Joseph McCormack, Author of Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less – Interview

Joseph McCormack, Author of  Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less – Interview, Part II  

Invisible Mentor: Joseph McCormack, Author of  Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less
Company Name: The Brief Lab
Website: http://www.thebrieflab.com/joe-mccormack

Part One: Introduction

Avil Beckford: In a couple of sentences, tell me a little bit about yourself.

Joseph McCormack: I am an entrepreneur. I started a business, a marketing agency about eight years ago that has been very successful, and I am a family man. I have been married for twenty two years and I live in suburban Chicago. 

Part Three: Life

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

Joseph McCormack: There was a time, probably fifteen years ago, when I was doing some consulting work in the Aerospace Industry. One of my clients had for many years been very keen on getting an introduction to American Airlines. I took it upon myself to make that happen, so I worked the connections and things like that. This is an engineering firm based in Alabama, so I set up the appointment – it was a big deal. There were three different engineers in this firm – very senior people that flew to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I was in Chicago and flew there to meet. We met at the airport – the terminal. We rented a car, and like most airlines, they have maintenance facilities that are located in the airports, so airports have perimeter roads. We are on this perimeter road driving around, we were early, we had a bit of time, so we were driving around trying to find this place. This is before GPS and maps and things like that. So we were driving around, and couldn’t find the place and it was really odd. I was looking for the address; I have a very good sense of direction, I was just driving around until I decided to just call and find out where the place is. So my clients are in the car with me, I pick up the phone and called. This woman that picks up the phone, she said, “How can I help you?”

I said, “I am driving around here, I don’t know where I am, and I am looking for an appointment with American Airlines.” And she said, “Where are you?” I start describing, and she stopped me right mid-sentence and said, “You are in the wrong city”.

I said, “That’s impossible” and then I realized that American Airlines has two different maintenance facilities, one in Dallas, Fort Worth and one in Tulsa, and I assumed that this meeting was in Tulsa. I had never confirmed the simple details, which facilities these people were located at. I just assumed that it was in Tulsa.

What did I learn from that experience? It was absolutely humiliating. Sometimes you fail and there is nothing you can do to hide the failure. It was brutal. I was humiliated in front of my clients. There was nothing I could do to hide it. They felt terrible for me. I felt terrible, angry and sad. All these emotions were going through my mind and there was nothing I could do. There was no way to get to Dallas, Fort Worth. It was a complete failure.

So what did I learn from that? I learnt the feeling of what it is to fail when you haven’t prepared. What I take from that is – you have to constantly cross your t’s and dot your i’s, and be ready. You cannot assume even the smallest detail is insignificant. I have a much deeper empathy for people around me when they fail because I failed like that. That feeling I’ll never forget, which made me a better person. It’s a terrible thing, but I learnt a lot from that. So you can learn from failures, but that feeling is one that I don’t really want to feel again.

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

Joseph McCormack: About fifteen years ago (the same time I was doing this consulting work), the consulting company that I had started. It was small, just three people. It was doing well, but not nearly as well as I thought it needed to do, and one of the toughest decisions was to close it. One of the largest clients was not doing well financially and the business was not growing as fast as it needed to grow. I need to be open to the possibility, I had it all figured out, but this did not go as planned. The decision to stop the business was very difficult because I thought that to close the business means that I am declaring it a failure, and that decision opened up for me my next job, my career, the book that I just wrote, and the next company that I started. Had I not closed that business, had I not been open to the next possibility in my life, I would probably still be stuck in a below average consulting company.

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

Joseph McCormack:

1. The first event was in college, I studied English Literature but I worked through college as a journalist. I was a columnist at the paper for my University and I was a writer. So studying journalism was a big influence because it helped me to discover my passion for narrative and for storytelling, which is what I do now. That was a huge thing for me to have a background in journalism and to understand good journalism and learn from some great journalists.
2. The second influence in my life was after I graduated from school. I went to Spain for two years and I taught myself Spanish. I had no prior exposure to the language. I went there and it was like you are twenty-two years old and you had to relearn your life. You have to relearn how to speak, you can’t communicate, it was humiliating, it was difficult, there were still a lot of trials at times because I lived by myself and I was teaching English in Spain. I was a bit lonely, but the whole experience was very good for me because it taught me to learn, and to learn new skills at an age in life when people just don’t do that.
3. The third thing, related to going to Spain, is my wife. Had I not done that, had I not gone to Spain, I would have never learnt Spanish. My wife is from Barcelona and she speaks Spanish. Had I not learnt Spanish I wouldn’t have met her.

