearing more often in US programmes such as Bones,  because he is  so intelligent, witty and interesting and makes me laugh.
2. Richard III because I am curious to know if the portrayal of him by some historians and Shakespeare as such an out and out villain who killed his nephews in the Tower is actually true or what really happened.
3. Thomas Jefferson because I would like to hear more first-hand about how the ‘Founding Fathers’ came together, developed their ideas and justified the conflict between individual freedom and slavery.
4. Freddie Mercury, late great from man from Queen, who I miss since his untimely death and all the wonderful music that the world has foregone. I would love him to sing some of my favourites and maybe something new too.
5. Shakespeare to clear up the rumours  about whether he did actually write all of his plays and how he found his inspiration and ideas.

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Too many to mention.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

A survival book to teach me how to stay alive long enough to read my five books, Diana Gabalden’s Outlander series which is cheating really because there are about 7 volumes – having read them all I have gone back to the beginning to enjoy it all over again – I would describe it as the most romantic and enduring of historical novels with a supernatural/time travel twist. The characters are wonderful, the writing both funny and emotional.  Can’t think of any others off hand, just too numerous to mention.

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2 because of its stunningly beautiful melodies, how they change throughout the piece by featuring different instruments from the orchestra and the way it makes me feel – relaxed, invigorated and moved to tears all at the same time. If there is room on the CD to include Tchiakovsky’s Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty as well all the better. The Movie would be my 15^th Anniversary version of the musical version of Les Miserables – absolutely my all time favourite with such a beautiful score and a dashing Marius in Michael Ball.

If you cannot view the YouTube Video of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2 please click here.

If you cannot view the YouTube Video of  Tchiakovsky’s Swan Lake click here.

What excites you about life?

New opportunities

How do you nurture your soul?

With beautiful music, great novels and good friends

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

The good thing to wish for would be the rather clichés world peace but on a personal level a long life with good health in which to enjoy it.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I can spend time with my family, especially if that time is spent in a lovely sunny location with pool and great restaurants near-by.

What are to takeaways from the interview? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

Today I present the first part of the interview with Jenny Pickles who has worked in the publishing industry for 15 years. As usual, look for the nuggets of brilliance, and be open to the bits that you can apply to your unique situation.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I have worked in the publishing industry since 1995, firstly at Emerald Group Publishing Ltd initially  in the Editorial department.  Here I was responsible for organizing the annual best paper awards for excellence and managing a suite of real estate and environmental scholarly journals. In 2000 I transferred to the Business Development department and took on responsibility for digital licensing, reprints and permissions.  Two years ago I was lucky enough to be offered the role of Associate Director of Global Rights at John Wiley & Sons in the UK. This involves responsibility for all secondary licensing of the many thousands of books and journals published by Wiley including translation rights, permissions and digital licensing.

What’s a typical day like for you?

Dealing with the many emails from external and internal customers, working with my staff who are based in both Oxford and Chichester and with our Global Rights colleagues who are based around the world.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Working every day with talented, enthusiastic and committed staff always motivates me to try harder myself, lead by example, and fully support my team. I like to encourage their ideas for improving the business, our business processes, our service levels and our productivity.  Additionally in a digital age the way in which knowledge is created and disseminated is constantly changing and developing, the consequent demands and expectations of our customers grows exponentially and this constantly challenges us to find ways to meet those demands and expectations. The job is never boring.

If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I would probably have got into the publishing industry much sooner than I did. I took the job initially because it was available at a time that a grant funded role at Bradford University came to an end, not because I had a burning desire to get into publishing.  However, I quickly found that I loved the job, the constant challenges and the dynamics of publishing. I feel that I would know much more now if I had been aware of this when I was much younger.

What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

That partnering with respected organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Centre to develop an automated online permissions clearance service for our journals can not only vastly improve the service that we offer our customers and authors, but also cut down significantly on the time consuming manual elements of the job thus enhancing the Permissions team’s daily tasks and enabling them to spend more quality time evaluating the more complex and challenging requests we receive daily.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

Definitely the opportunities afforded to increase readership of our authors’ work through both developing e-books and other digital, audio and mobile products in-house and at the same time partnering with external specialists in these formats to license our titles for inclusion in these services.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

I would say the continued campaign for open access in the absence of viable alternative funding models, thus threatening the very industry which has provided refereed scholarship for centuries – we are trying to handle this issue by offering authors the option to pay an online open fee to make their final published refereed article’s openly accessible on our site. We are also planning to launch new entirely open access journals next year each of which will continue to receive the same rigorous review process to maintain quality, accuracy and high standards; the proliferation of piracy and online file sharing sites for which we are working with the Publishers Association, other industry groups and legal colleagues to tackle and thirdly, the proliferation of unauthorized, outdated and inaccurate information that the aforementioned can result in and which should not be relied on through casual searches on the internet.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Rights management and content licensing is not unique but it is important.  We publish a wide range of books and journals in the English language which are sold throughout the English speaking world. However many students and professionals around the world would not be able to benefit unless local publishers were able to translate and sell the books in their local markets.  The wide range of licenses and permissions requests to reuse published works negotiated daily, based on the rights granted to us by our authors, mean that the authors’ work get much more widely read and that they benefit from additional royalties from sales of their work in for example Russian or Spanish translation as well as primary sales in  English.  We are also able to negotiate special arrangements for developing countries to ensure that access is truly global.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

Can’t really comment

Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it.

We have been working on updating an internal IT system and this has involved selecting the most high priority issues and project managing these with IT and business colleagues  over the last year or so.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

Patience, patience, and more patience – and accepting that not everything can or maybe even should be automated.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

The owner of Emerald Group Publishing Ltd who agreed to allow be to participate in an in-house MBA program which was funded by the company. It was he who supported me and encouraged me to take as my dissertation the copyright implications of digital publishing – this in no small part contributed to the job I have now.

What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

In accepting the job I have now I had to relocate away from my family and friends – I love and appreciate the job but I do miss not seeing my family as much as I would like to.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

My family and having my children, I have one daughter and four sons who are the greatest joy in life; the support and encouragement I received from my late husband who pushed me into going back to university as a mature student to study for my Masters degree in history and politics and taking up the challenge of the in house MBA which was done alongside my daily job – the hardest and most challenging thing I have ever done but which taught me most about opportunities to grow and progress in the workplace.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Raising my family.

How did mentors influence your life?

By encouraging me to look at life and achievements differently.

What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Set your goals and be prepared to pay the price in advance – this is a mantra that I have always followed. The mentor was one of the directors and co-owners of Emerald at the time, Barrie Pettman, a self made millionaire and I always thought the statement made a lot of sense. The price you pay may be financial in terms of the fees for a particular course of study or training you need to undertake, it might be the time you have to be prepared to invest in learning new skills or gaining the required qualifications to get where you want to be, it might be what you have to personally forego in other areas of your life in order to spend that time, or it might be the effort of identifying who you need to seek out who may be willing to offer you further help and guidance. Whatever the price, you need to research what it is first and decide if you are prepared to pay that price, then just do it.

As an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

I would pass on the advise that was given to me,(above) to have confidence in yourself – if you truly want to achieve something in your life, find out what you need to do in order to achieve it and if you are prepared to expend that effort in planning and working hard at it you can achieve your goal.  Conversely, there is no shame in admitting defeat if, having evaluated the possibilities and challenges of a particular objective you decide that it is not for you after all.

What are to takeaways from the interview? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

Here are the ways in which seven very accomplished people succeeded in their careers. The interviews are very detailed, and important information often gets buried so I like to extract information for your benefit. I have deliberately not included the fields where these individuals excelled because the information can be transferred to any field. And innovation often occurs when information is taken from one area and applied to another. What are your thoughts?

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Steve Spalding

I made a lot of mistakes. It didn’t stop there though, in the wake of every failed idea or half-cocked project I tried to pull out that reason that everything went wrong. I think it’s OK to fail. I think that entrepreneurship of all stripes, especially in something as esoteric as the web, is about testing and iteration. That being said, I also think that all this embracing failure stuff only works if you understand the fact that you need to use your failures to make better decisions in the future.

Sometimes people listen to folks like me and get too comfortable failing. You should never be comfortable failing! I don’t want you to fail, ever if you can help it but most of us can’t and I want you to accept that and do your best to lose the fear, minimize failures and learn from the ones you can’t get away from.

