Latest / The Yield Doctor with James Deaker / Marc Grabowski
Transcript
- 0:00[Music]
- 0:03my guest today is Mark robowski and we
- 0:05are going to be talking about how to
- 0:07develop better managers in technology
- 0:10companies and particularly in digital
- 0:12media Mark has held executive roles at
- 0:16companies like crio and Yahoo he was the
- 0:19COO of nanigans and the CEO at perio and
- 0:24most recently he was the Global Group
- 0:27vice president in at Oracle in charge of
- 0:30their go to market for their advertising
- 0:32product I have seen firsthand that Mark
- 0:36leads with passion conviction and
- 0:39integrity and the teams that he has had
- 0:42under him have responded and respected
- 0:44those qualities mark thank you so much
- 0:47for joining me today James thanks so
- 0:50much for having me it's uh it's an honor
- 0:51to be part of this this series excellent
- 0:54well thank you um in most of these
- 0:57questions I want to focus Less on
- 0:58individuals and more on how to set up
- 1:01programs to ensure that companies have
- 1:04good management
- 1:05practices but before we get there I want
- 1:08to level Set uh on what makes a good
- 1:11manager and I have worked with people
- 1:13who in my opinion have been effective
- 1:16executives but poor managers and and
- 1:18vice versa so in your mind what makes a
- 1:21good manager what makes an effective
- 1:23executive and what makes a good leader
- 1:25in a company and and how do you view the
- 1:28skills that support each of those roles
- 1:31you know years ago I was talking to a
- 1:34leader who I worked with and he helped
- 1:36uh helped me Define management versus
- 1:39leadership and and I think you bring
- 1:40another piece in terms of being a good
- 1:42executive Into The Fray here I always
- 1:44think of a of a manager is someone who
- 1:47helps uh teams get stuff done manage
- 1:50metrics um and uh are the doers the
- 1:53deliverers uh on the front line um
- 1:56leaders I I usually think of as people
- 1:59who can
- 2:00um set a strategy in place who can
- 2:02motivate people who can get people to
- 2:04align around uh a key deliverable um and
- 2:08Executives a good executive needs to be
- 2:10able to do both and to be able to go
- 2:13through the different layers and
- 2:15understand what does the company need to
- 2:17deliver how do we set objectives um on
- 2:20the team levels so that every single
- 2:22person on the team knows that what
- 2:24they're doing today is important and has
- 2:27an impact uh you know I I I've seen some
- 2:31um you know some managers who are very
- 2:33effective at managing a day-to-day but
- 2:36uh cannot really bring that sort of
- 2:38passion of leadership to the table and I
- 2:40think that's one of the areas that it's
- 2:43uh it's a learn skill it takes time to
- 2:46develop um but if you have enough
- 2:48passion for it you can develop that so
- 2:50it's I I do think that um great great
- 2:53managers bring that leadership to the
- 2:56table and great leaders can really set
- 2:58the set the tone for their teams and
- 3:00help those team members follow along
- 3:02with that let me push on that a little
- 3:03bit because the way you you you're
- 3:05thinking about it it's almost like a
- 3:06executive is a senior person to a
- 3:09manager which is often the way a lot of
- 3:11companies do their titles like manager
- 3:13is the first management experience that
- 3:15you have I think how I've often thought
- 3:17about it manager means people manager
- 3:20and the development of the skills of the
- 3:22teams underneath them and often
- 3:24executive means sort of a way of
- 3:26engaging uh at a more strategic level
- 3:29within an organization it sounds like
- 3:32for you an effective leader needs to
- 3:34have both but how do you think about the
- 3:35different skills that make up sort of
- 3:37people manager versus effective
- 3:40executive yeah I i' I've never really
- 3:42loved the term people manager but I I
- 3:44know you're saying in terms of having a
- 3:46team uh of people that you are directly
- 3:49overseeing what their responsibilities
- 3:51are I I think of the the management
- 3:53function itself is one where it's um
- 3:56delivering on those metrics delivering
- 3:58on whatever your objective as a team uh
- 4:02you've set forward to do that's the
- 4:03management piece that's the breaking
- 4:05down the overarching objective and
- 4:08saying all right these are the roles the
