In the latest episode of Work Mom Says, Don’t Be an Idiot, join Work Mom (Lori Jo Vest) for a fascinating discussion with Bob Cargill about his new book, “Twenty Jobs, Twenty Lessons.” Cargill uses his book to share twenty critical lessons he learned during his lengthy career in marketing, advertising and copywriting.
Themes discussed in this episode
- The importance of joining industry organizations
- Conquering the fear of public speaking
- How to build your personal, professional brand
- Don’t settle for a toxic workplace
- Take advantage of every opportunity
- Don’t take rejections personally
- Be prepared to reinvent yourself
Featured Guest
Expert Guest: Bob Cargill
Title: Adjunct Professor, President of AMA Boston, Social Media Consultant, Content Creator, Copywriter, and Public Speaker
What He Does: He is a copywriter, content creator, social media marketer, consultant, subject matter expert (SME), teacher and public speaker. He also has a podcast on marketing and a YouTube channel with hundreds of videos.
Connect: You can find him on LinkedIn, on his Website, and on his YouTube channel.
Buy his book, Twenty Jobs, Twenty Lessons – a Long, Strange Career in Marketing, from Junk Mail to Social Media.
Episode Highlights
Timestamped inflection points from the show
6:10 – Join industry organizations and network, network, network: Industry and trade organizations are a great place to build leadership skills and create strong relationships.
14:20 – Ways to build your online personal brand: From LinkedIn and other social media channels to blogs and podcasts, there are so many ways to build your personal brand.
24:30 – Workplace culture now vs 30 years ago: 30 years ago, Bob would have told people to develop thick skin and toughen up to survive the workplace. Now, don’t be afraid to leave a toxic workplace and prioritize a more people-first company culture.
34:20 – Rejection can really hurt: You shouldn’t take rejections personally, but sometimes it’s healthy to let yourself feel the hurt and cry it out.
41:20 – Reinvention is critical: Whether you’re fired or choose to move on, it’s necessary to change, grow, and evolve in your career.
Quotes
- 4:05 – “I haven’t come this far to only come this far. I’m still hustling and have a lot ahead of me.”
- 7:45 – “With any volunteer group or industry association, if you work hard enough and stick around, you’re going to get a chance to lead that group.”
- 9;10 – “I will strain my potential until it begs for mercy.”
- 38: 15 – “I’ve had a lot of highlights and a lot of triumphs, and it’s all due to hard work and less being gifted with natural talent than being gifted with natural drive.”
- 38:55 – “Separate yourself from the competition. You have to deliver more and more and better.”
- 44:40 – “I’ve always felt it’s important to be changing and growing and evolving. That makes life more interesting if nothing else.”
Who is our ideal listener?
We do this podcast for young professionals, so they can learn to play the emotional context sport of business and experience. We also do it to help them experience less drama and more success.
The ideal listener to me is anyone who is struggling at work with emotion management and anyone who’s struggling on an emotional level in the workplace. Honestly, that happens to all of us at some point. We get all knotted up about something. Someone was nasty to you in the parking lot before you went into work, so you’re a little anxious to start. The person that you sit next to gives you a dirty look or slams their office drawer. There’s just all these things that happen in your life day to day, and they create an emotional response.
At work, we’re expected to be logical. How can you be more logical and less emotional? Be strategic. What we talk about on Work Mom Says has a lot to do with being strategic at work, being able to look at the big picture, not getting lost in the weeds. I tell people to back up, you put down the magnifying glass, look at the big picture when you’re responding to something. In doing this, you will understand that what’s really upsetting you right now will be something you don’t even remember next week.
Being crabby, saying something negative to somebody at the office, or putting a snarky comment in an email isn’t really productive because from a strategic point of view, it’s all irrelevant. You should be looking at it from a logical perspective. Some of that involves framing, reframing, and being attentive to what you want your end goal for the situation.
What value can people get from listening to this podcast?
Listening to Work Mom Says is a really good way to grow your personal mood management skills, to grow your ability to reframe situations, and look at things from a strategic point of view so that it’s easier to go into a work situation and get the most positive results.
When emotions go up, logic goes down. So, when you can keep your emotions steady and stable, and not grab a hold of that feeling of angst and make it worse, you’re going to be more logical in what you do. You’re going to make fewer mistakes. You’re going to be more productive overall. You’re going to have stronger relationships.
Another value I think people get out of this is learning to create connected positive relationships that last over time. That’s not always easy. A lot of what we talk about on Work Mom Says involves being able to create connected positive relationships and work environments, so that people want you on the team. You become an asset, and when you’re an asset, you’re going to be more successful.
I also like to talk about developing traits like optimism, persistence, tenacity, stick-to-itiveness, sticking with things, and approaching every project with a curious mind instead of a fearful mind.
Why do I do this?
I do this because I naturally fell into the Work Mom role when I worked in the ad agency business, and I had so much fun with it. I also realized I had made just about every mistake there is to make. I don’t hold myself out there as any kind of stellar example of truth and how you should be. I hold myself out there as someone who has been bruised and battered and beaten up and learned some really important lessons. I’d love to share these lessons with young people, so they don’t have to make those same mistakes or be the idiot that I was, and I was an idiot. However, I learned so much, and it’s really rewarding to share that with young professionals and help them avoid some of those mistakes and get to that success sooner.
I also want to help them realize that a lot of things our culture prioritizes aren’t really important. We talk a lot about what should be important and how to present your best face at the office, so you can succeed.
Episode 19 – “Teachable Moments In One Man’s Career” appeared first on Work Mom Says.