Gina McAdam

Generally, I was never afraid to try something new and see where it would lead.  I didn’t have fixed ideas and notions about myself. When I did, I knocked on the right doors. But I was lucky always to have an orbit of good and wise people around me for support.

Deborah Koehler

Paying attention to where I spent my brain time.

David Gray

To be successful in my field one typically needs empathy, compassion, a conscientious work ethic and a background in HR. However, to be truly outstanding one additionally needs a great degree of life history in a variety of business settings as well as a high degree of intuitive and innovative intelligence in order to be able to work with people from numerous diverse backgrounds who are each struggling with very individual career and life challenges. In a word, one needs wisdom. And typically, that can only be accumulated over a long period of time after encountering a variety of challenging situations in one’s own career and life.

Michael McCleary

The big thing was really to make a decision that I was going to commit to my career choice and continue to pursue it even when times were tough.  By taking committed steps of action towards a goal, the path becomes clear, even when at first it doesn’t appear to be.

Lynn Kahle

Not so sure that I have but I do keep up and change the content of a course to be as relevant as possible.

Don Martelli

Good education. Staying grounded in my beliefs and vision for my future. Working with smart people that I can learn from. Helping others learn what I know.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Photo Credit: Google via Apture

Related Posts

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Steve Spalding Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Gina McAdam Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Deborah Koehler Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Michael McCleary Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Lynn Kahle Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Don Martelli Part 1, Part 2

Here is Part Two of Diana Gallo’s interview. I learn so much from each interview that I conduct, and this one is no different. After you’ve read both parts of the interview, what are your five takeaways? What information can you use right away. Pay attention to Diana’s advice to someone wanting to start out in her field. Even though the information is about social media, the advice is valid for any field.

There are many times in life when you see information that’s not related to your field so you devalue it, but never do that because you may find the next great idea for your business. I interview people from different walks of life to give you a breadth and depth of knowledge. Our journey together is to become smarter.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m very passionate about what I do which is a good thing. I am in the digital media space both interactive and social media. Outside of that, I love movies and music and I try to see as many films and attend as many concerts as I possibly can. While I am very independent and have difficulty asking for help which at times does work against me – and see career as very important, I love my boyfriend (who I live with) and respect and appreciate all his support. He, family and friends are very important to me. I love Toronto, though if I had to live anywhere else, New York City and London, England would be my choice, they are my two favourite cities, and would probably move in a heartbeat if the opportunity allowed it. My addictions would be coffee and magazines, I love reading magazines. I am a kid at heart and regardless of my age I try to keep that. I think people sometimes take things too seriously.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

A few years ago my dad fell really ill, he is feeling great now, but at the time it was one of the reasons that I had to say no to that trip to England. It made me realize the importance of not only family, but of taking care of yourself. Without your health you cannot do the things you want to do and from that, to never hold a grudge because you never know what can happen, and it might be too late for an apology.

I moved out a decade ago and refused to rent so I decided to buy right away not even having the funds to do it, but creatively found a way to do so. But what the experience taught me was true responsibility and it shaped me quickly. I grew up overnight.

The death of my grandfather was another event that helped to shape my life because he was my best friend. I was about 12 years old when he died. He told me stories and was always that person who I could lean on. He is the one that got me to love history. He had a way of teaching me how to stand up for myself without talking back to my parents. He was my “everything” and when he passed away it took a lot out of me. And it was also the first time that I dealt with death in a real way. I didn’t cry because I didn’t know how I was supposed to react to his death.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Part of what I do in my professional life is work in a social media space. When I’m at home, I continue that but on my personal profile. During the day it’s a way for me to communicate with end-users, our movie goers, but in the evening it’s the way I stay engaged with my friends.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

There was a period in my life when I didn’t appreciate what I had, and looking back I had it really good. I didn’t have the right to complain or feel as bitter as I did. So I regret not appreciating my accomplishments and the things that were happening around me as much as I should have.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. The best leaders are the ones who empower their team so they can perform their jobs successfully and give them opportunities to flourish
2. Appreciate every day as if it’s your last
3. Regardless of who the person is, don’t undermine them because everyone has something to offer
4. Don’t go to sleep angry because it could be your last
5. Listen and act on what you’ve heard

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I’m online, and in the last couple of years I have spent a lot of time catching up on my favourite television shows, and a lot of them happen to be either on Showcase or HBO. I also listen to a lot of music, watch a lot of movies and read a lot of magazines. A lot of these activities happen by myself, or with my boyfriend, or with friends and family

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I put on my iPod and listen to music and have a doodle pad. I don’t know if the music influences, inspires or triggers something. That for me is the best way for me to generate great ideas.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

It changes and part of what I do on Facebook is to change them according to how I feel. I think the one that I’ve got that’s been top of mind for a while now is “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it,” by Pablo Picasso. The first time that I read this quote I thought, don’t ever fear trying something new, it’s exciting to try something new because it’s the only way you can learn about what you don’t know because if you continuously do what you do best, the things you already know, are you really learning? And my favourite quotes change depending on the stage that I’m at in my life.

How do you define success?

You define success by what it means to you. Sometimes I define success because there are measurable metrics in place and if each one of these metrics is met, then success has happened. But most of time, even if those metrics are met, I ask myself if I did the best that I could have done, and it’s about how I feel. So if I feel really proud, and really good about what I did, for me that’s success on a personal front. If it’s a team effort, which a lot of times it is, if the people around me who worked on the project feel the same way, then that too is a success. I think it’s the measurable, and how I feel, and that could be very different from the measures themselves.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

In terms of defining success I believe in setting realistic goals and timelines, so if I want to achieve a goal, I want to make sure that it’s very realistic because I’ll disappoint myself if I don’t. Break down your goals into smaller components, so instead of achieving this one goal that seems impossible, which may or may not be, if you achieve each one component independently, all collectively for that end goal whatever that is, it makes for a better formula in terms of how to achieve success. I think a lot of the time what happens is that we try to attain something that is really impossible and if we think it’s impossible we start worrying about it and get overwhelmed and never meet it and are always disappointed. So I think sometimes it’s simply a matter of breaking it down and say I’m going to do this.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

A lot of it was really about understanding what’s happening in the field. I am immersed in what I’m preaching so I’m always in the social media and online space talking to people, reading articles to keep me on top of what’s happening and questioning the things that I don’t know.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

For anyone starting out in the social media space before they take the plunge and say, “I want to be a social media ‘something’,” they should participate in the space and see if it’s something that they really want to do. They have to really understand it because they are going to have to practice what they preach.

They should also speak to people at various level who are in that space, so they can talk to community managers who are posting and engaging with the users, speak to someone that’s doing the strategy for social media, and speak to people who are using social media in very different ways. They should speak to some people on a personal front, some on a professional front and it could even be someone in a not-for-profit, because for some people, social media is a way to raise awareness for a good cause. They have to really understand how social media can be used, then step back and see if it’s something that they are really interested in doing and at what capacity. And I think they won’t know until they have talked to people and immersed themselves into it.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Sorry if I sound shallow, but there are certain celebrities that I’d like to talk to. I’d like to speak to:

Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails

I’d say I love his music, but the big one for me would be how he feels about what he has done for the music industry. He said “FU” to the middleman, which is pretty much the music labels and said I’m going to reach my audience directly, I don’t need you to interfere and he engages with his audience and gives them what they want, and that’s what is making him so successful. I want to know when there was a turning point for him, when he said to himself,” I don’t need or want the music label, I want to give my audience access to my music, I want to engage with them because they are the ones who come to my concerts, the ones who are passionate about my music and I want to give them what they want.”

Johnny Depp

I love Johnny Depp as an actor, he is an amazing actor, but he has the knack for taking on really different roles and exceed at those roles regardless of how the movie does, so I’m curious about how he does that. I find that quite amazing and it shows talent and adaptability.

Martin Scorcese

I would say, thank you for making such fantastic films throughout the year – and continue to do so. Your passion, dedication and talent are obvious in all your pictures; it’s no wonder every actor wants to work with you. Tell me something: what drives that passion and what is it about Leonardo that makes you want to work with him every time?

Steve Jobs

For Steve Jobs, I’d say, with all the success you’ve had to date – yeah with some hiccups along the way – the innovation seen in the products launched, and so on, what is it that keeps driving you, Apple, to develop the products you do? I would like to believe that as a multi-millionaire, it isn’t all about the money.

