WEBVTT - Bonus Episode: Improbable Career Jumps 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:06.160 You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.880 Welcome to a special bonus episode of Math and Magic. 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:18.680 I'm Bob Pittman. Remarkable careers, unyielding passion, and strong instincts 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:21.799 are traits all of our guests have in common, but 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.840 they've each navigated different paths to establish their legacies. I 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.080 believe in anyone's success story, there's one improbable jump, whether 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.640 a promotion or a pivot, or a lesson or stroke 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.800 of luck, there's usually a key moment that unlocks new possibilities. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.400 In today's bonus episode, we're examining those career jumps. I 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.080 think there's a lot to learn and be inspired by 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.279 along the way. Ryan Seacrest is known by many as 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.360 the hardest working person in showbiz. He's the long running 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.839 host of American Idol. Of course, he was also on 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.640 screen for six years of Live with Kelly and Ryan 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.240 and has recently taken over Pat Sajack's iconic role as 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.080 the host of Wheel of Fortune. But he's behind the 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.160 scenes too, creating shows like Keeping You Up with the Kardashians. 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:08.000 On top of everything, he's on the air every morning 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:12.000 with iHeart broadcasting on over one hundred radio stations nationwide. 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.200 I wanted to know about his most important steps along 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:22.039 the way. Did you intend to do all those things 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.440 or did it just sneak up on you. I never 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.080 intended to do all of those things. I wanted to 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:31.840 move to Los Angeles when I was growing up in Atlanta. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:33.960 I had a dream to do that when I was 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.360 a teenager. I made that dream come true when I 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.759 was nineteen, Still a teenager, I studied the work of 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:45.880 Merv Griffin Dick Clark, both guys who had a radio 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:51.720 and TV career, and both entrepreneurs and both asset owners, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.960 and both very very smart but also very good presenters 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.960 on air. And I watched how they maneuvered the skills 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.200 of business and the skills of performance and what that 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:06.920 intersection was for them, And in my head, I felt, Okay, 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:11.400 if I could take baby steps towards those paths, maybe 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:13.680 it would be the career that I'm looking for and 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.560 be fulfilling to me. But I didn't know how it 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.079 would all come together. Almost every career is enabled by 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:24.919 one unlikely or improbable stroke of luck somewhere in the process. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.000 For me, it was to jump from minimum wage part 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.000 time radio announce from Brookhava, Mississippi, to programming the station 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:34.760 and being on the air at the big NBC owned 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.919 radio station in Chicago just five years later. What was 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.799 yours and how did it happen? One that I think 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.240 about now and hone in on is the big break 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.560 of being the host of American Idol. This came at 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.880 a time when I was twenty six seven years old. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.800 I was on the radio in Los Angeles doing afternoon drive. 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:55.560 It had been on television a little bit and gotten 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.960 some good experience, but nothing at the level with the 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.799 impact of what was about to come. And initially I 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.200 met with the producers and I was considered as a 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:05.919 judge for American Idol. And during the meeting with those 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.720 executive producers, I started asking about the host and they said, well, 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.280 you could audition for the host if you want. So 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.080 I auditioned to be the host of American Idol. After 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.959 the audition that night, they told me that I got 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.760 the job and we start shooting the next day. Literally 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.400 the next morning we started shooting. We were doing audition 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.120 Simon Randy Paula. We were meeting in Hollywood to do 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.160 the auditions for the first season of the show that 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.440 had never been on the air. This was at the time, Bob, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:32.560 you probably remember this when people were saying music does 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.240 not work on TV, right, remember that, Well, I remember 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.640 those stories. I know those people, we know those people. Well, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.520 it did work on TV. It started to become this massive, 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.920 massive event on television. And that was a moment that 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.920 I thought to myself, Wow, I'm lucky here right like 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.320 I got into this, I'm lucky. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:53.480 This is going to be a ride. 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.160 How do I take this momentum and turn it into 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.920 something bigger at the same time, and that's when we 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.400 started having conversations with the management for American Top forty 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.320 and Kiss FM, and where I went and hosted E 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.680 News and the red carpet shows and produced series for them. 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.080 So I would say being the host of that singing 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:19.440 competition show opened the door for all the things that 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:25.560 came to fruition. Brian embraced an opportunity on a show 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:27.960 that many didn't think would work, and when it was 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.559 a success, he didn't stop there. Rob Riley has always 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.640 had ambitious goals too, and at points he made curious 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.480 decisions about how to reach them. Rob is the chief 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:41.120 creative officer of WPP, one of the major advertising groups. 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:45.159 Rob built his stunning reputational work that is memorable and buzzy, 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.800 from campaigns for companies like American Express and Burger King 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:53.120 to the Fearless Girl statue in Manhattan's Financial District. His 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:57.279 improbable career jump was different than Ryan's. Rather than talking 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.279 about how he built his career from the beginning, share 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:04.040 a story about an unexpected choice at the precipice of 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.440 a huge promotion, he took what seemed like a step 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.920 backwards at the dawn of the century. You were the 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.480 acting chief creative officer at Hill Holiday and you took 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.000 up sixty percent pay cut to change jobs and become 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:21.480 just a copywriter at Crispin Porter. Clearly it all worked out. 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:23.600 Why did you take that risk and what lesson did 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:24.000 you learn? 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:24.960 Well? 