The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Di Gallo’

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.

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“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.