Ivanka Trump

A great role model for young business women. You might be thinking why, i.e. she was born into money etc. Well, she is a smart business woman who has proven that she can run a business, has the drive and smarts to do so, without always depending on her dad, Donald.

Let’s face it, she may have it easier than you and I, but she could have just chosen the path to do nothing and just enjoy the family riches Iike Paris Hilton and others. You don’t see her name on tabloids, entertainment gossip shows. If there is one ‘celebrity’ that a young woman wanting to get into business should look at, I would say she’s one.

I would ask her the following:

• I believe she wrote a book for young women starting out and wanting to succeed – how is the book doing, why did you decide to write it and have you received any feedback from readers – both positive or negative?

• Are your business smarts, drive all a product of her DNA, who she was born to and upbringing or is this something she really is interested in, something she wanted to do.

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, which is a fantastic book that really makes you think about change and how it can happen so quickly and unexpectedly. Gladwell talks about social epidemics and then goes into explaining these. Another one is Anthem by Ayn Rand which was about not losing sight of individuality, and that the collective is not necessarily the best way to go. You as an individual should not be dominated by the collective thought. This was an amazing book which really impacted me and I’m a big believer in you as an individual first and foremost. And I don not mean this in the context of working in teams, I’m talking about collective thought versus you as an individual having your own thought. You can be persuaded by others, you can agree with others, but you should have your own thought.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

1. Anthem, Ayn Rand
2. Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger
3. Touching From a Distance, Deborah Curtis
4. Any edition of Calvin and Hobbes

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

The music CD would be Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads and the movie would be Say Anything.

YouTube Video of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand

If you cannot view the YouTube Video of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds click here.

YouTube Video Say Anything Movie Trailer

If you cannot view YouTube Video Say Anything Movie Trailer click here.

What excites you about life?

What keeps me excited about life is just learning. There is so much that I could still be doing, and there is so much that others could be doing, and that is exciting for me knowing that there is so much out there. I get off by seeing people happy and I mean genuinely happy, not just being content and settling.

How do you nurture your soul?

It’s sitting back, reading and listening to music. I can’t stress enough how important music is to me.

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

If I had one wish, there are a bunch of kids at Sick Kids Hospital who might die within one week, or they may have three months, but it’s not a long life and my wish is to grant them their wishes.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m happy when I accomplish things. Happiness is contagious, so when I see someone happy, I’m happy even if I do not know why they’re happy.

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

All book links are affiliate links.

“I love every day, ” says Diana Gallo, this week’s interviewee. How many of us can make that declaration and mean it? This week’s interview is filled with many morsels to chew on, so get chewing!

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m very passionate about what I do which is a good thing. I am in the digital media space both interactive and social media. Outside of that, I love movies and music and I try to see as many films and attend as many concerts as I possibly can. While I am very independent and have difficulty asking for help which at times does work against me – and see career as very important, I love my boyfriend (who I live with) and respect and appreciate all his support. He, family and friends are very important to me. I love Toronto, though if I had to live anywhere else, New York City and London, England would be my choice, they are my two favourite cities, and would probably move in a heartbeat if the opportunity allowed it. My addictions would be coffee and magazines, I love reading magazines. I am a kid at heart and regardless of my age I try to keep that. I think people sometimes take things too seriously.

What’s a typical day like for you?

I get up pretty early, before 6:00 am, and my day starts with brewing coffee. I check my email, Facebook, Twitter and see what my day is going to look like, personal and at work. Most of the time when I am at work, I am in a lot of meetings, and when I am not in meetings, I am responding to emails and putting plans in place so we can execute campaigns. I work with a lot of people here at Cineplex and externally. I’m on Facebook and Twitter throughout the day as well, less personal because it’s a part of my job. I walk home, and when I get there at about 7:00, 7:30 pm, I make dinner and watch TV, more than I have in the past. I think that’s the fault of good programming, and in tandem I’m on the computer. It’s not overly exciting but when I can, I try to squeeze in a movie or a concert.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I motivate myself! It’s great when I accomplish something but I always want to do more. With my upbringing it was always about you doing, yeah you got a B but let’s strive for that A. So that becomes part of my every day, for good or for bad. I push myself more than anybody else. I don’t know if it’s my upbringing, but I love life. I see every day how short life can be for some people that I want to take advantage of every hour in the day. But I also motivate myself through the stories of other people, and what they do, and I see how excited I get. I don’t necessarily mean fictional people or people in books. They could also be friends, or colleagues.

If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I would put myself and my best interests first. When I was growing up I always wanted to help others and often forgot about myself. In doing so, sometimes you do damage to yourself and if you are not at 100 percent, physically, mentally, there is no way you can help others, so for me it’s about taking care of yourself. This is one thing that I’ve learned and I learned it the hard way. Another is to really trust your instincts and don’t let people walk all over you. If there is one thing that I would teach kids it would be that, and I don’t mean that you have to be rude to others, but you can’t let people step all over you.

What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

In terms of business, I don’t know if it’s a real discovery but in the last year a lot of people have been saying that an executive team resists any kind of change within an organization. And while that may be true, I think sometimes it’s because of how they are communicated to. Is the information being presented in a way that’s relevant to them? What I’ve learned, and it doesn’t mean that I spoon feed them what they want to hear, but a lot of time it really is about education. Just because someone is a VP or CEO of a company doesn’t necessarily mean that they know or understand what it is you are trying to sell them on. Sometimes it’s going down to the basics and helping them to understand that, and I think a lot of people really appreciate that.

I don’t think that every CEO is stuck up and think that they know everything. The big thing for me was getting my point of view across, and saying this is the way I see it. This style has helped to break a lot of ice here at work, and we have been able to get projects through that normally wouldn’t get through. It’s really valuing the point of view of people who are not in say a VP or CEO position.

I think another discovery which is a bit of personal and business is that – and it only came after the fact – a long time ago, maybe in 2000, when I was working at Sympatico, at the time there were forums and chat rooms, and instant messaging was big and those were the things that I was working on and it wasn’t called social media or Web 2.0. I remember talking to someone about it at the time who was my best friend, and he was really putting it down and saying it was a fad. So I said maybe it was a fad, but somehow it’s lasted so many years. Last year I found out that they are in the social media space. And for me it’s, is this person being a hypocrite? I don’t know, but in terms of me and the discovery, it’s back to trust my instincts and keep grounded so if there is something that you believe in and you truly believe that it is something, then don’t stop believing in it because someone disagrees with you.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

In terms of entertainment, the biggest advance in the last year has been 3-D, the number of movies developed in that format, and the number of people going out to see a film in 3-D and praising it. There has been some negative comments but overall people get excited about seeing movies in 3-D and don’t necessarily mind paying the extra fee for it. 3-D, IMAX has been huge success for us for 2010 so far. We continuously promote the value of watching movies in 3-D and what you can get out of a 3-D film. That could include special promotions, such as giving movie goers a free upgrade. 3-D is here to stay because studios are producing more and more films in 3-D format. We work on that success and get people excited about seeing films in 3-D. Sometime the product is not great but the experience in seeing the film in 3-D can make up for that and that’s how you balance the two.

If we look at advances in entertainment and social media, I think a lot more entertainment companies have embraced social media last year than prior to.  I think some of it happened because they had no choice because social media was happening a lot faster that the entertainment industry was going to embrace it, so I think they said, “We can’t catch up so let’s embrace it now and do the best we can.”  That includes things like sticking your brand out in the social media space and word-of-mouth can kill it, and it’s proven. It has happened where bad word-of-mouth has resulted in poor opening box office numbers, when it was otherwise projected to have higher numbers. The impact of social media on entertainment and film format in entertainment, in theatre and at home has been the biggest advance in the last year.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

For entertainment it’s the downloading of movies. The business that I am in is exhibitor, which is in theatre and the DVD side of things. So the biggest threat for both sides of the business is the downloading of movies. Personally I do not see it as a threat because it’s a way for people to become familiar with the movie then purchase it. To handle the downloading of movies, you have to accept that it’s going to happen and you can’t control or stop it. Instead what you have to do is offer people an experience they cannot get through downloaded products, knowing that there still will be people who download the product. This could be done by improving the in-theatre experience through the food they offer at the concession stand, the seat they sit on, and incentives to go to a theatre to watch a movie. With the DVD store you can also do things there to enhance the experience.