- 4:11different people on my team have to have
- 4:12to achieve to get there uh these are the
- 4:15ways that we can look at metrics and
- 4:17deliverables uh to get there um you know
- 4:20another piece that a manager uh can
- 4:22often be responsible for is finding out
- 4:25how to build those bridges across teams
- 4:28I think that's one area that um you know
- 4:30early managers uh don't recognize all
- 4:33the time but as you sort of get through
- 4:35get into your management career how do
- 4:36you build those different Bridges from
- 4:38uh your team to other teams how do you
- 4:40find out um how teams can work best
- 4:43together I I think of management as as a
- 4:46specific discipline um leadership uh I
- 4:49think encompasses um management but I
- 4:52think it also encompasses Vision um
- 4:55being able to drive that Vision being
- 4:56able to drive that excitement uh across
- 4:59an organization and great Executives I
- 5:02think have to do it all I think they
- 5:04they really have to be able to um take a
- 5:06vision to the company sell it up sell it
- 5:08across get investment uh get time to
- 5:11invest uh and then explain to their
- 5:14teams why this is something um that they
- 5:17should buy into and if the teams don't
- 5:20buy into it they need to be open-minded
- 5:22and hear uh what their team members are
- 5:24saying and then you know make make
- 5:26changes as according uh as I mentioned
- 5:28in the introduction you have experience
- 5:31in both relatively small companies and
- 5:33relatively big companies and and again
- 5:35bringing my own personal beliefs you
- 5:37kind of need to do both over the course
- 5:39of your career to learn the skills I've
- 5:41often said I don't believe that I could
- 5:43have been effective going straight from
- 5:45a startup to Yahoo if I hadn't done a
- 5:48stop along the way at Microsoft to
- 5:50really get a sense for how different a
- 5:53big cop Corporation can operate let let
- 5:55me push you on the question of what are
- 5:59the SK skills that someone needs to
- 6:02focus on in a small company versus a big
- 6:05Corporation to be
- 6:08successful I think it at first makes
- 6:10sense to think about the major
- 6:12differences between small and large
- 6:14companies and again these are
- 6:15generalization so um different companies
- 6:18are going to function differently but
- 6:19often you see that small companies can
- 6:21be more Nimble and move faster uh they
- 6:23have less layers that you need to go
- 6:25through for approvals uh and uh
- 6:28depending on the size of that company
- 6:29you can maybe talk to you know the
- 6:31person in go to market who's going to be
- 6:33sitting right down the hall from you or
- 6:34the person legal or wherever it is so
- 6:36you can have that conversation um share
- 6:39your perspective and then make some
- 6:41change uh Rel relatively quickly large
- 6:45companies um you don't always have that
- 6:47luxury sometimes you do but sometimes
- 6:49you don't and uh and as a result uh the
- 6:52cycle of change happens slower um so I
- 6:56think that one of the the areas that uh
- 6:59large companies that leaders need to
- 7:00have is a level of um patience um but at
- 7:05the same time urgency and I think that's
- 7:08that's a a hard balance to strike where
- 7:10you want to get things done quickly but
- 7:12you have to also understand that not
- 7:14every Hill is one to die on um the other
- 7:17piece with uh with a small company
- 7:19that's great is you you can you know
- 7:21it's very easy to have conversations
- 7:23one-on ones sit with your team members
- 7:26uh see them face to face in many cases
- 7:29uh and um understand uh understand a lot
- 7:33about different processes through
- 7:35collaboration larger companies sometimes
- 7:37you don't have that that opportunity if
- 7:38you're managing a um you know a
- 7:4110-person team it's easy to spend time
- 7:43with your team members a couple times a
- 7:44day if you're managing aund or a
- 7:46thousand person team is much harder so I
- 7:49I find that some of the things that you
- 7:50do in a small company um get lost when
- 7:54you're when you're overseeing a much
- 7:55larger team or functioning in a bigger
- 7:57organization and I think that that's a
- 7:58mistake I think that's one of those
- 8:00things that one-on ones team meetings
- 8:02skip level conversations they become
- 8:04even more important when you're managing