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

Joseph McCormack: There are few, I think the one that I am really proud of is writing my book, Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less. It’s a business book that came out in mid-February by Wiley and Sons, New York. I am proudest of the book because my motivation for writing it was not based on ambition. It was based on people around me telling me that I had an obligation to write a book, and I didn’t want to, and they said I would make people better. I wrote this book because I felt very strongly that if people read it, it would make them better professionals. So I am really proud, it was a lot of work, but it’s a handbook on brevity that professionals can use today to make themselves and their ideas, and their companies stand out, especially in an information economy where there is a lot of information, and brevity is a new weapon to help people stand out.

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

Joseph McCormack: 

Some may seem obvious, but these are really profound lessons that I have learnt, and they are in no particular order:

1. The first is – say please. Don’t assume anything, you have to ask people, and saying please is powerful.
2. The second is saying you are sorry, early on, especially in a marriage. At work when you make a mistake, it’s not healthy if a person is not saying sorry frequently. People make mistakes all the time, but they don’t say they are sorry, and you have to say you are sorry if you make mistakes.
3. The third is to say thanks. Recognize on a regular basis the people around you for what they do for you.
4. The fourth is to make the people around you better. As a professional, and as a parent, my job is to make the people around me better. If I am doing that I’ll get better.
5. The last one is to prepare more and worry less.  I find that I’ve lost a lot of peace in my life by just worrying about things, don’t worry about things just prepare more.

Those I would say are the five: say please, say sorry, say thank you, make people around you better, and prepare more – worry less.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people (living or dead) that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what one question would you ask them?

Joseph McCormack: This is a great question.

1. I am Christian so the first person I would want to meet is Jesus Christ. What would I say to him? I would say “Wow! Thanks.”
2. The second person I would want to meet is C.S. Lewis. What would I ask him? What was his relationship and friendship like with Tolkien because they were both writers. And what was it like to write The Chronicles of Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia Complete 7-Book Collection with Bonus Book)? He is an amazing writer.
3. The third person I would love to meet, absolutely love to meet, is kind of an obscure Catholic Saint in some circles – St. Thomas Moore. He was the Chancellor of England, he was a martyr, he was married with five children, a lawyer, and he was highly respected in England at the time. He gave up his life for his beliefs and he was considered in England one of the top professionals and had a great sense of humor and I would love to meet him. What would I say to him? What were the last few days like in the Tower of England?
4. The fourth person I would like to meet is General George S. Patton. He was a great military leader and I would probably ask him about military strategy in North Africa, in Europe, and about his philosophy and leadership.
5. And the last person I would like to meet is my grandfather. All these people on my list are dead. My grandfather was an Irish immigrant who died five years before I was born. I never had a chance to meet him, and what would I ask him? What was my dad like when he was growing up?

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

Joseph McCormack: There were a lot of books that influenced me. The one that I think has the most influence is a little book, less than a hundred pages, and it’s called The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. It’s a book that I read when I was in High School, and it is written by William Strunk and E.B. White. E.B. White is famous because he wrote Charlotte’s Web (My review of Charlotte’s Web).  This book was impactful for me because it helped me be a better writer. It has guidance about how people can be better writers. So it’s just a masterful book, which has been around for many years. It had a big impact on me because right in the middle of the book there is a section with some advice which says, “Omit Needless Words” and when I look back, I realize with the book that I just wrote, (Brief), is carrying the legacy of that book, of that advice “Omit Needless Words” that to be a good writer is to be concise, is to be thoughtful and to say what you need to say – not more. Give the reader what the reader needs. And that book has always been nearby.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on different deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the time? The prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million.

Five Books 

Joseph McCormack:

1. The first three books would be the Lord of the Rings trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (Movie Tie-in): The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King). I would bring those three books.
2. The fourth book would be by C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters.
3. The last book would be The Bible.

If I were not reading I would spend the time writing, assuming I have a paper on the deserted island.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Joseph McCormack: I am happy when I am at home after a day of work, whether it’s a great day at work or a terrible day at work. I am happiest when I am there. I have thought many times about all the places that I have been in the world, and where I am going in the world, and there is one place that I am happiest, and that is at home.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Liked this post? Share it and subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more! If you’re new to the blog, visit the Start Here page for my pillar posts.

Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.

Book links are affiliate links.