Another threat comes down to bad products, and as an exhibitor you can’t control what the product is going to be, that’s up to the studio, and unfortunately you’re their mercy. If you have a year filled with bad products, than can result in poor box office numbers at your theatre.  We can’t control bad products, it is what it is, but what I can work on is the online component. Even if you have bad products you can still engage the movie goers online and in the theatres and you can talk about other products that are coming down the pipeline.

For social media the biggest threat is that you are putting your brand out there and you are relinquishing control of that brand. We put ourselves into this social media space. For us it means relinquishing control of our brand because people will talk about us whether we are there or not. What do you do? For me it’s really just talking to the end users and engaging with them. Sometimes they have something to say and you do not agree with them but that’s okay, so it’s a matter of welcoming all feedback. From the feedback we’ve been getting I can say without a doubt that our fans are very appreciative of that.

Another threat is privacy. How do you get people to not be overly concerned about privacy and remove themselves from social networks? You have to be authentic and transparent within these communities.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I came to Cineplex as someone who really understands the social media and digital online space so I’ve become the advocate at the company. It’s about setting the strategy for it, educating everybody here about the benefits of social media, how to use it and how to make it transparent. It’s about showing the different departments in the company how social media can work for them, so that what’s unique about my service because I’m the only one in this space.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

The big one is not listening, so I think for some people it’s pushing information into the social media space and not listening to what the end user is saying, or any dialogue that’s happening. For us, it’s first and foremost about the dialogue and getting back to the end user, so if they raise a concern and we do not have an answer, we are honest with them and say we do not know but let me find someone who has an answer for you, so they understand that we’re looking into it. It may take a day or three days but there is someone who is listening. And whether they say good things or bad things, we’ll always respond and acknowledge the end user. So for instance, let’s say an end user catches an error on our website, we get back to them and give kudos for finding it. That’s something we do really well here and our end users are very important to us and we show them by engaging with them in the way they want to be engaged.

Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it.

A challenge was managing and mentoring someone who prior to being on my team was feeling they weren’t being heard, very devalued, unmotivated, and that their position was stagnant. How do you take someone from that place and quickly get them to where you need them to be because you need them as another resource?

I’m a big believer in being honest and frank with people so it was as simple as having a conversation outside the four walls and finding out what didn’t work before, how they wanted to be managed, what they wanted to do in the organization, and what they were looking for. It was about so this isn’t working, here are possible reasons why it isn’t working, and how are going to fix this.

I presented the situation as, if you ever have a problem, if there is anything that you are doubtful about, you have to tell me and there is no need to beat around the bush. If there is something that I’m doing wrong I want to hear criticisms because I’m here to better myself as well. The approach of being honest, upfront and understanding the person, how they work and need to grow works for me. I’m a big believer that each person needs to be managed differently depending on who they are, and how they perform best. Some people need to be micro-managed, others don’t, some people like clear cut directions, others need a couple bullet points and they can run with the project.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

• Be honest with people.
• Understand the different dynamics within a corporation, and even within a team and work with it. It is about adapting, and you cannot be rigid and manage a team because not every person on a team is going to want to be managed the same way and you have to work around that.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

I don’t know that there was necessarily one person who gave me a big break. I worked very hard to get the jobs that I’ve had regardless of what level I was at in those jobs. It was full-time work to secure those jobs. In terms of getting into the social media space, that was a little bit through the Canadian Women in Communications in the sense that it opened up contacts that I reached out to and asked if I could have a 10 minutes meeting with them to understand what they really did. I was very selective of the people I reached out to, not necessarily because of who they were, but because of the areas that they worked in. I knew that I wanted to stay in the online space and sort of revisit where I started with forums and chat rooms. I didn’t know what the role was so I was going in blindly. Through these different people they helped to shape what the role would look like, and then from there I started doing searches based on that. I got my break at Alliance in the social media space 10 years after I started. I had a great interview, the dynamics were great. I was quite honest about what I wanted. I understood the space because of past experience and it happened fairly quickly.

Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

I don’t know if this is considered a failure but there was a period when I was always in the online space. My first job wasn’t necessarily online, it was in entertainment but all the other jobs had some online component. There was an opportunity for me to do a producer/print role so I thought I’d try it because I’ve never done it before. That was a big mistake. While I learned a lot, I also learned that I didn’t want to do it for a long period of time. I wasn’t happy and it drove me to the ground and it ended up being a short stay as a result, which meant there was a period of time that I wasn’t working. But that was the best thing for me because it gave me the opportunity to discover where I belonged and wanted to be and that time was what I needed to land the role that I now have.

What has been your biggest disappointment in your life – and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?

On a personal level, and I can only say this after the fact, the biggest disappointment was investing so much into a friendship, emotionally, financially and at a business level to only get to a point where it ended very badly. All the signs were there but I chose to ignore them. At the end I was very disappointed because there were a number of people along the way that I drifted away from because of this. It was hard to look at a bright side when you look back in retrospect and see all that you’ve done, the people you’ve hurt, and the business relationships it impacted along the way.

What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

For the longest time I wanted to work in London, England. I felt like I needed to get myself there. I went there for vacation and partly to see if I could find a job, and I did. I went to the interview, the entire process, came back to Canada and they wanted me. But something happened and I had to say no. I was disheartened because for 10 years this was what I wanted to do. It was presented to me and I could do it but I couldn’t. It was tough for me to say no because I worked so hard to get that opportunity, but that meant that I had to stay in Toronto which was fine. On a more personal level I got to see my nephew being born here in Toronto, seeing him grow up, and it’s where I met my current boyfriend. There were good things that came out of it but immediately I was quite disappointed and it was the toughest decision that I ever had to make.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

It’s two accomplishments combined into one. I think it was the role of creating two large communities, one on a broadcaster site and the other on an entertainment site at a time when there were no communities at all. It was sort of there but no business wanted to dive into it even remotely. Both communities ended up being very successful and they lasted for about a year, and that was only because of things outside of my control and other members involved in the project.

How did mentors influence your life?

It’s really about appreciating the value of what you love to do and what you’re passionate about. There is a part of your life where you do what you have to do to get to where you need to get to. Or you do what you have to do because of the bills that you have to pay, but there comes a time in your life when you no longer need to do that and it’s really about chasing after what you are passionate about. It makes the day go by faster and every day is a good day, even if you are having bad moments during that day. That’s one thing that mentors taught me, and I took it from the business into the personal realm and if you do what you’re passionate about it shapes you as a person and people can see that. For me it made me a better and more rounded person because I wasn’t disgruntled or pissed off about anything. Anytime I feel like I’m not passionate about what I do, mentors re-iterate that it’s time to leave.

What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Be as passionate as you can about what you are doing, and if you ever get to that point where you’re no longer passionate, look for other opportunities. You do not want to have all that negativity that you experience during the day to impact you in the evening.

As an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

It’s okay not to know the answer to something regardless of what position you’re in, and never stop or fear to ask questions.

What are 5 takeaways? What ideas can you adapt immediately? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

I have taken the answers to specific questions from Kevin Shea’s, Carrie Katz’s and Lois Fallis’ interview and presented them so you can compare and contrast. I will do this today and tomorrow and next week I will present another Invisible Mentor interview. Think of the questions below while you are reading the blog post.

1. How does the information relate to your work and life?
2. What are five takeaways?
3. What qualities do you have that are similar to the interviewees?
4. How will those qualities aid your success?

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Kevin Shea

I was born in Montreal, and my family moved to Los Angeles when I was nine months old, and I’d like to say it was because I was having difficulty with two languages. My parents moved back to Canada, to Toronto when I was about 10. I grew up in Toronto and was involved as an actor when I was a kid and was always connected to the broadcasting television business. I knew that was the business that I wanted to get into. I went to York University and studied history, I’m not sure why I did that. After university I started my career in the cable industry.

Many years later I am now running my own company SheaChez Communications, have been for the past five years. I get involved in various start-up companies where I assist them with CRTC licensing applications, which is a role I did with Sirius Satellite Radio. And I sit on a variety of different boards of private companies and I am chairman of what’s called the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Carrie Katz

When I lived in Montreal I was always involved in community affairs. From when I was a child my mother would take me when she went from door-to-door under the heading of UJA requesting money for the poor. My mother has three children, and for some reason, I’m the one that that resonated with. So from a young child I was always involved in something in the community. As a young mother I started the Montreal Career Women’s Network in 1984. At the time, there weren’t any similar services of its kind. In Quebec it was more difficult to get it going because of the line between French Quebecois and the Anglophones, so that was a lot of work, but it was fantastic how we brought the two groups together. The Network is still operating today so I am very proud of that.