- 8:06a large organization it's one of the
- 8:08things I've always fol sorry go ahead
- 8:10well no I was just gonna say in that
- 8:12small company versus big company um how
- 8:15do you think about the right allocation
- 8:18of time and I'll give you a a personal
- 8:20example I don't think I initially knew
- 8:24that I needed to allocate more time to
- 8:27sort of networking with peers in a big
- 8:30company and sort of even just doing the
- 8:33rounds explaining what my team does if
- 8:35you come out of a small company as you
- 8:37say you can meet at the coffee pot and
- 8:40everybody knows what your team does or
- 8:41at least they might have a sense in a
- 8:43bigger company I hate to use the phrase
- 8:45you have to sell it but you really have
- 8:47to make people aware of what your team
- 8:49does and so your time allocation is
- 8:52different how how have you do you think
- 8:54about that yeah I I don't know if I've
- 8:56ever broken it down to a specific time
- 8:58allocation of when I need to sell ideas
- 9:00through to peers or or when I need to to
- 9:02hear and understand uh what each of my
- 9:05peers or uh other team members do it's
- 9:09it's more of a function of that's just
- 9:11that's part of the uh the process so I
- 9:13don't know if it's necessarily a
- 9:14specific time allocation but time does
- 9:16need to get allocated to it what I will
- 9:18say is um one of the things that I found
- 9:21that's very helpful is especially uh
- 9:23when you're managing large organizations
- 9:25and Matrix organizations that have
- 9:27different functions is uh spending time
- 9:30within each of the functions so I'll
- 9:32give you an example um at at crio I was
- 9:36managing our Global Supply organization
- 9:39that had a function that was a
- 9:40commercial organization had a technical
- 9:43account management organization um data
- 9:45science product Supply quality and brand
- 9:48safety and there's no way that I could
- 9:50be an expert on every single one of
- 9:52those functions on a daily basis you
- 9:54can't you can't do that but at the same
- 9:56time I had I had great leaders uh you
- 9:59know in my organization who are managing
- 10:00each of those functions um each of them
- 10:03would come with a specific set of asks
- 10:04or needs or things that uh needed to get
- 10:07done um for me to truly understand them
- 10:10I needed to have a better level of
- 10:11subject matter expertise than just like
- 10:13a one on a scale from one to 10 so what
- 10:15I would do is each couple of weeks I
- 10:17would do a rotational so I would spend a
- 10:20week going very deep into Supply quality
- 10:22and brand safety and uh have incident on
- 10:25meetings have every conversation that
- 10:27needs to be had uh within that
- 10:28organization across that organization as
- 10:31though I was actually leading that group
- 10:33now I probably wasn't qualified to lead
- 10:35any one of those groups but it was
- 10:36really important to be able to get into
- 10:38those conversations and see what my
- 10:40leaders were going through and the uh
- 10:42and kind of those underlying stress
- 10:43points that each one had so once you do
- 10:46a one week or two week rotational you
- 10:48get a better understanding of what each
- 10:50leader and what each team is going
- 10:51through then when they bubble something
- 10:53up to you they say this is urgent and
- 10:55important it needs to get done you
- 10:56actually have context there so um so
- 10:59that's that's the way that I usually um
- 11:01spend time not only going deep into my
- 11:03own organization but going across and
- 11:06it's around a specific topic and it's at
- 11:09the kind of beest of one of my leaders
- 11:11okay one of the the toughest transitions
- 11:14for anyone in their career is the first
- 11:16time they become a manager and I'm gonna
- 11:18use the phrase again a people manager
- 11:20you know and I'm not talking about sort
- 11:21of what I'd call fake management of one
- 11:23or two direct reports but but a real
- 11:25team under you and suddenly you realize
- 11:27that you have to change mindset and a
- 11:30lot of people struggle with that they
- 11:32struggle with how they should spend
- 11:33their time and how they should learn to
- 11:36be a manager what is the advice that you
- 11:39have for someone in that first year or
- 11:42two in a in a management role dealing
