The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘business challenge’

Interviewee Name: Roger Dacre, Medical Doctor

Company Name: Dr. Roger I Dacre

Website: http://www.doctordacre.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I was born in London, England and when I was about six years old my parents moved to Barbados. A year or so later they sent me back to attend boarding school in the UK. I attended medical school in the UK, in London, England and then I emigrated to Canada and did residency or specialty training in family medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. After that I worked for 10 years in my own family practice in Cambridge, Ontario and moved to Toronto about 16 years ago. I opened the practice that I am practicing in now and was practicing there initially alone, and subsequently over the last 10 years with Dr. Lise Paquette.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Usually I try to get to the office before 8 o’clock in the morning and I do the electronic and fax paperwork that is needed to be checked before starting to see patients around 8:30 in the morning. I generally see patients between 8:30 and 12:30 pm and I stop for lunch. My ideal day involves taking a 45-minute walk and then I restart seeing patients at 1:30 in the afternoon and I continue to see patients until 5:00 pm or 5:30 pm. The rest of the evening, unless I’m on call, is spent either for personal time or about twice a week I attend either a medical training meeting or medical administrative type meeting.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I embrace the ethos of providing quality care. It’s a very conscious attempt to continue to motivate myself through continuing education. Either learning things that I don’t know or teaching things that I do know to people who wish to learn them. When I’m looking at the same problem for a subsequent time, I try to place it in a context that’s specific to that person to make it different and knew to me as well as to that person.

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

I would try to avoid moving practice after 10 years. When I moved from Cambridge to Toronto, I basically had to start again. It was if it was the first day of work again. Family medicine like many personal service industries is very much based on the trust and relationship between myself and in this case the patient and that just isn’t something that you acquire overnight. You only acquire that over the passage of a number of meetings and the development of the relationship. That is something you can’t buy from someone else, so you have to earn it for yourself.

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

It’s kind of a business and personal discovery. I’ve always been proud of the way I treated the staff in my office and I see it as a matter of pride for me that I treat my staff with kindness and respect. I always assumed that this would produce a good outcome. I found that doing that does not always produce a good outcome. There are factors in the staff rather than in me that might indicate that the outcome wouldn’t be good.

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

It’s difficult to single out one particular thing because this is an industry which is crawling with innovation. It really is. I tried to think of three of the ones that affect me, but there are many in the industry as a whole. They are treatments for anticoagulation, the treatment for obesity with bariatric surgery (you are operating on obese people to help them lose weight), and treatments for diabetes. If you were to look at five years ago and look at now, these three areas are completely different than they were five years ago. I have to completely relearn all areas on a regular basis.

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

1. I’m in a business which is funded by the government and consequently one of the big risks to us is government whims or changes in government policies as a result of elections and the fact that governments are fighting with how to use limited resources.
2. The second issue is organizational fads. There seem to be an unlimited number of ways to organize the delivery of medical care and none of them seem to be superior to the other ones and you get people either civil servants or government ministers, or academic people all trying to impose their own particular fad on the rest of us.
3. The third thing is regulation which is both good and bad. Regulation in our industry seems to result in shortages of lots of things, and it stifles innovation because anything that’s outside the normal range is suspicious to regulators.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I can’t claim that the services I provide are unique, but I try to be noticeably outside the norm in terms of my commitment to providing not just good diagnostic care, but efficiency in the way the office is run.

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

I think that many of them have very poor office organization and pay little attention to customer service. I have colleagues who think it’s a matter of pride about how long people have to wait in their waiting room rather than a matter of shame.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

I had a critical employee who left suddenly. We were left with having to recreate the skills that were needed for that role. In small businesses I think that sometimes you can have part of the process knowledge of the business in the hands of just one employee, and if that employee is gone you have to learn it all from scratch and sometimes that’s difficult. When this employee left we realized that we had invested too much in one position in terms of the process knowledge of our practice. We have replaced that role with two people doing part-time work, and my partner and I have decided to take a more active role in running certain parts of the business for the future.