I also started a successful business with a friend called Origami Plus which operated for 19 years until it closed in 2009. Origami Plus was synonymous with people who were interested in paper. It was the first paper store that people could come in and do creative things, like make invitations, anything that had to do with paper.

I moved to Toronto and once again became involved in community work. For me, I think it’s my essence, it helps me to feel like I’m participating in the world.

Lois Fallis

We had quite a large family, and this was after the Second World War (World War II), and many people were having large families at that point. I was one of two children, and my brother was killed in the Second World War so I became an only child in a way. I had a great deal of music instruction in my life because my mom was an organist and choir leader, and I had singing and piano lessons from her. As I became older I developed that, and one of my major jobs in life was being a musician. I have six children, three boys and three girls.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Kevin Shea

My big break came when Phil Lind at Rogers hired me to operate Cable Satellite Network way back when, and put me into Rogers a much bigger company than I was with in a leadership role. He remains both a close business associate and key mentor of mine. When I moved around in Rogers, Colin Watson who was my boss was an incredibly supportive and smart guy, so I would say it was a big break getting into Rogers at that time.

Carrie Katz

Bluma Appel gave me my biggest break, in being my mentor and offering me a position to work with her in 1976, The Year of the Woman. She was the Liaison of Women and Industry and I became her assistant. That was definitely a turning point in my life.

Lois Fallis

The big break is probably in the musical world. I decided that I wanted to do something different so I joined the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir led by conductor Elmer Iseler . By then I had done a lot of singing, and I was asked to be a part of a small professional group that Elmer had that was called the Festival Singers so I was with them for four or five years, then I went into teaching. I had an opportunity to teach Orff music in Toronto schools and I did that half time. I had some help come into the home at that point.

Note: Orff music is a type of music with xylophones and glockenspiels. It was started in Europe and then we brought it to Canada. Orff is named after Carl Orff and is sometimes called Music for Young Children.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Kevin Shea

1. Patience is huge
2. Work with great teams
3. Respect your work mates
4. Make change quickly

Carrie Katz

1. Family is the most important thing
2. Be kind to others
3. Listen when someone speaks
4. Like yourself
5. Have laughter in your life

Lois Fallis

1. Make it work, that is a phrase that we had in our family. If things weren’t going right you negotiated or talked it through. No one walked away not speaking to each other. I think that’s so important, you don’t walk away from the problem, you face it with whomever.

1. Take risks and do not worry about what other people think. Try to make decisions on your own, and do not have everybody try to tell you what to do.

1. Listening is very important and I wish I would have listened more and I would have loved to spend more time with friends. As I’ve said, I’m all over the place.

1. I have always been interested in the church, religion and spirituality and have taken many courses in that, and I have continued because it’s important and it is not necessarily any one religion, it’s what you believe in, and try to figure that out. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you are always questioning, and you should, because for each generation you change and you aren’t the same.

1. Tell people that you love and care for them, and don’t be afraid to do that. Don’t be afraid to phone somebody, and don’t wait for someone to say, “I haven’t heard from….” I always think that’s a two-way street. You should telephone people and you should be interested in them and don’t be afraid to show love and affection.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Kevin Shea

I don’t think that I have a specific process. Ideas come to me then I bounce them off people. I mean ideas can land at any time, it’s more what you are doing with your ideas opposed to having them. How can you move on them? I just joined the Idea Council for a major ad agency that I can’t name. Big ad agencies are struggling today and they are trying to figure out how to respond to the market. The ad agency has brought together five of us from completely different walks of life. We meet once a month for three hours with the entire management, and we are basically charged with coming up with ideas. Ideas in terms of new kinds of partnerships, things they should be looking at, these are the emerging technologies, how to win particular clients, and it’s kind of fun. We are given nothing in advance, they make a presentation as soon as we get there, and it creates a very interesting environment because the single purpose is to share ideas.

Carrie Katz

I have a friend in HR who I’ve been friends with for over 35 years. She conducted a series of test and the thing that keeps coming through is that I’m an idea person. I’m always idea generating about whatever, it could be about making dinner for friends. It’s part of my DNA, it’s an every day process for me.

I write down what I’d like to get across and bring in more than one idea at a time. I do this by email, then I come back and let’s say there were five ideas, I narrow it down to one, then start generating the concept.

Lois Fallis

I have written a couple of children’s song books and they were published and were great successes and are still out in the market. They are called Seasons and Themes, and A Glass Slipper, and I wrote all these songs myself, and it was partly because of teaching. I found that it was so easy as a teacher, the songs kept coming out of my head. I’d come out of the classroom, and I’d have so many wonderful ideas because I was where the children were, and I’d write songs about whatever, the spring, whatever they were doing I would write a song. I wrote a dinosaur song, and the songs came to me quite easily. I got ideas from being around the children. I always have ideas, if someone says something I would say why don’t you think about this, it just seems to flow.

What are five takeaways? What ideas can you adapt immediately? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Here is Part Two of Carrie Katz’s interview and once again relationships play a prominent role. After you have digested the entire interview, what are 10 takeaways?

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

When I lived in Montreal I was always involved in community affairs. From when I was a child my mother would take me when she went from door-to-door under the heading of UJA requesting money for the poor. My mother has three children, and for some reason, I’m the one that that resonated with. So from a young child I was always involved in something in the community. As a young mother I started the Montreal Career Women’s Network in 1984. At the time, there weren’t any similar services of its kind. In Quebec it was more difficult to get it going because of the line between French Quebecois and the Anglophones, so that was a lot of work, but it was fantastic how we brought the two groups together. The Network is still operating today so I am very proud of that.

I also started a successful business with a friend called Origami Plus which operated for 19 years until it closed in 2009. Origami Plus was synonymous with people who were interested in paper. It was the first paper store that people could come in and do creative things, like make invitations, anything that had to do with paper.

I moved to Toronto and once again became involved in community work. For me, I think it’s my essence, it helps me to feel like I’m participating in the world.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

I noticed something interesting about women, and it may be my vintage of women because we never talk about our work life when we are socializing, and it could be among very close friends. We are very matter-of-fact, whereas with men it’s most of what they discuss. I have a friend who is renowned throughout North America and when we get together we rarely ever talk about her world of work. I happen to be interested in it so I ask her lots of questions but otherwise we don’t. The way you integrate both worlds is to socialize with people you work with so they get to see another side of you, and for your friends you talk a little bit about your work so they get to see that side of you.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

I keep on coming back to the end of my marriage. I think because he passed away and we didn’t get the opportunity to complete things. We were in the midst of leaving one another and he passed away, so it left a real big dent for me. It was regretful for me to watch my children grow up not having a dad.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Family is the most important thing
2. Be kind to others
3. Listen when someone speaks
4. Like yourself
5. Have laughter in your life

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I run around a lot so my down time is a bit of a giggle. The only time I ever read is when I’m on a plane or away so my new thing is to read a chapter of something a day. I tell myself that I do not have to do the entire book just the chapter.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I have a friend in HR who I’ve been friends with for over 35 years. She conducted a series of test and the thing that keeps coming through is that I’m an idea person. I’m always idea generating about whatever, it could be about making dinner for friends. It’s part of my DNA, it’s an every day process for me.

I write down what I’d like to get across and bring in more than one idea at a time. I do this by email, then I come back and let’s say there were five ideas, I narrow it down to one, then start generating the concept.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

I think at my stage in life since I’m almost 70, it would have to be “Enjoy every moment, bring laughter into your life and share lots of hugs.”

How do you define success?

