Interviewee Name: Kevin Popović, Communications Director
Company Name: Ideahaus
Website: http://www.ideahaus.com
Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Kevin Popović: My job has evolved. I call myself a communications director so I help my clients direct all their communications – marketing, strategy, corporate identity and branding, advertising, design issues, public relations and quite a lot of social media these days. Quite simply, I help my clients figure out what to say and how to say it to their target markets.
Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?
Kevin Popović: It’s never been un-integrated. I’m very transparent on both sides, many people are not. I have never felt the need to differentiate. Who I am as a professional is who I am personally. The things I do professionally are the things I would run home from school to do, and to do for free. I joke that I have been very fortunate to get my clients to pay me for the things that I’ve always wanted to do as a kid.
Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?
Kevin Popović: I’m actually writing a book on that and I’ll keep you posted if I ever get it done.
- If you don’t ask you don’t get.
- We take care of our own.
- Don’t believe your own bullshit.
- There should be honor among thieves. Many of us are trying to do the same things and to that point, a man or a woman has to have a line that you are not just willing to cross. Some people don’t have that line and I think that will be their downfall.
- When you leave the house remember whose name you take with you.
Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?
Kevin Popović: I surf. I ride my motorcycle really fast. It’s usually exercise or some sort of physical stimulus because my job is so mental, that I have to think so much, so with surfing I don’t have to think so much. Riding my motorcycle fast I can’t think about anything else but staying on that motorcycle. Or I watch a lot of the Simpsons.
Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?
Kevin Popović: I get in front of my computer and turn the music up really loud and I’ll get a Red Bull or pick up a coffee or a Mountain Dew, some kind of caffeine and I click through the tunes until I find one then I start singing. Everything kind of falls into place. My process is very mental, I need to be in good spirits and I need to not be distracted.
Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?
Kevin Popović: “Never give up, never surrender,” and it’s a quote from the Tim Allen movie Galaxy Quest. It is one that my father and I joke about frequently, so I think it is my favourite because it instils persistence, and because it is a shared laughter with my father it means more to me.
Avil Beckford: How do you define success?
Kevin Popović: Getting what you want out of life.
Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?
Kevin Popović: Doing what you have to do to get what you want out of life.
Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?
Kevin Popović: I’ve always tried to keep moving forward, lateral at worst, never backwards.
Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?
Kevin Popović: Eliminate the excuses as to why you don’t have the next thing you need to succeed.
Avil Beckford: 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?
Kevin Popović:
- I always wanted to meet David Ogilvy, but I think the poor man has passed. He is the father of modern advertising. And I’d love to just talk shop with him.
- Groucho Marx because I find his insight as well as his wit outstanding.
- Matt Groening just because I’m a Simpsons fan and I would love to know how he keeps his team so motivated after 21 years.
Outside of that I think I’ve met everybody that I’ve wanted to meet so far.
Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?
Kevin Popović: My minor was psychology and the book was Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion and it helped me to understand why people do what they do. At the time, I was 19 when I read it and thought it was one of the more insightful things and it explained so much to me that it helped me understand how to communicate better to people.
Avil Beckford: 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.
Kevin Popović: If I’m on a deserted island I want five empty books and a box of pens because I’ve done a lot of reading, but I’ve got so much to write and I never have enough time to do it without distraction.
Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?
Kevin Popović: The soundtrack from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? I would take both the CD and the movie.
If you cannot view the YouTube video of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? click here.
Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?
Kevin Popović: The fact that I feel that I can do anything that I honestly want, and that’s not in a financial sense. It’s more in a decision-making process. Quite honestly, under this umbrella that is Ideahaus I can justify exploring and investigating just about anything. My mother likes to say that is my spoiled inner child, and my father thinks it is my low threshold of boredom, but it works out for me.
Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?
Kevin Popović: I live at the beach, I go surfing. I surround myself with good, happy people.
Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?
Kevin Popović: I would wish for money but just enough to pay my bills and have a couple extra dollars in the bank so I could pay attention to life and my work. I don’t need millions and millions of dollars, but I would sure like to be not distracted by the responsibilities of bills and paying things so I could focus on my work.
Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..
Kevin Popović: I have nothing to worry about.