- 11:45with um people issues for the first time
- 11:48often wanting to uh demonstrate still
- 11:51their skills as an individual
- 11:52contributor and not realizing that the
- 11:55sort of the game has changed for them I
- 11:58think that's the hard hardest thing for
- 11:59any new people manager uh to do is they
- 12:03probably uh got promoted into that role
- 12:06because they're very strong individual
- 12:07contributors uh and they're probably one
- 12:10of the best not the best on that team or
- 12:12in a given or on a similar team at doing
- 12:14that job so it's always difficult uh to
- 12:18say um to give guidance uh and not do
- 12:21for your team so I think there are a
- 12:23couple of things that that need to
- 12:25happen one is that uh that new manager
- 12:28uh needs to very quickly understand what
- 12:30the objectives of the overall team are
- 12:32so working with their leaders and their
- 12:34Executives uh to understand what do we
- 12:36have to accomplish to be successful as a
- 12:38team as a unit at the end of this
- 12:40quarter at the end of this year um share
- 12:43that back with the team make sure the
- 12:44team is aware and you have Buy in from
- 12:46the team on those overarching objectives
- 12:49across the team then it's a matter of
- 12:51sitting down with each of those team
- 12:52members and determining what their
- 12:54objectives and key results are what
- 12:56their kpis need to be and how they can
- 12:58actually deliver against those kpis on a
- 13:01quarterly monthly weekly basis whatever
- 13:03it might be to be successful as a team
- 13:06the manager then you know uh in terms of
- 13:09keeping those those team members
- 13:10accountable uh has to have those
- 13:12followup conversations followup meetings
- 13:14and jump into problems where they can
- 13:16help to solve those um but uh only to a
- 13:19certain level if they find that they're
- 13:21um solving all of the problems
- 13:23individually in doing the work for the
- 13:26team they they either haven't set the
- 13:28direction right or they have the wrong
- 13:29team members the Second Challenge I
- 13:33think a lot of new managers have is um
- 13:36they probably had a lot of uh issues
- 13:38with the way that things were done
- 13:39across teams uh that they could
- 13:41highlight before they were a manager and
- 13:43now that they're a manager uh they don't
- 13:45immediately go into fixing those issues
- 13:48and building those bridges across teams
- 13:50as I kind of think about leaders
- 13:52managers Executives um there's it's sort
- 13:55of like um you know building
- 13:56infrastructure building roads you know
- 13:58an executive needs to lay out this is
- 14:00where we need the roads and this is why
- 14:01we need the roads and the bridges there
- 14:03um the leader needs to make sure the
- 14:05team can buy that the manager needs to
- 14:07actually go and get those roads and
- 14:08bridges built and you know if you use
- 14:10that sort of as a mental model um the
- 14:13manager needs to understand where those
- 14:15bridges need to be built across teams to
- 14:18um to take some of that stress off of
- 14:20their team to take some of that workload
- 14:21off their team if it's something that
- 14:24needs to fall into other teams so again
- 14:26set the kpis injectives for their team
- 14:28and then take the uh uh take the extra
- 14:31friction out of the system how as a new
- 14:33manager do you know how much to jump in
- 14:37how much advice to give and and again
- 14:39I'll give context from an example in my
- 14:41own career one of the most difficult uh
- 14:45management roles I had was when I was
- 14:47managing a team of very desperate
- 14:50experience someone was effectively you
- 14:53know straight out of University one or
- 14:54two years out someone was 10 15 years
- 14:57into their career and the types of of
- 14:59conversations that you're having with
- 15:01those people are very different and I
- 15:03imagine very challenging for a new
- 15:05manager how as a new manager do you make
- 15:08that judgment call as to how much advice
- 15:11to give how much to lean in how much to
- 15:13tell someone how to do that
- 15:16job yeah it's it's going to be different
- 15:18on every occasion as you mentioned um
- 15:20and you know I often try to think about
- 15:22what is the person bringing to the table
- 15:24that's unique and that's um that's good
- 15:26uh no no one's going to be perfect at