I can define success very easily for other people, success for myself, if I give myself a pat on the back for what I’ve considered to have done well, it stays there for about 10 seconds then I’m on to how can I do this better. The most successful thing for me is having children and that they have a sense of understanding of living in the world. I think success has to do with the stage of life that I’m at, and I think when you have a family that functions and the children like each other and like you, that’s success. I have worked hard at this in my life.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Never give up and understand that whatever you do it takes a great deal of work to become successful, it just doesn’t  happen overnight. Watching someone on the tennis court to the CEO of a big corporation, nobody gets there without a lot of input and a lot of work. If you go into a family situation and you look at kids who are doing well, it could never be because parents were not involved. The kids I know are from 28 to 50 and every one that I admire, there was so much that went into bringing up that child.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

We started off Origami Plus in a room and we ended up in a big store and it was the passion that we felt for what we were doing. We often worked 10 to 13 hours each day, and the joy we felt every time we had a little success, translated into something bigger and bigger until we got there. It’s a constant dayness, and I do think success comes when you do what you love. It’s very difficult when someone lives in a space where they constantly think that I have to do this. There is that line when you get to a place where you are working on something that you connect with, but this is a luxury because not everyone has the ability and opportunity to do something that they love. Some people just have to do something to eat, so it’s another dimension how to do that. Don’t we often hear stories about someone who has become very successful and you ask them how they started and they say I swept the floors. They didn’t like doing that, but how did they go from sweeping the floors to where they are now? I would love to speak to someone who did that, they’d have a lot to teach us.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

A friend who is now turning 50, graduated from Barnard in New York City and wanted to write for Time Magazine. At the time, I had a friend George Russell who worked for Time Magazine, so I asked him to see my friend Lisa. He said, “Carrie, there is no room,” and I said that he could give her some advice, so off she went to have lunch with him. He called shortly after lunch and told me that they had found room for her. What was it about her why he found room for her? It was about her attitude. He told her that she would be bringing coffee.

She graduated from Barnard, a highly recognized university and was going to serve coffee for the next year. But while serving coffee she would be learning. She didn’t have a problem doing coffee, she didn’t have a problem running to the store to pick-up an apple for someone because he wanted it at that moment. And she has excelled in whatever she has had to do, and she is brilliant at what she does. But I think that the attitude of saying it’s okay it’s my time it doesn’t matter, I’m going to get to where I want to go.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

1. I’d like to meet John Mackey the co-founder and owner of Whole Foods, the naturalized grocery chain across North America and the United Kingdom. You look at the products on the shelves and you can see that a lot of thought was put into each item. For me, it’s like being the best at something. Whole Foods shows a sense of best. I love the idea of best, and he knows how to do best. My daughter lives in Nappa and I could be there for seven days and I’d be in Whole Foods four or five times just enjoying the best.
2. I’d want to meet the writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who recently passed away. He wrote about the transformation of Russia, what happened there and the political background. He was in the Gulag for 10 years so I’d like to talk to him about how he got there, what kind of paper he wrote on. He is someone who I admire a great deal.
3. I’d also like to meet George Soros who is responsible for giving away millions and millions of dollars.
4. I’d like to meet someone who has a passion for art, and they become art collectors and share their art with art museums. To have that passion and inquisitive nature, to start a collection and have the joy of sharing it with others speaks to me. Personal art collectors include the Lauders – Estee Lauder’s family has an impressive art collection, which I’d love to see.
5. I’d also like to meet a director of a museum

I’d want to say something specific to each person, so for instance, if I knew that I was going to meet Solzhenitsyn I’d ask him about after he went to America what was the big pull to return to Russia. I’m sure it’s obvious to him, but for me it would be interesting to hear how he came from living in Vermont then finding his way back to Russia. So for George Soros, I’d like to know when he chooses things out of the box to provide funding for, when and how did it start for him, when did this become a part of his life? With John Mackey I’d say something I admired about him and what he did. I like that whatever city there is a Whole Foods, he uses the sources of small farmers, and people who are starting out in small businesses. He gives people opportunities. For the art collector I’d like to know when his passion was created, where did it come from? For the museum director I’d like to know about his day and what it’s like.

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Out on a Limb by Shirley MacLaine. It was about taking a group of women to China, and all the various things that happened to them when they were there, and how their lives were transformed by being there and with each other. This was in the seventies when no one went to China.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche

The Help, Kathryn Stockett

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid

Zorro, Isabel Allende

The Bastard of Istanbul, Elif Shafak

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Beethoven Seventh Symphony and I’d like to watch the movie Here Am I by my son Douglas Naimer, a writer and film director.

What excites you about life?

People and relationships are the most important things.

How do you nurture your soul?

Giving and caring about others.

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

I wish we could have about 32 hours in a day.

What are your thoughts on this interview? What was expected and what was unexpected? What are 10 takeaways? How can you apply this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Today I present Carrie Katz, and one recurring theme in her interview is the importance of relationships. She has a circle of close friends who rely on each other. She mentions interpersonal relationships in the workplace and having the ability to work with people who you do not like. We can learn a lot from Carrie because of the wisdom that often comes with age. When problem solving, Carrie loves to take her time and this reminded me of the paper I wrote on What Kind of Problem Solver Are You?

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

When I lived in Montreal I was always involved in community affairs. From when I was a child my mother would take me when she went from door-to-door under the heading of UJA requesting money for the poor. My mother has three children, and for some reason, I’m the one that that resonated with. So from a young child I was always involved in something in the community. As a young mother I started the Montreal Career Women’s Network in 1984. At the time, there weren’t any similar services of its kind. In Quebec it was more difficult to get it going because of the line between French Quebecois and the Anglophones, so that was a lot of work, but it was fantastic how we brought the two groups together. The Network is still operating today so I am very proud of that.

I also started a successful business with a friend called Origami Plus which operated for 19 years until it closed in 2009. Origami Plus was synonymous with people who were interested in paper. It was the first paper store that people could come in and do creative things, like make invitations, anything that had to do with paper.

I moved to Toronto and once again became involved in community work. For me, I think it’s my essence, it helps me to feel like I’m participating in the world.

What’s a typical day like for you?

Since I’ve become involved in ORT, a non-governmental organization seven years ago, most of my days are taken up with various components of what is involved with my programming at the organization, whatever my position is. At one time I was the ORT Toronto President, and now I am the national Co-President of ORT so most of my days are around those kinds of things.

Now having said that, for me friendship is very important, and I am fortunate to have a wonderful circle of friends, and it’s very important to keep in touch with them. I always arrange three or four days of my week where I get to spend some time with them. I find this very nourishing just chatting about our lives together, the political scope, what’s going on in Canada and the world, and knowing about our children. So this for me is my ice cream all the time, it keeps feeding me, it nourishes me to do whatever I have to do. But I’m a big procrastinator, I do that very well and then I get so concerned, making sure that I did everything correctly then questioning myself if I did it well enough.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I don’t think that I think too much or else I’d still be sitting in my chair. I think what happens is that something comes to me, and I think, how can I do this, and it’s almost like jumping out of the chair and saying where are you going to go with this and how are you going to do this and since I love the telephone – my friends call me Telephona – I get on the phone and start talking about it. And, before I know it it’s becoming something.

If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Many things! I thought if I came back in the world, I want to be thin, tall and the

President of a country because I think I know how to do it better than anyone. Or I’d like to be an orchestra leader. So if I were to do it over again I think, as a child, I would want to be more focused and have the passion that I have now.

What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Learning to be more compassionate of other people, and understand their frailties, and not to take what they are doing as something they are doing to me, but rather that they do not have any other way to communicate, so that I can transcend into another place.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

People are becoming more aware of the importance of giving. I think the world has come to a place where people see you can make a difference whether you give $5 or whatever it is because the industry itself has recognized how clear you have to be as to where someone’s money is going. So if you’re giving me $5 you need to feel comfortable that that $5 is going to a particular place rather a whole big umbrella, and that’s something we’ve worked very hard at doing. It’s the dignity of receiving money, and the dignity of giving it that we’ve worked on in our particular area with what we do.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

There’s one major threat and it is always having enough money. Fundraising has been a problem. For example, we are doing a program in Russia at the moment, and the threat there is not getting enough funding because the people in North America do not have an attachment to Russia. If you talk about children in Africa it’s almost an easy explanation, but going into Russia is not an easy way for us to sell that. So if we create a program and don’t have the funding for it, it becomes a big problem.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

ORT provides an extremely unique service because it’s the largest non-profit Non Governmental Organization worldwide that takes kids who are disadvantaged that would probably find themselves on the street with no skills set, and nourish them not only financially, but also with a support system that helps them to understand and believe that they can do it, and this I think is very unique.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

I never look at what someone is doing badly. I always look at somebody who is doing better than we are and learn how we can do it better.

Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it.

My big challenge was that I have three children who live in western Canada who would like me to move to Vancouver. The solution is that every two months I plan to be out there for a week, rather than move there because it was rather disorienting to pick up and move to another city. It was a huge challenge because it was, should I be there or here in Toronto. I mentioned that my friends nourish and I nourishone another, so in speaking to a friend, she wrote up a synopsis of how I could do my life to keep my friends happy and make me feel alright.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

• You have to taker things slowly. You cannot jump into things because if you do, you do not want to feel like you did the wrong thing. For me it’s about making sure that everyone is happy. I have three children and it was about orchestrating this so that it worked.

• I learned that it’s okay to discuss things with people who you feel safe with, who have great ideas, and who can help you through the process.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Bluma Appel gave me my biggest break, in being my mentor and offering me a position to work with her in 1976, The Year of the Woman. She was the Liaison of Women and Industry and I became her assistant. That was definitely a turning point in my life.

Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

I think my biggest failure was the end of my marriage. And when I look back, it was because there were two stubborn people. I learned that it’s okay for a woman not to be in charge of everything and be able to let others take care of certain things, and you can still have sense of well-being through that.

What has been your biggest disappointment in your life – and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?

The biggest disappointment was the end of my marriage and my husband died shortly after that so I didn’t have the opportunity to connect after that. I think what happened from experience was that my listening skills about other people and how they are in life puts me in a different place. I think I understand them, understand what goes on for people more, and that’s what I learned after that particular experience.

What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

The toughest decision that I had to make was moving from Montreal to Toronto, but it was one of the best decisions that I made, so it was great. I had my mother, sister, brother and many friends in Montreal, I had a business that I was running and very proud of, and I fell in love with someone who lived in Toronto. I had to make a decision whether to stay in Montreal or move to Toronto. It took about three years before I was able to move, and I love my life here. And I still get I get to see my family a lot in Montreal.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

1. Watching my son graduate from Columbia University
2. Running my business
3. Being involved in community work

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Having Bluma Appel donate $1.3 million to ORT. And she said, “It’s only because of you that I’m giving it Carrie.” That felt WOW!

How did mentors influence your life?

Bluma Appel influenced my life in so many ways. She was very savvy and passionate about giving back to the world. She had the ability to learn from other people, and that’s what I learned from her. One day she called me and said she needed to talk to me about something. I said yeah and she said that we needed to talk about my self-worth because I didn’t get it, you don’t get how great you are, and that put me into a whole new realm of thinking. It was a new paradigm for me, those words coming from her.

What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Listen to others and pay attention to what they are saying, and do not have a preconceived idea about what is and who they are. And always give yourself space before you make decisions.

Which resources (books, movies, training etc.) did your mentors recommend to you?

Bluma was my key mentor, and she would make sure that I read the right material for whatever project I was involved with so that I would get a thorough understanding. If I was working on a project about kids with computers, I would read to get an understanding of what happens to children when they start working on a computer. Reading allowed me to go beyond the surface of understanding the subject.

As an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

What I hear a great deal about is what someone does that is not right to another person. It could be in the workplace or somewhere else. Instead of being annoyed or angry, I think you need to take a step back and just say, “What can I do to make this situation better?” and ask yourself, “How can I speak to this person so that they understand what I’m saying?” rather that attacking because attacking doesn’t work for anyone, and nobody hears what you’re saying anyway. Working on interpersonal relationships in the workplace is important because the stories that I hear sometimes are hair raising and it’s important to learn how to be in that place with people who you do not know or may not even like. For you to learn to do something with someone you do not like is taking 20 steps up the ladder.

What are your thoughts on this interview? What was expected and what was unexpected? What are 10 takeaways? How can you apply this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

After I digested the entire interview, it dawned on me that the problem solving and creativity technique that we have presented on this blog is basically the same technique that Sean MacDonald uses when he starts a new case.

• Read through the information to have a thorough understanding
• Gather information
• Integrates the new information into the old information
• Analyzes the information
• Let it percolate
• Develop a defense strategy

This is my interpretation, what’s yours? What can you learn from this interview? Here is Part Two of the interview

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I practice law in Toronto and my focus right now is wrongful convictions and basically that means getting innocent people out of jail.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

The important thing for me is the quality of life and no matter what I do, whether I’m working or at home, I think it’s really important to have a quality of life. So in terms of integration, I think they are both the same thing. For me I live each day as if it’s the last day that I’m going to live, and no matter what I’m doing I appreciate it, I put it into perspective and embrace it.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

I don’t think I’d do anything differently, although one regret is that after I completed high school I had the opportunity to go to a prep school in the eastern United States. At the time I didn’t understand how important that was, or could have been, so I decided not to go. Now looking back, I understand that Phillips Exeter Academy, Andover Phillips Academy, Worcester Academy were schools that could have opened up other avenues for me today. I regret that, I wouldn’t change the decisions that I made, but I probably would have put more thought into that decision, but I was only 16 at the time.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Put things into perspective
2. Always look at the bright side
3. Appreciate life
4. Believe in yourself
5. Never put limitations on your dreams

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I spend my down time in different ways: relax, roller blade, go for walks. I think it’s important to do nothing for a lot of reasons. It’s good for your soul to relax, and I also think that it’s good for you creatively to let your mind and body relax because it gives you ideas that may have been percolating the opportunity to bubble up. So during my down time I often shut it off, and whatever I do during that time is healthy and positive.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I think great ideas come when you are centered and when you have a sense of balance. I think you limit yourself when you allow stress to impact your life, and when you do that you’re not able to let your creative process work. So my greatest ideas, if I have any great ideas, whether they are in my practice, or other things come at their own pace, when I’m relaxed, centered and have a sense of self.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

There is a quote that my grandfather had on a beer mug that he got in Germany in the 40s or 50s. It said “You get too soon old and too late smart.” There is a Thoreau quote about when he was in Walden that means a lot more to me but I cannot remember it. It’s about your dreams.

How do you define success?

Success for me is waking up happy.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

It’s putting life in perspective, living every day like it’s your last, and no matter what the challenges are, truly believe in yourself.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

To begin with, I think that I have a genetic predisposition toward, and a passion for justice, that’s why I do what I do. I don’t know if I’m successful, but I can tell you that every day that I wake up I try to do the best that I can do. All you can do is believe in what you do and work with a high degree of passion.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

In any field it’s important to believe in yourself and don’t be scared. If you believe in yourself you can do anything, don’t pay too much attention to negativity because it’s always going to be there.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

1. The first would be Mohammad Ali and I would say, “Thanks.” I think that his strength and ability to stick to his beliefs has transcended time, culture and race. He is one of my heroes. He gave up everything for what he believed in and I think that is a rare quality.

1. I’d like to meet Gandhi and I don’t know what I’d say to him. I think I’d be speechless, but he is certainly somebody that I’d like to meet.

1. I think I’d want to meet Einstein because he is also someone that I think refused to allow limitations to stop him, and I also think he lived life like every day was his last day. I don’t know what I could contribute to the conversation with all these people, I’d be more interested in listening to them. They are great human beings and they have far more to offer me than I could offer them.

1. I’d like to meet Benazir Bhutto because she was a shining light, and it would be interesting to meet her. I think her contribution to the world was cut short and I’d like to listen to her.

1. I’d like to meet President Obama because I think he’ll be a center piece in human history as we move forward, and I’d like to sit down and listen to him too. And I think he is an unbelievably amazing human being and has achieved things that most people could only dream about.

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply? Did you have an emotional or intellectual attachment to this book? Why?

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It taught me to embrace life, and no matter what to always appreciate the moment, live your life in the moment and not to let the other things get in your way. It’s an amazing book.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

I’m a geek so the books I’d like to have would be about the practice of law. I’d like The Little Prince because it’s about the practice of life. I am inspired by people like John Sopinka, he is former Supreme Court of Canada justice. He has books on the trial practice of evidence, that for me, allows me to absorb their wisdom. Most of the books that I would like to have wouldn’t be interesting to other people. The other books I read are about Middle Eastern politics, the authors are professors and foreign policy experts. One is Steve Coll. I read a book called Ghost Wars and it’s about Afghanistan and the foreign interest that was at play there from the time the Russians were in Afghanistan up to the point 2001. I am interested in Middle Eastern politics mostly because I’m interested in the people and I want to have a better understanding of where they come from and what their experience have been so I read a lot. There is another book called The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future written by Vali Nasr that I’d like to have with me.

