Lauren Weiner

I had a really good coach early in my career who gave me transformative advice about building relationships with senior executives. She told me that when I felt like the senior guys weren't listening to me or I couldn't get their time, the best way to get on their radar was to ask one of the most challenging people to be my mentor. This strategy allowed me to establish a dedicated monthly connection with them, get to know them on a different level, and make them feel invested in my growth. It wasn't manipulation, but it was a way to stroke the ego while making a stronger connection with senior execs. When they were ready to make a move, they would have a stronger connection with me and believe how hungry I was. I've done this in every company I've ever worked with, and it has been one of the most impactful things. They feel invested in my growth, which is different than when you're just hoping they see you. Now it's really important for me to do that for other people and mentor the next generation.

I'm going to go back to my mom. She gave me the best career advice I ever had, and there are two versions of it. First, dress for the job you want, not the one you have. And she doesn't mean just in clothes - she means show up and be the person even before you are that person. You walk into that room like you're the expert, like you know it, and you're confident, and you dress appropriately. The second part of that advice is you never leave before you leave. If you have made a decision that you want to move on, or if this isn't a fit, you work at that place like you're coming back tomorrow. You want to leave that place behind with a little bow on top so the next person can come in and scale exactly what you've built and the processes you've left behind. Now that I'm a CMO, I try to think like I'm a CEO, even though I don't want to be one when I grow up. I think like that because I want to perform at a higher level all the time, and I always want to make sure that I leave an organization in the best possible standing. You never know where you're going to see people again, so you never leave before you leave, even when you know that opportunity isn't the right one for you. You show up.

My advice would be to figure out what aligns with your interests. You don't just take the job because you want to check a box and get a paycheck, because what you do day in and day out every week is so important. For me, remembering that interviewing is like dating - we are both trying to find what's the best fit. It's not just about being selected, being chosen. It's about finding your home. I wish I could go back and tell myself this, because I found myself in a few positions that sounded good because I worked at Forbes or whatever, but once I got under the hood, I realized it wasn't everything I wanted. It was all about getting the job, and then I realized I could have checked for culture. Do I like the people I'd be working with? Do I feel inspired by the people I'm working with? It's not about getting the job, it's about finding the right culture fit, and that means both are being interviewed, not just you trying to pass a test. You're entering into a relationship. You're about to do this for half your life every day, so it's really only going to be happy if you find a home.

I think it's really difficult for people today when they've gone to school and they had a passion, and all of a sudden, that thing is being taken over by artificial intelligence. It's really important to understand that AI can do a lot, but it can't replace people because it can't replace judgment. It's important to find and do those things that you really want to do, but also find a way to incorporate that into your everyday. Writers and designers are all feeling like, oh my gosh, I went to school to do this thing, and now this computer and robot can do it for me. So I think it's really important for them to find a way to incorporate that into their specialty and their craft. The way of the world is moving in that direction, but what it cannot take is the human judgment out of it. Having that experience, being able to say what it just spit out is not perfect, and we can do better, and keep iterating on it until it is what you would have considered if you were designing it by hand. The biggest challenge is not feeling debilitated by the changes that are happening and the digital transformation, and still understanding how important having an opinion and being decisive is. If you asked me this six months ago, I would have said it used to be all about becoming a specialist, and now it's important to be a generalist. It's really hard to be good at everything, but that's what a lot of companies want these days - people that can do a little bit of everything, when it used to be all about having a specialty.

The most important value is having a strong level of awareness, because you need to be able to look within yourself and hold the mirror, and take the feedback, and really see what's around you. Secondly, I would say making sure you're listening and not waiting to talk. It's so important that you might have something that you want to say really badly, but if you're not listening to what's being discussed, you may just sound like you're coming out of left field because they've moved on from the subject, or you're not really hearing what's being generated in the room. It's so important to be present and aware, and also reflect - watch recordings of yourself on calls, find the things that you want to improve. And then my last thing is humor. Finding the fun and the laughter in everything that you do, because work is hard, it's not always fun. But having good people around you and laughing a lot is the most rewarding thing, and celebrating wins. It's so important to me to have awareness, a little bit of fun, making sure I am listening to everyone around me, what's important to them, what makes them tick every day. What motivates you might not motivate your counterpart, and it's so important when you're listening to people, you know a little bit about them and what's going to make them work harder, work smarter, and feel good about what they do every day. You gotta have fun, and when it stops being fun, that's when it's time to find your next spark.