There was a lot to learn from that. We realized that we needed to have little manuals. We already had manuals to describe all the little functions that are needed, but we realized that we needed to be more careful and that those manuals were kept up-to-date, and that we had multiple staff members who are able to perform the different functions.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

In a way, it’s a bizarre story in that I don’t remember who gave me in what I consider in retrospect to be my big break. But I was at a social function, and I had just failed to get into medical school, and one of the people at this social function was describing the name of one of the teaching hospitals in England, which had a particular interest in people who were applying for the second time to medical school. I used that information to put that particular medical school at the top of my list of five places that you are allowed to apply to at once. And I actually got into that particular medical school the following year. I don’t know who it was, and it gave me the opportunity to get what I considered to be my big break, which was my chance to learn medicine.

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

It’s similar to the other question in that my failure to get into medical school the first time, I consider to be my biggest failure. I had been predicting that I would get in and it was a big surprise that I didn’t. What it taught me is that I’m responsible for my own successes and I need to believe in myself and in my ability to pick myself up when I’ve had a reverse and make the thing happen.

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

Probably my biggest disappointment at the moment is the way I’ve been handling my employees and certainly I know when I had a small practice there used to be a blurred line between the boss and staff relationship and friend relationship and as the office got bigger, we’ve made an effort to keep it more professional, not unfriendly, but just not the same way. I always thought that good behaviour would be rewarded with gratitude and I realize looking back at everything that went on this year and three years ago when a similar thing happened that it is my lack of inattention to the signs that this is happening. I’m trying to learn to be more objective in the way I look at the relationships with my staff. We have not taken the annual review as serious as we should and so we are going to put a lot more effort into doing that in a more professional way in the future.

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

There were two really. One was the decision to emigrate to Canada from the UK and the other was to move from Cambridge, Ontario a small town of 120,000 to Toronto. They have had a very big impact on my life because they completely transformed the environment in which I practice medicine.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

1. The most significant was qualifying as a doctor.
2. The second was choosing and qualifying as a family physician as opposed to some other type of doctor.
3. The third one was a personal one, which was coming out as a gay man.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

I think it’s a dynamic accomplishment in the sense that it’s the accomplishment of bringing freshness to my practice of medicine.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Looking back on my life I didn’t realize that the first three of the mentors I would describe were mentors but they were. The first was one of my teachers in primary school, I say primary and middle school. His name was Mr. Arthur and I think he taught me that it was okay to be inquisitive, and it was okay to be an individualist outside of the mainstream. So that was a very important lesson to learn. The next mentor I had was Keith Warshaw who was my tutor in high school and he taught me that the world works in a certain way and you have to look at how it works and you can’t break the rules without realizing there will be consequences. He wasn’t saying the rules were right or wrong, he was saying they are there and you have to pay attention to them. I then had a mentor in medical school and she really taught me that it’s really important to do the work that needs to done rather than to think that you can take short cuts to it. And finally Dr. May Cowan, who was my professor at McMaster University who I still turn to for advice even today, and she just taught me so many things about how to be a good family doctor.

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

The message was that quality and achievement comes from honest work.

Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

I would say to people, you need to decide what you want to do and aim to learn and practice this with integrity.

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.

Today and tomorrow we present Paul Copcutt’s interview. Are you noticing any similarities in the interviews that you read here? If you were asked what are three threats to your business, how would you answer? What are three events that shaped your life? For Paul, it was (1) The death of his mother and sister when he was seven years old, (2) Taking a job at a biotech firm as a National Sales Manager without any medical experience and (3) Marrying his wife. If you were to respond to the questions, would any of  your answers be similar Paul’s?

Tell me a little bit about yourself. Tell me a little bit about your company and where the idea for your business came from?

Paul Copcutt, a transported Brit, I came to Canada in 1996 with the biotech company I was working with to follow a Canadian and convince her to marry me. I started my company Square Peg in 2004 as a recruitment company but always with the intention of doing something more involving personal branding because what I had been doing in a corporate career was personal branding there was just not the name for it.  Now that is all I do, personal branding for individuals, inside corporations and speaking on the topic.

What’s a typical day like for you?

