Morgan Mason

You know, I think that had you asked me before all this, that might be a self-indulging answer. I would have said someone like my mom or Maureen. But I'm gonna give myself some props here, and I'm gonna say I owe it to myself. I think that before this, I probably would have given a cookie-cutter answer, but I'm really proud of the things that I've accomplished, and I'm proud of the life that I'm building for my son, and that alone is... he's my biggest motivator. It's crazy what you can accomplish when you're not given a choice, right? I think a lot of my work ethic comes from my mom, who was a working mother. Growing up, it was always weird when you're younger that everyone has their mom around, but now that sacrifice I felt really, especially now as a single mother. She really stressed having her own independence, and she gave everything to us but still chose herself and was disciplined, kept her job even if she didn't need to, because she understood the importance of having her own independence across the board, not even just financially. Both my sister and I are very, very hard workers, and I think that's why a lot of people say they like us. We're just very motivating and we want the best for everybody.

100% the juggling the glass versus the rubber balls type thing. I was telling my mentor Maureen recently that I feel like I'm failing at everything I do, I feel like I'm half-assing everything I do. And she's like, Morgan, that feeling will never go away, which was incredibly validating in that moment. But then she was like, think about it like you're juggling. You have glass balls and you have rubber ones. Your main goal is to identify which ones are glass that you can't drop, and which ones you can, and it will still be okay. That completely shifted my framework of how I was approaching life and giving myself a little bit of grace. It really was just what I needed to hear in that moment, and it was great. That changed my outlook on life in five seconds.

I would say the majority of the way that I've got jobs, whether it was iHeart, Audible, or SiriusXM, has been through connections. When I started at iHeart, I had a friend who I went to middle school with who I hadn't talked to, but we had known each other since 3rd grade. I applied to a job and reached out to him, and he connected me. People will say it's all about who you know, and I think that part of that is true, but I also think it's about how you show up to other people. I think nowadays, the idea of authenticity and kindness has been on the back burner. The connections that you make, it's not just going to industry events and checking the box or phoning it in or just showing up because your manager told you to. I think that showing up with kindness and being engaged and open, and take that damn chip off your shoulder. Humility, I guess, is the right way to say it. Being humble and kind. Sometimes having the coolest thing at an industry event or wearing the coolest clothes or whatever doesn't really make up for authenticity and being yourself. That's the most important thing, and I think that nowadays people are craving that more than ever. If you can show up as yourself with your own authentic ideas and something, and be able to disagree in a good way, and having that... I read a book called Radical Candor for Maureen that was really helpful. That's honestly the best advice I could give, is just being humble and being kind and being receptive to what people are telling you, because people do want to help you.

I would say career growth and career path is definitely the biggest challenge. I think that nowadays, if you're trying to make more money in my industry, really the only thing you can do is jump jobs. I don't want to do that, obviously, at SiriusXM. The people are incredible, and what they have done for me has been incredible. When my husband passed, they retroactively covered him on our health insurance so I didn't have to pay $2 million in medical bills. They supported me when I had no leave left because I'd just come back from maternity leave. My coworker Kate set up a GoFundMe for my son that raised a ridiculous amount of money. I think that's why I have a very good reputation there, because I'm a hard worker, I take accountability, I genuinely enjoy what I do, and obviously that paid off because there are people that want to help you when you're buying in. But the biggest thing is having to jump to a different company to make more money, and that's a current challenge I'm facing because I don't want to do that.

I think that accountability is a big one for me. My biggest thing is that even if I had no idea I did something wrong, even if I messed up, instead of going in and being defensive, I am always, whether it's a best friend, a parent, a co-worker, a project, someone who's above me or below me in the industry or in the workplace, I'm always the first person to take accountability for something. If I hurt someone's feelings and I didn't know, I would never obviously intentionally hurt someone, but if I hurt someone's feelings, I would genuinely take accountability for that and be genuinely sorry. I think a lot of times people lack a lot of accountability out of fear because of a competitive marketplace, but I think that, again, going back to authenticity and just a refresh of how you're showing up in front of your manager, don't fight it, be humble, take accountability where you should. Accountability is probably the biggest moral, and just honesty.