Thanks for checking out this section so that you can fully understand what I’m trying to create and do for you. I’m taking a different approach to more precisely fill a specialized need. This is a blog but it’s all about efficiency as I’ll explain.
My Vision
My career has woven through many roles while taking me to the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. I have worked with a number of impressive people and have accumulated a wealth of wisdom through my unique experiences, all of which I feel compelled to share freely. My wish for you is that you can read this blog and find nuggets of insight throughout, so that you can decide if marketing is right for you. If it is, I want to help you be successful. Quickly.
If I can positively impact the career or life of even one person, this project will be worth the effort. I grew up in a blue collar environment and was the only member of my family to continue my education beyond high school. I have an awesome family, but I lacked trusted mentors who could help me nurture my passions and guide me through my career path. I figured it out quite well, but it took time. I’d like to drastically shorten the cycle for you.
‘From the Inside’??
Being a huge fan of double entendre both within and outside of business, I couldn’t help but pick a title that hints of a few unique but related messages. It’s perfectly suited to what I’m going to do for you in these areas:
- I want to develop you from the inside out. The focus here is on you as a leader and artful master of how you deploy your knowledge of brand and strategy. The more academic stuff can be taught in school or read about in Brand Week or Advertising Age. I want to start from the roots of what makes for a great marketer and then help you be that person by how you think and by what you do. Like me, this blog is more introspective.
- There seems to be some insight gaps out there, even with all the information accessible via the web and various offline career resource tools and offices. I picked up on this while heading up MBA recruiting with Johnson&Johnson (J&J), listening to all the questions current and prospective students had. I encounter too many students and existing marketers who don’t get their questions answered to their complete satisfaction. I have been able to do this on a 1:1 basis. And now, I want to share my experiences with you as someone who truly has been on the inside, helping others manage what goes on, on the inside. I think I’m the guy who can deliver those missing a-ha moments by the way I communicate and approach even the most standard content.
- OK, so much for the double entendre. Here’s a bonus theme: empowerment and accountability. I’m wired to look to myself first whenever I want to improve any condition in my life. Throughout this blog, I will encourage you to do the same, because I’m of the opinion that the events in your life are in whole or in part what you cause. So, assume full accountability for everything while you embrace the power that comes along with the responsibility.
A hybrid of blog and web site.
Despite the convenient blog format, I’d prefer to think of my offering as a concise toolkit for marketers. The concept of a blog makes me a little nervous, as if I have to upload marginally-relevant posts every second day to hear myself think and nurture a following. That’s not the idea. I suspect I’m going to net out at 40-50 posts max and then refine, edit, update existing material as I go. My goals do not involve amassing a den of followers upon which I can I build another career (although if that happens, great, but that’s not the point).
That sort of vision creates a false sense of urgency to create content. Not only that, if you want to appeal to the masses you have to water down your offering with headlines of false promises and simple formulas to become employed, rich or happy. Those types of blog posts can be found everywhere but to me they are just extended memes of empty calories. I’m not selling an ab machine that will get you a beach body in only 8 minutes a day aha.
Instead, I’m looking to provide a concise platform of the most necessary information, at the ready. Don’t expect posts entitled, “The 150 Greatest Tips to…”; I will challenge myself at every turn to get to the point and not ask you to wade through years and pages of archived posts to get what you need. As I said, I’m sticking to the essentials, and striving for truth and insight…which I trust will maximize impact, and utility for you.
I will focus on marketing careers…for now.
I find that the broader the scope (for the sake of pulling in a larger audience?), the less specific the information becomes. Because I want to be ultra-relevant to marketers, I will keep only you in mind as I write. Still, others would benefit since much of my blog will apply outside of this discipline.
As of about 2015, I lied, mostly since my career focus has shifted firmly into the entrepreneurial space. Lots of learning to be had and even more bad advice than there is good. I need to weigh in. So for the sake of not being completely true to my branding, I have extended into the startup world. Love, love, love it.
Who is this for?
Identify target market. Marketing 101, right? While over time I’ll appeal to marketers in all career stages, I’m going to for now focus a little more on the early phases, say those in late teens to 30s. I will post content dedicated to anyone who is thus far just considering a career in marketing, whether they be in school or in some other job. The rest is for existing marketers who are looking to get to the next level…or simply need to reach out for insight and direction that is lacking in their current situation. For the rest of you, no reason to worry; I’ll take care of you in good time.
I will start with the basics.
You will find that some of the topics will feel a little routine in the earliest posts. Even within those, I can bet you will pick up a few observations that you haven’t read before. Topics will gradually become more specialized as time goes.
I’m not (necessarily) here to entertain you…
…but at the same time I don’t want to bore you 🙂
This isn’t meant to be a breezy lifestyle blog; I’m going to start out by creating awareness for this blog in environments such as academia, including Career Services departments. For that reason, I will be a bit more serious. Those who know me tend to find me informal with a healthy mix of spirit and dry wit. All wrapped up in the capacity to be quite direct. Oh, yeah…some of that will come out, definitely.
I say ‘informal’ to give myself license to fail repeatedly with my grammar. I used to be amazing at it. And now? My English has gone to hell with so many things in this world. There are more false subjects in the text of this blog than a….than a….than a….(ok, there’s just no juicy way to finish that sentence. Next…)
A little tough love.
There are moments when it will become quite apparent that I’m not here to build your self-esteem. I want to help you become successful and make the best choices. To do this, I will inject some tough love over the course of being candid. I operate that way for the sake of clarity. Don’t hate me. There IS ‘love’ behind the occasional ‘tough’!
We are all a function of our experiences.
As I address different issues in this blog, I will recognize that my opinions are likely to be a more accurate representation of marketing life in bigger companies or traditional CPG. Where possible, I will qualify my opinions and comment on how they would be different in different types of companies as I have also worked in more compact departments and environments. I plan to dedicate some specific posts about different types of companies and industries so be on the lookout for that. Nevertheless, there will likely be some disagreement between us based on my posts. That would be natural, as we are all a function of our own experiences. Our differences could most likely be reconciled 1:1.
I’d love to hear from you.
Send a message using the contact form below. I will read it and reply. I welcome your (constructive!) feedback while I’m also happy to send additional information offline given that I’m trying to keep my posts as brief as I can. I’m also interested to know where you have lingering questions but can’t seem to find answers that completely satisfy you. That’s my specialty!
Enjoy, my friends. I’m designing this blog as something I needed to read years ago.
UPDATE FOR 2016:
Hey again. You will have probably noticed some evolution in subject matter in the last round of posts. Over the last year especially I have been scratching several itches in the startup and culture space. Fun times. My career has turned into these areas and as a result, so has my content. Kind of off-brand, so I’ll think about how to reorganize my content and brand this better. The angle remains mostly marketing but now has three pillars:
- leadership
- entrepreneurship
- culture and org development
My perspective is based on the current but is regularly projecting into the future. As I have pointed out in some articles, I’m not looking to help anyone be great at doing business the way it was done ten years ago. No one’s hiring for that, amIright??
(Continue to) enjoy….
MARKETING: from the inside 