I run a home based business, so once the family is getting on with their day is when mine starts professionally. This will involve talking to clients on the phone, using the technology of the internet to connect and stay in touch. If I am out meeting clients or speaking, a day can start early and be a long one depending on location, travel etc.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

My main motivation is that everyone should have the opportunity to understand personal branding and see if it applies to them. My purpose is to spread that message to as many people as possible. Also I love to connect with others. My colleagues and connections become my virtual watercooler. I am in two mastermind groups and we help and hold each other accountable.

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

The journey I have had to this point makes me who I am, I don’t know that doing it differently would have resulted in the same outcomes, so I hesitate in saying what I would do differently.

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

That my biggest strength is spreading the message to many versus converting people one at a time and modestly I am actually very good at it.

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

The speed of the internet and the developing technologies that stem from that. Now people see the need to manage their personal brands because of the impact of social media and online brands.

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

1. Remaining focused – belief that what I am doing now is right and resisting the temptation to look at another direction just because things may not be happening fast enough. 2. Too much noise, not enough substance – there are a lot of people now talking about personal branding but to be honest that is all it is. There are very few people who are actually doing something everyday in terms of helping people define and develop their personal brands. 3. Bright shiny objects – trying too many new things can be a distraction. I am a catalyst and starter, but not a finisher, so new ideas and so on are a big attraction but also distraction.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I inspire people to take action with regards to their personal brands by sharing personal information and examples and practical solutions. There does not have to be smoke and mirrors to make this happen.

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

I do not think that most people in my field who are actually working with people on their personal brands are doing it badly. It is more those that talk about personal brands as the solution to online branding but fail to get the foundation offline established first.

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

Charging by the hour you reach a limit – either in number of hours you can work or fees you can charge – or both. I stopped charging by the hour or month for my services and went to a project based model.  Researched value based fees models and created proposals and marketing materials around talking about value and outcomes versus hours worked.  I now have only one client who pays by the hour and that is an arrangement through a partner and not my contract.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

People are receptive to a project based fee model for consulting and coaching. It makes you focus more on the outcomes and creates a much better relationship with clients because you both have interest in getting results versus just delivering a program.  Clients call on me when they need to not when they need to pay for it.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

My first ever client for my own business. I had made the decision to leave my previous employer and had no actual business to take with me. That first client gave me the opportunity to prove myself and became a significant client for my first 2-3 years of business.

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

First ever job that required me to sell a service instead of a product. At the time I was not ready, I could not relate to selling an intangible and within 3 months I had left the company. The next time I went to sell a service a few years later I knew what was expected and needed and although it still took me some time to get good at, it eventually set me up for what I do now.

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

To varying degrees I still get disappointments – the contracts or pieces of work you expect to get but don’t. I try to learn from every experience and even ask the question “Is there something I could have done differently?” and take that to the next experience.

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

Moving to Canada with all my family still in the UK. I knew deep down it was the right move, and Canada has offered me so many opportunities as well as a wonderfully supportive wife and two great children. Not sure if I ever would have started my own business back in the UK.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

1. Loss of my mother and sister when I was 7 years old.
2. Taking a job as a National Sales Manager for a biotech company without any medical qualifications.
3. Marrying my wife.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

My two children.

How did mentors influence your life?

There are probably three people, apart from my father, who have influenced my life.  My first ever boss when I had a part time retail sales position. He said, “You are never bigger than the customer and the customer is never bigger than you.”

The owner of the first recruitment company I worked for who let me learn from my own mistakes and was okay with my learning the lessons even if it meant we lost the business.

And my boss when I first became a manager, who always challenged me to have at least two options to any decision.

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

See above

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

The most influential training I received was the Wilson Learning Social Style program over 20 years ago and is still something I use now.  I am constantly looking for new resources, books and probably seek out opinions from many places to find these, but I have never found anything to replace that program.

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

Be yourself, be truthful. Stick to your values and beliefs and it’s okay to say no sometimes.

What nuggets of wisdom have you gleaned from Paul’s interview? How might you apply his responses to your situation.

Keep the conversation flowing. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN, I can assist you with that too.