- 15:28all aspects of the role but you know
- 15:30what role does that person play on the
- 15:33team to help the team and then is that
- 15:35uh individual contributor learning are
- 15:37they improving over time are they
- 15:39improving quickly enough um if you find
- 15:42that you're uh giving guidance and
- 15:44advice and helping uh and helping but
- 15:46those people aren't internalizing it
- 15:48there's another problem there might be a
- 15:49training issue there might be an
- 15:51understanding issue a communication
- 15:52issue but you've got to kind of U
- 15:55unstick that piece if they're learning
- 15:57if they're improving and you can see
- 15:59that they're on the right path uh to be
- 16:00a greater contributor um then you're
- 16:03probably leaning in enough the other is
- 16:06to to speak with normally when someone's
- 16:08in their first level manager role um
- 16:11there are other managers who are going
- 16:13to have similar roles um they're they're
- 16:15not a standalone in their organization
- 16:18so talking with their peers and having
- 16:20that conversation to understand how some
- 16:22of those team members have progressed uh
- 16:24on their teams understand good
- 16:26experiences and not so good experiences
- 16:28they've had with with team members and
- 16:30how they've managed through can be very
- 16:31helpful as a manager you're not out
- 16:33there on your own it feels like it at
- 16:35some point um but it's it it shouldn't
- 16:37be a lonely job you have a lot of peers
- 16:40probably to lean on whether they're in
- 16:41your company or other companies um where
- 16:44you can have a similar conversation
- 16:46actually work through some of those
- 16:47specific examples you shouldn't be
- 16:48afraid of of networking having those
- 16:51conversations okay um we've talked about
- 16:53individuals and individual managers but
- 16:56when you think about the sort of what is
- 16:58the systematic areas that most companies
- 17:01need to pay more attention to when it
- 17:04comes to either developing good
- 17:06management skills or slightly broader
- 17:09good corporate decision
- 17:11making yeah that's um the decision-
- 17:13making is an interesting one um and in
- 17:16in terms of General management skills uh
- 17:19I think that there are a few things that
- 17:20can be uh taught and um kind of
- 17:23institutionalized throughout an
- 17:25organization um the first is
- 17:27understanding who actually owns a
- 17:29decision um so first off align
- 17:31initiatives make sure that everyone
- 17:33knows where you're supposed to be going
- 17:34when you got to get it delivered by and
- 17:36why it's important so understanding the
- 17:38why uh becomes very important you know
- 17:41everyone's read Simon syndic at this
- 17:42point uh most you know a lot of people
- 17:44have read extreme ownership and you have
- 17:45to understand Mission Clarity and where
- 17:47we're going great then it's a matter of
- 17:50uh defining what is the decision that
- 17:52needs to be made um and uh what I try to
- 17:55do early in that process is roll out and
- 17:57and it sounds very cons and it is um but
- 18:00the rapid decision-making process um and
- 18:03if for anyone who hasn't um laid out
- 18:06rapid it's uh recommend agree perform
- 18:09input and decide um and each person
- 18:12within a process is assigned one or some
- 18:15of those different roles uh I won't go
- 18:17too much into detail there but the most
- 18:19important thing there is to um is to
- 18:21identify who the decision maker is who
- 18:23owns the decision I try to do that
- 18:26before you you go into the debate before
- 18:28you start to lay out all of the the
- 18:30casework to make the decision because
- 18:33often you get to the the end uh of of
- 18:36the negotiation and three people think
- 18:38that they own the decision and then it
- 18:39becomes a fist fight so I think it's
- 18:41very important to lay out what each
- 18:44person's role is in getting to that
- 18:46decision and for people to identify that
- 18:48no I don't own this decision you know
- 18:51James does um and that you're going to
- 18:53align behind that uh and that that other
- 18:56people will bring that that piece to the
- 18:57table that that is the role of an
- 18:58executive as well to lay out how are we
- 19:00going to identify decision makers how
- 19:02are we going to identify what your role