Have you read any books that inspired you to start a business, service or invent “something”? If yes, which book?

I don’t read your cookie cutter how-to books, like how to become a millionaire, but I spend a lot of time thinking about various business ideas in addition to what I do. And I try to find people who have been very successful, and try to do my own reconnaissance to see who they are, where they come from, what they’ve done, what they are doing, but I try to do it from different sources. I find that if you take it from one source there is only one perspective. I try to learn from them.

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

The movie would be Unusual Suspects. The CD is a hard one because I like so many different types of music. It could be way back to someone like Curtis Blow, I love Kurtis Blow. It could be Sting, it could be Bach. There is a Bach CD that I really like.

What excites you about life?

Life! I wake up excited and I think life is a gift.

How do you nurture your soul?

I nurture my soul by trying to empathize with people who aren’t as fortunate as I am. There are a couple of things: most importantly it helps them, I try to do a lot of charity work and I think everyone should help others who are less fortunate. And the second thing is when I help, it nurtures my soul. I represent a bunch of homeless people around my building, and I have a lot of new friends, significant friends, that are a lot less fortunate, many of whom are homeless… that fills me up.

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

It’s hokey, but it’s what I would wish for, I would wish for world peace. The second wish would be that every animal on the planet lives a happy life. I’m a dog lover, I’m crazy about them.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m breathing, I’m happy when I’m with my little pug and I give her belly rubs.

What are your thoughts on this interview? What was expected and what was unexpected? Do you capitalize on the opportunities that come your way? What are 10 takeaways? How can you apply this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

A friend suggested that I interview Sean MacDonald and I’m glad that I listened. Sean’s honesty, passion and humility shines through his interview. I think that it takes a certain type of individual to take the time to defend the wrongfully convicted because in many instances the accused cannot pay the legal fees. Sean’s focus is not about money, and after you have read his entire interview you discover his love for life. He lives every day as if it’s his last, how about you? What lessons can you learn from him?

YouTube Video of David Moran Speaking About Wrongful Convictions in the US. If you cannot view the video click here.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I practice law in Toronto and my focus right now is wrongful convictions and basically that means getting innocent people out of jail.

What’s a typical day like for you?

My days are never typical and they depend on what’s going on and what my case load is. It can range from a day where I review transcripts, prepare submissions for cases that I am working on, or I can be on the phone with forensic investigators, or with private investigators and different lawyers across the country and around the world. It really varies. But typically my day comes back to people who are wrongfully convicted.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I think life is a gift, I’m always motivated. I don’t have a problem being motivated. I love life and every day brings a new challenge and I like that.

If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I don’t think that I’d do anything differently. I’ve been pretty fortunate so far, I don’t think that I’d change anything.

What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

My focus is really on social justice and the criminal justice system, so in terms of business I know that comes along with it but I do not focus on that. I’ve had many learning experiences over the last 10 years that relate to my work and my ability to get people who are innocent out of jail, for me that’s more important than the business aspect of.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

I think the biggest advance is the general public awareness that there are times when the justice system doesn’t work and the ability to accept that as an inevitable consequence of the way things work and to recognize that the wrongfully convicted deserve justice.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

1. If I were to pick three threats, the first one would be the lack of resources for people who find themselves victims of the miscarriage of justice.
2. The second would be the reluctance of governments to address these issues.
3. The third threat would be the reluctance of governments across Canada and the United States to provide remedies for people who are innocent and locked in jail.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

It’s a unique area because it combines legal theory with investigation and forensic technology. I think for me it’s unique because it’s unlike any other area. You are a fact finder and at the same time you are a lawyer.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

There are a small group of people in Canada who do what I do and to be honest I do not observe any of them doing anything badly. They are highly dedicated and skilled, and if anything I learn from them.

Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it.

I think every time I take a case is a major challenge. You have someone who has been investigated, charged, gone to trial and been convicted and sentenced, and winds up in a federal maximum security penitentiary. Every case is a challenge because you are working to reverse that, so I think that every case that I take is a major challenge because you are trying to swim upstream.

Every case is different, but if there was a commonality it would be the fact I roll up my sleeve and start with the first piece of paper and I begin to read to get an understanding of the facts, then I read it again and again. Once I have read every thing a few times I start to get my own facts, I hire my own investigators and forensic experts, pathologist, wound pathologist, maybe fire arms experts, ballistics experts, and stuff like that then I begin to create my own investigation, then I fold that into the original investigation and see where that takes me.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

1. You have to be patient and these things never come easy
2. Have faith and keep that faith

I’ve been lucky to reverse almost sixty years of wrongful incarceration or wrongful conviction time and I know on the other end how gratifying it is, and that helps me to stay patient and keep the faith.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

I don’t think that there was ever any one big break for me. I think it was a series of small accomplishments that came as a result of extremely hard work and having the good fortune of being around some of best in the business. I try to work very hard, to keep making gains and get better at what I do.

Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

One of my biggest failures if I can characterize it that way, was not being smart enough to begin practicing law with my father, instead of staying in Nova Scotia, I moved to Toronto and articled on Bay Street. When I think back, I lost the opportunity to learn from the smartest person I know, and moved here instead. As a result, that was a failure in a broad sense. From this experience, I’ve learned to appreciate how brilliant my father was and how much he has impacted my life.

What has been your biggest disappointment in your life – and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?

My biggest heart break was losing my father, and there is nothing that I can do to prevent that.

What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

I think it goes back to moving to Toronto. I think that was the toughest decision that I had to make. I had an articling job on Bay Street, and I also had an opportunity to practice with my father, and I chose Toronto. If I had the opportunity to make this decision again, I probably would have stayed with my father.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

1. When I was a teenager I worked as a processor or bailiff serving court documents for a variety of lawyers including my father basically providing litigation support, and that impacted my life because I got the chance to be exposed to a court house at a young age and I got to work with different lawyers during the trial process.
2. I started a private investigating company soon after. That impacted my life because it got me more involved in the trial process, and I had the ability to inject myself even deeper into the preparation of cases that go to trial, and it gave me the opportunity to be around the trial when it was happening, take statements from witnesses, go to crime scenes and take pictures, and gather evidence to assist lawyers who were conducting trials and that really impacted my life.
3. The above events led to my further development, which was going to law school and getting more involved in the trial process.

These three things have shaped the way I look at my profession. I had the opportunity to have the slow and steady evolution from the time I was about 16 years old.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

The accomplishment that I’m proudest of was walking out of the courtroom with a client in 2008, who was dying of cancer, who was exonerated from murder after 30 years.

How did mentors influence your life?

Mentors influenced my life in many different ways. I am lucky enough to work with many of the greats, and I’m lucky enough from the time I was probably eight years old to have my father as my biggest mentor. He was the most brilliant trial strategist that I have ever seen, so I had an opportunity to learn from him every single day. We talked about his cases, his theories about the cases and what he was doing, what he thought, what I thought, so I learned from him. There wasn’t a day when he was alive that I didn’t call him three or four times and talk to him about different things that related to what I was doing. I have other greats like Phil Campbell who is the best wrongful dismissal lawyer in Canada and probably in the world. I’ve worked with him, I’ve worked with James Locklear, who again is one of the best in the world at what he does so I’m very, very lucky to be exposed to some of the best wrongful dismissal lawyers in the world.

What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

I can’t say there is a core message. The way I approach it is to keep my eyes and ears wide open. I mean they have wisdom, and every time I speak to them I learn something. I guess the core message would be to listen.

Which resources (books, movies, training etc.) did your mentors recommend to you?

My father recommended a book called The Art of Advocacy written by John Monkman. It’s an old English book written by an English barrister, and it sets out the fundamentals of being a lawyer, it’s not complicated, and it’s laid out to teach lawyers the basics. My father read that book every two to three years, and he practiced for thirty-plus years.

As an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

The world is filled with infinite opportunities. If you believe in yourself, whatever goals you set for yourself you can achieve them. That’s the single most important piece of advice that I could give to anybody.

What are your thoughts on this interview? What was expected and what was unexpected? Do you capitalize on the opportunities that come your way? What are 10 takeaways? How can you apply this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentorand subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.