This week on Tuesday and Wednesday I present Gina McAdam. For new subscribers I interview highly accomplished people from all walks of life and locations to share their wisdom and experience. All interviewees are asked the same questions, so it’s always interesting to see the diversity of responses. Gina like many successful people plans for her day the night before by checking her schedule, what about you? Her responses to the question, “What are three threats to your business and how are you handling them?” is quite surprising so look for her responses. Her response to “What’s one core message you received from your mentors?” is ” Don’t hide your light under a bushel,” resonated with me, and I’m sure will resonate with others, especially women because we often tone down our accomplishments and are often the best kept secret. I know that people are often surprised by some of my accomplishments. Because listening is such a critical skill please zero in on her response to her biggest failure.

There is a wealth of information that can assist us in attaining professional success, this is my contribution to getting you there.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m a wife and mother who runs her own strategic marketing and communications consultancy in London, with a portfolio of very exciting clients.

I’m steeped in the commercial world now, but a few years ago I was involved a lot more in government-funded programmes. There was the strategic planning and delivery of the government’s agenda for upskilling the workforce through vocational training. I even produced a study on the problem of ‘worklessness’ and prepared enterprise development strategy reports for London.  A totally different spectrum.

The fact that I work with people with similar values to mine helps. After the ‘me-first’ culture of the last decade, a sense of community and collaboration is important. Being part of peer networks, such as the Worshipful Company of Marketors, the City livery company for marketing professionals, is excellent because it has a civic and charity focus as well.  I’m also very keen to help raise the profile and economic empowerment of women, through organisations like the 50,000-strong The International Alliance for Women (TIAW), of which I’m a Board member. They do wonderful things like promote micro-credit, mentoring and entrepreneurship.

What’s a typical day like for you?

Up at 6am and sometimes before, check my emails, run through the things I have to do for the day. If I’m not headed out the door, wait till 8.30 or 9am to start the phone calls. Lunch with a friend, client or associate – sometimes that’s one person rolled into one. Meetings or work delivering on projects occupy the main part of the day.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I’m always excited about what a new day brings, and the chance to learn something I didn’t know. In a role that calls for dealing with people, the interaction is the thing. Even old friends and contacts bring something fresh each time you see them.

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

I sometimes wonder what would have happened had I accepted an offer in my twenties to write in Florence for a year, shutting out the rest of the world.  But that was just my parents being indulgent and I was quite romantic then.

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

If you’re good at what you do and are open and resourceful, regardless of the economic climate, there will always be something for you.

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

Although my work is essentially marketing and communications, it straddles many different industries. One of the biggest changes has to be the rise of digital and specifically social media, and my clients are all very excited about the possibilities of Twitter, You Tube, Facebook and even Linkedin.  People will always demand solid, well-crafted and thought out content, but the channels and tools available to express them are revolutionising the way people do business and communicate with their customers.

In terms of the hospitality and tourism industry, where many of my clients sit, I would say that more women across the world are taking on the big operational roles of general management, or becoming managing directors and CEOs.  There is also the trend for international companies to hire local talent rather than merely parachute in expats. One of the oldest, most prestigious hotels in Asia appointed its first female, Chinese general manager a few years ago. And it’s been a great success. Also, there’s a lot more use of new technologies, and of course the consumer’s awareness of the environment has wrought positive change.

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

Three questions come to mind – can I keep up the energy levels? Are my clients safe and secure? Will my family always be this supportive? In terms of the first, I try to look after my health; second, I try to add as much value as possible to my clients’ business; and third, I show my husband and son that they are more important than anything.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I think it’s the ‘personal touch’ and becoming part of my clients’ team and not just a service provider. It’s important that they know you are with them every step of the  way.

Also, because of my international background – I was born and raised in Manila, but spent some of my formative years in the US, studied in the UK and worked in Asia, America and Europe, the last twenty years in London  – I can bring the positive sensibilities of different worlds to the table.

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

I tend to operate amongst fantastic, hard-working ‘can do’ people and this field is awash with them. If there’s anything we do badly, it’s not stopping often or long enough to relax and smell the roses. I’m as guilty as the rest, often working during holidays too. Not good! I’m sure we’re all trying to work smarter, but in our field, we have to keep up with the speed of communication.

