The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘The Tipping Point’

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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Today I present Donna Whitney, and as usual there are many lessons to learn. Her response to the question, “Tell me a bit about yourself” was quite long, but weaves a very interesting tale that we can all learn from. One potent lesson for me after reading it was, if it doesn’t feel right, walk away, don’t compromise your values. I have to think about how to present it so I’ll do that for tomorrow. From the information presented in this interview, what are five takeaways? How can you use the information in your situation?

What’s a typical day like for you?

There is no such thing as a typical day for me, I wish there was. Because our business is very much an entrepreneurial start-up within a really large organization, we are everything. I am sales and marketing and distribution, and finance. Of course I do not do all those things without the support of the right parts of the organization, but really, we do most of the heavy lifting ourselves.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I don’t know that it’s a conscious thing for me. I absolutely love what I do, and when I don’t love what I do, I end up changing what I do so that I love it. It’s never been the same thing one day to the next. I seem to change my job title every 18 months.

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

I think that I would be kinder. I think there are a lot of people in my working experience that I could have shown a lot more grace to, especially in the early years when you are struggling to make your mark you get a sense that everything matters so much. In the grand scheme of things, 10 years from now you aren’t going to remember the offences you had to bear. I would have turned my cheek a lot more and be a lot more forgiving.

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

I’ve discovered Grooveshark and I really quite enjoy it. It’s an online radio that allows you to stream music for free.

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

Probably IPTV and the introduction of new entrants that make it possible for people to do things in a different way. That helps my team because that is the niche in which we play in. So every part of the traditional Rogers business is being assaulted by new competitors and new ways for people to do the same things.

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

1. The first threat would be the larger organization taking over our entrepreneurial start-up because then it wouldn’t be a start-up. If we were to be ingested by the larger organization then it would be much more difficult for us to do things the way we now do them.
2. The inability to deliver on all the opportunities that we have, and this threat has to be managed by making sure that we have the appropriate processes and people in place to do what needs to get done.
3. The third threat would be taking on too much all at once because there is an awful lot that can be done and ought to be done so it’s a question of timing.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Everything! I think what’s truly unique about what we do is that we do it within such a large organization in such a small way. It really is the best place to be in the company.

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

If you say that my field is large telecom, one of the things that large telecoms do incredibly poorly is being responsive and flexible to customers. If you’re saying that it’s people who do the things we do and are doing them poorly, it’s that we capitalize on the fact that we have a huge brand, and it really helps to open doors when you are carrying a Rogers business card. And a lot of those smaller companies don’t have that advantage.

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

There are always technology challenges. There is always a problem that needs to be solved, and I have been blessed with an amazing team that looks at issues as opportunities. And I don’t say that to be cliché in any way, shape or form, they truly do see things that way. I think another major challenge that any group faces is to maintain a healthy culture, and that has a lot to do with establishing boundaries up front and we’ve done that, we’ve sat down as a team and talked about our personal values and our values as a team.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

1. From a technology standpoint, one thing that we’ve learned is that it needs testing before you sell it. We’ve had a few hiccups where things seemed to make sense and not defy the laws of physics in principle, but in practice things never go as they appear. So rigorous testing and making sure that you build a demo lab is a must. It’s also important to have your customers as partners so that you can do that learning together. There should be a degree of agility and responsiveness by both partners to adjust to the things that happen along the way.
2. The more important one is establishing that team trust and integrity, and that’s been key for our overall success.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

My big break came from David Robinson for sure. And that was the break from marketing traditional “I’m going to create this piece of collateral or view this marketing brief” to the switch to technology, to engineering. And really David Robinson was a huge proponent, advocate and supporter of me in those early years, especially when I don’t have an engineering ring, and I certainly don’t intend to. My guys are engineers and I think there has to be a bridge with those with marketing and that kind of skill set meshing with the people with technology because there is such value in marrying those two things together. I would have been a propeller head by interest but not by design, and Robinson took me under his wings and knew that about me but brought me in anyway, and gave me the biggest opportunity of my career so far.

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

The biggest failure that I’ve ever had and it wasn’t a monumental thing, had a lot to do with being more gracious in certain circumstances. I remember this one time I had a client that just drove me over a fence, this person was like nails on a chalk board and I could have been a lot more professional, but I let it get to me one day and I lost my temper. For the long-term repercussion I’m sure that no one remembers it but me, but it left such a profound impact on me to realize that, it was just work and I should let it go. I think what I took away from that is the ability to take myself a lot less seriously.

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

It would probably be how the music industry treated people back in the eighties. The experience has made me more sensitive to the diversity of people coming into circumstances and trying to appreciate where they are coming from.

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

I think it is having to let someone go, pulling the trigger when you have to fire them. I’ve had to do that now on a couple of occasions and I think one thing I’ve learned from those decisions is to make them slowly, cautiously and transparently so that when you are approaching that time in someone’s career, you let them know what’s coming down the pipe as soon as you can.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

1. My experience in the music industry
2. Moving to Toronto
3. The move from marketing to engineering

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

My ability to make sour dough bread, it’s kind of an art form.

How did mentors influence your life?

During different parts of your life you have different mentors for different purposes. I think that I’ve learned a lot of grace and maturity from the spiritual leaders and giants in my life. I am a huge fan of John MacArthur, and R C Sproul. From a work perspective, I think some of the giants in the company, the women that I have the pleasure and honour of working with really teach me a lot about the strength of women within this corporate environment because there are so few at the upper echelon levels.

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

Speak less and listen more.

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

The Tipping Point was a very good book. I had a mentor Maxine Armstrong – who I still consider to be a mentor – who was a great wealth of reading resources, so I’d have to say that that was a big one. In Moments of Magic the message was consistent and my mentor at Tronica referred that book to me. One of the members of my team recommended that I read Hoops which was by Greg Jackson the basketball coach. That was a really good book.

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

Be patient with yourself and listen to really hear, not just to absorb the information, but to understand it. It’s an entirely different thing from hearing a message and understanding the message. I think that too often people rush past the information so that they can contribute their own thoughts. It’s not about being heard, it rarely is about people hearing you, it’s what you hear from others that matters.

What are your thoughts on this interview? What was expected and what was unexpected? 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.