- 19:03is in making this decision and what are
- 19:06those um you know those North stars that
- 19:09we have to align around to drive that
- 19:11decision okay uh I want to ask you a
- 19:14question about intensity and but to tell
- 19:18it I to ask the question I have to talk
- 19:20about your intensity and I think one of
- 19:21the first times I met we were in a gym
- 19:24together and you were you saw me and you
- 19:28recommended a workout it was called the
- 19:29300 workout it was like 50 pull-ups 50
- 19:33press UPS uh 50 deadlifts and and so on
- 19:36and I couldn't do the workout and I
- 19:38trained up and you after a couple of
- 19:40months later I came back to you and I
- 19:42was like Mark great news I did the
- 19:44workout and you're like how long did it
- 19:46take you I like 50 minutes and uh you
- 19:49were like 50 like five z Oh that can't
- 19:52be right I think I took 22 minutes I was
- 19:55like 22 do you remember the cavard or
- 19:57your response for how you managed to get
- 19:59it done in 22 minutes I I I think you're
- 20:02probably going to remind me of how I got
- 20:03it done in 22 minutes I I think you said
- 20:06that you had to stop and throw up a
- 20:08couple of times to get it done and so uh
- 20:12again no no judgment but it gives you a
- 20:14sense for how intense and passionate you
- 20:16are when you take something on so
- 20:18actually let me ask the question you
- 20:21have a lot of drive a lot of intensity
- 20:25two-part question how do you inspire
- 20:29similar levels of drive and intensity in
- 20:31those around you and those that you're
- 20:33leading and if you're not seeing that
- 20:36passion and intensity as a as a manager
- 20:39and a leader what do you
- 20:41do yeah so first off that that was a
- 20:44good 10 years ago that 300 work I'm
- 20:46pretty sure right now it would take me
- 20:47the better part of an hour as well so uh
- 20:49let's let's start right there uh and and
- 20:52I'm I'm also confident that you can
- 20:53squat bench and deadlift a whole lot
- 20:55more than I can these days James so
- 20:57let's let's not downplay that
- 20:59um but when sorry go
- 21:02ahead when it comes to intensity um I I
- 21:05don't know I think we're all wired a
- 21:07little bit differently and I think
- 21:08that's that's one thing to call out um
- 21:11for me I I tend to I'm I'm you know like
- 21:14a a dog on a piece of meat when I'm uh
- 21:17going after something I get really
- 21:18interested in it I go after it 100% um
- 21:21and it's you know it's just sort of that
- 21:24uh that's the you know singular Focus
- 21:27there's a book called The One thing and
- 21:29I sort of believe that that there's only
- 21:30really one thing that you can do 100%
- 21:32and be that focused on I think that we
- 21:34all try to you um you know be balanced
- 21:37and and uh spend our time doing all
- 21:40these different things it's very hard
- 21:41for me to do that um you know I I try to
- 21:43go all in uh all the time on just like
- 21:46on a given thing um but I think that
- 21:48there's there's there has to be a good
- 21:50why behind that there has to be a good
- 21:52purpose for it um for that workout or
- 21:55for if I'm running an ultramarathon
- 21:58you know ultramarathons are are one of
- 22:00those things I do these races now that
- 22:02are 50 miles or 100 miles like nobody
- 22:05can really Run 100 miles and not feel
- 22:08some pain uh it's Gonna Hurt it's gonna
- 22:10suck your body's GNA break down your
- 22:12mind's G to break down but the only
- 22:13thing that's going to get you through it
- 22:15is uh having a really strong purpose and
- 22:17why you started that and um I've I've
- 22:21luckily always or almost always had a
- 22:23good purpose and why to get to the end
- 22:25of that uh to that race and it's the why
- 22:28is stronger than my excuses um and I
- 22:31think that's a really important thing I
- 22:32think it's similar when when you're
- 22:34talking about driving a team the team's
- 22:36got to understand what their purpose is
- 22:38on the project uh what their purpose is
- 22:40on the team how they can drive that
- 22:42success for themselves and for their
- 22:44team members um you know when we think
- 22:47about um different um different
- 22:50motivators there's like you know you can
- 22:52go to the masa's hierarchies of needs
- 22:54there's the really basic ones the food
- 22:55shelter safety ones but when you start