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

It was a situation involving divergent business practices and beliefs.  When this occurs, you are best to cut your losses.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

Sometimes you just have to walk away.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

I was moonlighting as a journalist at university when I was assigned to interview a hotshot female advertising executive in Manila. After that, she asked me if I’d ever consider going into advertising after graduation. She became my first ever boss. Her name was J M Rebueno, and I’ve never forgotten her.

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

It was probably a personal one, over a decade ago. I lost a whole year’s joy with one of the very best people I’ll ever know because of something silly. But we’re now closer than ever and a lot of my success is down to my friend’s deep and abiding support. The lesson is always to listen to what the other person says, even when they’re not saying it.

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

I try not to dwell on setbacks.

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

Deciding to leave Europe for New York, after having lived and worked happily in Madrid for more than three years.  But it was something I had to do. As it happens, New York eventually led me back to London, where I have been ever since.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Just one, really. My father’s death in 1990 was a huge blow, as he had been a great mentor and source of wisdom.  Outwardly he was a traditionalist but his liberal spirit allowed all his children the freedom to choose their own lives. The death of a parent catapults you into the next generation, they say, and it’s true. Your whole perspective changes and suddenly you feel much, much older.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Hands down, my son Harry.

How did mentors influence your life?

Their kindness and generosity, sharing their time, ideas, experiences and contacts, impressed me deeply. This gave strength when one needed it, and also a key through many doors that may have otherwise remained locked or unnoticed. Their bright example is what made me want to be a mentor as well. In 2008, I was thrilled to be named Shine Outstanding Mentor of the Year. Shine is a national industry award for female talent management in the UK hospitality and tourism industry. It was started in London by two ladies of Italian origin who wanted to make a difference to how women were seen and wanted to see themselves in the industry.

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

Don’t hide your light under a bushel.

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

One fabulous mentor, Diane Morris who runs TIAW, recommended that I join and get involved in good networks. I have never looked back since. Someone who is less a mentor than a caring colleague has always signposted me to great articles, events, people and organisations.  Through him I’ve got involved in the Oxford Brookes University Bacchus Mentoring programme for final year hospitality management students. I now mentor a very motivated girl from Sweden and a very bright young man from Hong Kong.

What aspects of Gina’s story can you apply to your situation? What would be your five great ideas and takeaways from this interview? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. 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.

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About Gina McAdam

Before founding Stratemarco, a successful London-based marketing and communications consultancy, in 2003, Gina was Head of Marketing and later Head of Policy Development & Public Affairs for the National Training Organisation for the UK hospitality and tourism sector. Today, she is a highly-regarded communications expert whose work brings her into regular contact with leaders of some of the best known brands in the UK and global hospitality and tourism industry. Highly versatile, she also undertakes assignments for key public,private and voluntary organisations beyond the sector.

Gina was raised near Washington DC and Manila. Moving away from the family traditions of law, banking, agriculture and medicine, she started her career in advertising for Ace-Compton/Saatchi & Saatchi in Manila where she handled various Proctor & Gamble accounts, and at J Walter Thompson Advertising Company, handling the Anne Klein, Cacharel and SC Johnson brands. After that, she travelled extensively, writing and teaching in Madrid and working in publishing in New York. Today, she is regularly invited to contribute pieces to publications in the Far East – it is her way of keeping in touch with her Asian roots.

Highly committed to diversity in the workplace, Gina has been on the board of City Women’s Network (CWN) and is now on the board of The International Alliance of Women (TIAW). She is a member of the European Professional Women’s Network and a Changemaker for the UK charity Working Families.

Gina is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors, and a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), for whom she was a guest speaker at the 2008 IABC Eurocomm Conference in Barcelona. She is a member of the Institute of Director, and holds an MA in English & American Literature from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and is an alumnus of De La Salle University, Manila and Henley Management College, Windsor.

This is an interview with Don Martelli, VP, MS&L. He makes a fine invisible mentor (unique leader who you can learn things from) and you’ll agree when you read Part One of his interview. It’s very gratifying to see senior level professionals who understand that life is more than them. In the interview Don shares with you how he succeeded in his field and what someone starting out should do. He talks about the three events that shaped his life and you may be surprised by his answers. In his interview, you’ll also learn about his biggest challenge and how he resolved it, how mentors have helped him and a whole lot more.  I will post the second part of the interview on Friday, where you’ll discover the books that influenced him and the ones he would like to have on a deserted island.

