Jenifer Kay Hood

A commitment to the truth and developing creative problem solving. People know they can trust my word. I listen deeply to what people believe and create communications that address misconceptions. People need to feel heard. I connect people, person to person, business to business, and service to service. If people are confused I address that confusion.

My mentor Barrie Lynn Krich said always find a way to tell the truth. This is a woman who worked for Toyota, Pendleton, Greyhound, and other major corporations, and she believed that communications should be truthful and respect the consumer.

I think a big thing that's happened with our country is that people have gotten so enamored of money that they've forgotten one simple fact: truth is respect. When you disregard people's intelligence you insult them. It's disrespectful. Your whole country, your whole society, falls apart when people are disrespected.

First and foremost, save every nickel you can. I don't care how cute those shoes are. Save every nickel you can. If you don't need those shoes, that means need them as opposed to want them, then don't buy them. I think that is the number one piece of advice I would give. Make a distinction between what you need and what you want. You need food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare. You don't need three dozen pairs of shoes. You want them.

The other thing is be willing to be wrong. It's another golden rule, as far as I'm concerned. Be willing to be wrong. If somebody with way more experience says, "I think we should do it this way," trust that expertise unless you have a really good reason not to. If you do think you have a better idea, be prepared to defend it cogently. This means you also have to learn how to be right, to stand up for your own point of view, but with humility. Hubris is the enemy of career success.

I think the biggest challenge is AI stealing your stuff and calling it someone else's. We've got to do something about intellectual property. Just to give you a for instance, I have a website, youngvincentorigins.com. It's about my book, Young Vincent, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. The poet was known as Vincent to her friends and family. Now, although I made it crystal clear that my subject was a woman, my website provider's AI marketing assistant wrote an article about Vincent Somebody who was on the TV show Beverly Hills 90210. The AI didn't even bother absorbing who my website was about. It just generated something about some random guy named Vincent and would have sent it to my followers if I hadn't proofed the article. I no longer allow AI to "help" because that reflects on me and makes me look ignorant about my subject.

I am concerned that my work will be stolen despite my copyright. This goes for all my books. That's a huge challenge right now, navigating the defense of intellectual property.

The Golden Rule, honesty, and taking responsibility for the times you screwed up. You must be willing to look hard at yourself and say, "oh, I shouldn't have said that," or "oh, I was a little too harsh there," or "I could have done that a better way."

I think taking responsibility is really, really huge. Telling the truth is huge.

If I may get philosophical, I'm a strong believer in love. I think you have to love people. You have to love people even when they disappoint you. Nevertheless, you have to know when to pull a plug and love people from a safe distance. I'm much more discerning than I used to be. Love and the Golden Rule are absolutely critical.

If people treated people the way they want to be treated the world would be a much better place. No one wants to be lied to. No one wants to be unfairly pre-judged. No one wants to be cheated. No one wants to be abused. If one treats others with kindness, compassion and respect, that is usually reflected back to you--and when it isn't, one is justified in pulling back to care for oneself the way one would want to be treated.