- 22:58to go a little bit further up uh in that
- 23:00hierarchy it's how do people create peer
- 23:04relationships how do they feel like
- 23:05they're part of a community like they're
- 23:07a contributing member of a community um
- 23:09how can they um you know help other
- 23:12people win how can they be in the
- 23:14service of others uh those are the types
- 23:16of things that uh I find that are are
- 23:18really motivating for team members uh
- 23:21when they can you know get to that
- 23:22actualization that they're um you know
- 23:25that they're an expert in something that
- 23:26they're driving value uh for not just
- 23:29for themselves but for other people that
- 23:31usually becomes one of the primary
- 23:33motivators uh for that intensity it's
- 23:35different for different people but I
- 23:37found that's normally a pretty Common
- 23:39Place Let's Talk About Management
- 23:42specifically within the digital media
- 23:44industry and I think there's a couple of
- 23:46common characteristics or challenges one
- 23:49is it's an industry that while becoming
- 23:51mature now is you know still evolving
- 23:54very quickly in terms of how standards
- 23:57are used who the dominant players are
- 24:00how the ecosystem evolves you know
- 24:02basically the the number of things that
- 24:04a manager should should be worried about
- 24:06is constantly growing what does that
- 24:09mean in terms of how a manager or an
- 24:12executive within digital media needs to
- 24:14operate differently than a manager or an
- 24:18executive in other
- 24:20Industries well I think there are a few
- 24:22things one digital media moves very fast
- 24:24from a technical standpoint from a
- 24:26privacy standpoint regulations all those
- 24:28pieces so I think that there's um in
- 24:30terms of needing to keep up and do the
- 24:34right thing um those have become
- 24:36increasingly more important in the last
- 24:38decade um there was a time where you
- 24:40know again we use the terms Wild West a
- 24:42lot and you know if you think about
- 24:44digital media in 2000 2003 2005 we we
- 24:49are just Paving the way at the at that
- 24:51point and um we were all trying to do
- 24:53the best that we could but you know then
- 24:56um the the revenue started to grow the
- 25:00size companies started to build out the
- 25:02number of people coming to the space
- 25:04increased and we still didn't have the
- 25:06controls that we needed and I think that
- 25:08that kind of puts us in a a strange spot
- 25:10that we're in today where there's a lot
- 25:12of Regulation there's a lot of privacy
- 25:14requirements so we have to move quickly
- 25:16in terms of addressing those the other
- 25:19is uh the consumption habits change
- 25:21formats change channels change um at one
- 25:24point it was you know just text on a
- 25:26screen then it was you know dis display
- 25:28and video and CTV and mobile and all
- 25:31these different formats um and and when
- 25:34you U take those formats plus privacy
- 25:36and regulations and then a global scale
- 25:39because this is no longer just one
- 25:41country uh that you focus on at a time
- 25:44you have to focus on global scale uh all
- 25:47of a sudden you have to be um making the
- 25:49right decisions that can actually stand
- 25:51the test of time um so I I think that
- 25:54when we think about the digital uh space
- 25:56there's just a lot of change it moves
- 25:57quickly
- 25:58and we have to think about those
- 26:00decisions of how are we going to look
- 26:02back on these decisions in 10 or 20
- 26:04years and say did we do the right thing
- 26:06to sustain that industry and that model
- 26:09uh at that time and this is this is
- 26:11interesting because the people who are
- 26:13in individual contributor all the way up
- 26:15to Executive roles now are the ones who
- 26:17are going to determine if this industry
- 26:20sticks around or grows uh over the next
- 26:2220 or 30 years brilliant thank you uh as
- 26:26we start to come to a close any Clos
- 26:28thoughts on either common mistakes that
- 26:30you see managers make that aren't
- 26:32discussed enough or or thoughts that you
- 26:35have in terms of where people should be
- 26:37taking more time and attention around
- 26:39their management
- 26:40practices well there there are a few on
- 26:42that maybe we can kind of break those
- 26:44down I we'll maybe start with the