Tell me a little bit about yourself

I am a 14 year-veteran of the communications business. I started out as a reporter for the Boston Globe and worked for six years in the education space in PR and marketing roles. I’ve worked for three top PR agencies, working on technology, corporate, healthcare and consumer accounts. Currently, I’m a VP and Director of Digital Communications with MS&L Boston (www.mslworldwide.com). You can find out more about me at www.donmartelli.com.

What’s a typical day like for you?

A typical day for me is one where I’m writing blog posts for our agency and some of our clients. I’m living in Twitter and other social media services all day. I’ll happen to design a piece or two for our new business process. I’ll also have a couple of client calls, media stories to pitch, bloggers to interact with and account management issues to deal with as well. To put it simply, I never have a typical day. The only thing that’s typical about my day is that whatever it is I’m doing, it’s typically done online and via some social/web 2.0 channel.

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

One great program we’ve developed and are still working on is one with Best Doctors (www.bestdoctors.com). They are an expert medical consultation service for large US employers. They work with employees to ensure that they are getting the right diagnosis and the right treatment. Basically, they help employees make better healthcare decisions. We wanted to inject the company’s point of view on healthcare reform into the online conversation, which is a very crowded one. Our first step was to launch a blog — www.seefirstblog.com. We then worked with the president and COO on messaging and tone as it related to the company’s POV on reform. Once we started to generate content, we connected the main author — Evan Falchuk, president and COO — to other online influencers in the healthcare space. We knew that making the right connections via services like Twitter, would get the blog’s content read and discussed in the space. Since April, we’ve had major news outlets like Wired, Atlantic Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, pick up See First Blog content online. Additionally, we’ve been linked to from Instapundit and have hosted the very popular healthcare blog carnival Grand Rounds. All of this work has resulted in over 2,000 unique visitors a month. We’ve topped off at nearly 4,000 due to trackbacks from Instapundit, Wall Street Journal, etc.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

The biggest lesson was that social media is not about volume. It’s about connecting with the right people that can help you move the needle.

How did mentors influence your life?

Guidance, education and common sense.

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

Be smart. Think things through. Be yourself.

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

Too many to mention. However, that’s the great thing about learning. There’s so much content in this world to digest. The key is discovering what your passions are and running with it.

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

Read, read, read and read some more. You can never read enough.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

My big break was when I was hired as a writer for the Boston Globe. I got the job through my cooperative education program at Northeastern University. Without the Globe experience, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

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

I honestly don’t consider anything in my life to be a failure. I am where I want to be because this is the path I have chosen.

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

Again, no big disappointments for me. Everything happens for a reason. You need to learn from everything in life and determine how you can benefit from that experience in the future — negative or positive.

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

I had a good job with a local college preparatory school and decided to leave it to come to MS&L. It was tough because I loved the mission of the school and I loved where it was headed. However, the opportunity to be part of a top, global PR agency with the reputation that MS&L had was one I couldn’t ignore.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Getting married, having kids and going to Northeastern University. Marriage and kids keep me grounded. That’s what is important in life. Knowing that I have a family to provide for is all the motivation I need. As for the NU experience, as I said, without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today professionally.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Raising two beautiful and healthy daughters.

What did you learn from this interview and how might you use some of the 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.

Do you know how to solve your own problems? You have been asked by the new management team to look at the feasibility of re-introducing a product, which failed five years ago, what steps do you take before you report back to them in two months?

I am experimenting with the way I present information, so I am posting a previous post but in a different format. Please let me know which format you prefer. How can you use the information in the presentation to solve the challenge outlined above? Are the steps given, detailed enough for you to follow them?

Now let’s re-frame the problem slightly, the management team has asked you to re-introduce a product, which failed five years ago. You have been given six months to launch the product. Using the Reverse Problem Solving Technique, how do you proceed? Let’s keep the conversation going, what are your thoughts?

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