- 26:45mistakes then kind of end on a higher
- 26:47note of where people can spend the time
- 26:48the the mistakes that I think a lot of
- 26:50managers make is uh they I mean man we
- 26:53all make I should say many mistakes um
- 26:55whether it's leading from an ivory Tower
- 26:58um you know and and being two hands off
- 27:00or just being in the weeds all the time
- 27:03and micromanaging both are both are bad
- 27:07uh and it's finding that uh that middle
- 27:08ground and the thing is it's it's also
- 27:11going to be um team member by team
- 27:13member some are going to want you to be
- 27:15more involved and more Hands-On and some
- 27:17are going to want you to you know just
- 27:18set Direction and back off so there's
- 27:21there is no one management style that's
- 27:23going to work for all team members um I
- 27:25think a second thing and I I recognize
- 27:27this when I uh first got a CLE title or
- 27:30maybe second time got a c-l title title
- 27:33kind of doesn't matter um it's it it's
- 27:36sure it it matters on your LinkedIn for
- 27:38a minute but it doesn't matter your team
- 27:40if you're not bringing value to your
- 27:41team it does not matter if you're a VP
- 27:44is CEO none of that matters the only
- 27:47thing that matters is how can you bring
- 27:48value to your team and to your partners
- 27:50and customers on a daily basis so I I
- 27:54think that the uh the mistake that a lot
- 27:55of managers think is that all of a
- 27:57sudden from one day to the next they're
- 27:59automatically empowered and people are
- 28:00going to fall in line it just isn't
- 28:02going to happen unless you're bringing
- 28:03them some value um another issue is not
- 28:07performance managing and I know this
- 28:09sounds like it's you know uh it's one of
- 28:12those like oh you gotta gotta fire
- 28:14people and move people out that's not
- 28:15necessarily the case but it's very very
- 28:18important for people to know what
- 28:19success looks like and to um you know to
- 28:23to live by that and to you know to
- 28:25deliver on that hold yourself
- 28:26accountable but also make sure that your
- 28:28team is accountable um a players want to
- 28:31work with a players and they see a lot
- 28:33of people slipping by on a daily basis
- 28:36um they don't want to be there so you'll
- 28:37start to lose the a players so keep your
- 28:39team accountable but make sure that they
- 28:41know what success looks like um I think
- 28:45another is when people think linearly
- 28:47about Talent of like well you're in this
- 28:50um individual contributor one role
- 28:51you're next as individual contributor
- 28:53too I think there there are a lot of
- 28:55times where there are leaders that are
- 28:56buing your organization that you need to
- 28:58jump up several levels because they've
- 29:00got a great opportunity to lead and
- 29:02they're just getting buried there if you
- 29:04don't move them quickly they're going to
- 29:06find another role elsewhere so identify
- 29:08that talent and continually uh you know
- 29:11find ways to get them onto new projects
- 29:13and into new roles and I think that the
- 29:15uh the last one um as I kind of think
- 29:18through this I wrote an article on this
- 29:19recently uh don't be an idiot and don't
- 29:21be a Wim so when people take on a new
- 29:24role I I take this from from running as
- 29:27well so in marathons or ultramarathons
- 29:30the first half don't be an idiot don't
- 29:32go out too fast um but in the back half
- 29:34don't be a wimp it's going to hurt it's
- 29:35going to be hard get over it and a lot
- 29:38of managers will get into a new role and
- 29:40they'll just immediately make change and
- 29:42try to bring their own team in and um a
- 29:44lot of the good people on the team are
- 29:46like I'm I'm you know they're not
- 29:48listening he's not listening to me and
- 29:50they they leave so take some time take a
- 29:53beat but then once you know the right
- 29:55direction don't be whim make the hard
- 29:57decisions and move forward so those are
- 29:59some kind of pitfalls that people fall
- 30:01into hey thank you so much for for
- 30:03taking the time I always find it
- 30:05incredibly useful talking to you and I
- 30:08hope others uh get some benefit from
- 30:10your wisdom really appreciate it thank
- 30:13you hey James thanks so much for having
- 30:15me this has been a lot of fun excellent
- 30:17catch you later
- 30:20[Music]