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.760 I had worked for this amazing boss named David Weekle, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:30.880 and he was the chief creative officer and they parted ways, 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.760 and I was one of the more senior people there, 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.320 but not very senior at all, and they said, well, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.279 maybe you can step in temporarily while we search for 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.479 a new CCO. Might have been some discussion if you 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:42.719 want to throw your hat in the ring, to be 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.800 that person, and I kind of realized that I had 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.200 all the skills of a great creative director without maybe 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.960 the work of a great creative director. And I didn't 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:55.200 want to end up being a New York creative at 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.599 a certain age that kind of giant salary but didn't 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:00.000 have the work where people would follow you. 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:02.120 So I ended up going down. 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.640 To Crispin Porter and Buguski at the time, probably one 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.520 hundred and twenty people, sort of getting known for doing 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.240 some really interesting national work for smaller clients, and I 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.600 pitched Alex Buguski, now my current wife, my only wife, 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.200 but she was my girlfriend the time she was working there, 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.600 so I had a connection. But Alex wasn't going to 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.159 hire me just because I was the boyfriend. Maybe in fact, 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.000 didn't necessarily want some guy from New York who had 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.640 all the wrong sort of closed and was a big 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:31.920 creative director from New York City come down to his 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:33.120 agency in Miami that. 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:34.599 Was really small, tight culture. 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.440 But I knew that's the kind of work I needed 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:40.039 to be part of, because in the end, you don't 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.440 necessarily just follow people. You follow people because of the 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:45.680 work they've done. And I had all the skills of 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.400 being able to present and good with clients and maybe 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.000 good with teams. But I didn't have enough creative work 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.120 that I thought was like culture changing that was going 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.240 to get me in to a long term career. So 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.599 I took a few steps back. But it wasn't the 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.640 easiest ride. When I got there, I was the guy 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.920 from New York. Everybody's in flip flops and shorts. I'm 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.480 here in the product boots in black. I stood out 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.920 like a sore thumb. And about thirty days into it, 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.000 Alex calls me in his office said, listen, man, I 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.280 love the work you're doing. I think you're fantastic. Here's 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.720 the problem. No one else likes you. So I thought 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:20.280 he would say, it doesn't matter as long as I 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.600 like you. He said, that's the opposite. I can't have 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:24.120 one guy who ruined the culture. So you got to 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.480 figure out how to get people to like you. And 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.680 long story short, I ended up going back and deciding, like, 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:31.400 you know what, I'm just going to shut my mouth 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.320 and sit in the corner and crank out work. And 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.720 that's what I did. And then once you start making work, 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.760 people respect. That was the beginning of building a body 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.680 of work that I'm really proud of at every level. Copywriter, 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:46.840 creative director, CCO, creative chairman, to down with WPP. 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:47.680 Head of a holding company. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.080 Well, you know, let's go back in time for a second. 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.520 Why didn't they like you? What were you doing? 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.560 Why didn't they like me? Well? I probably had the 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:57.200 wrong clothes. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:02.680 I had an incredibly intelligent, smart, beautiful girlfriend who's now 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.200 my wife and doing all the amazing work. 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.640 And I was the boyfriend from New York. 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.280 I came from a big New York ad agency and 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:12.080 it wasn't quite fitting in the culture. 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.000 And I think growing up in New Jersey like we're loud. 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.080 And when I went and told my wife that Alex 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.680 said that people didn't like me, her response was, why 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:21.480 don't you just try shutting up and doing the work. 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.000 You know you're the problem. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.040 So I was taught a lesson early on to shut 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.040 my mouth and do the work. And when you have 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.080 the work, you get the respect. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.800 Well that's a great lesson. And ten years later you 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:36.960 were the chief creative officer of Crispin Porter. 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.319 So it all worked out. Yeah, it all worked out. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.520 Rob knew he wouldn't be able to achieve his goals 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.000 in the long term. If he moved up too quickly, 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:49.640 he took a pay cut and acclimated to a new 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.960 team so he could build the right foundation for future growth. Likewise, 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.880 Jackie Kelly has taken some unexpected turns in her career. 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.520 Today she is the Chief Client Officer at IPG and 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.040 was at DENSU as CEO of the Americas. Before that, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.120 her career evolved around media and advertising, with leadership roles 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.280 at USA today, Yahoo, Martha Stewart, Living and Bloomberg. But 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.280 the world of media is always changing, and there have 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.040 been points when Jackie's decision to change with it surprised 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:22.199 even herself. You went on to Yahoo, you did a 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.960 stint with Martha Stewart, and then you crossed the fence 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.760 to the agency side running media brands. What made you 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:30.600 jump the fence? 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:33.199 This is kind of a fun story, and I give 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.880 credit to people that can identify talent and then encourage 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.320 us to do something that would not be obvious to us. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.240 So in my case, I had left USA, I had 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.680 gone to Yahoo and worked for Wyndham Millard. Wyndham Millard 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:50.520 is an incredible mentor for me and convinced me to 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:52.840 come to Yahoo. But It wasn't that hard to convince 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.280 me because I knew newspapers were changing. I knew I 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.839 needed to get a much better digital education. I wanted 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.560 to go to the deep end. At the time, Yahoo 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.439 or Google were your two choices, and Yahoo was teaching 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.080 brands how to build a brand on the web, so 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:08.920 that was obvious for me. And then followed Wynda to 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.800 Martha Stewart to fully integrate Martha's organization. It was post 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.160 her being in what she calls the clink clink, and 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.680 we were building her brand back and consumers never left 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:21.680 their advertisers had, so there was a lot of work 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:25.280 to do around integrating her organization. I'd love that challenge. 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.520 It was in that moment that Wynda actually had heard 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.959 about an opportunity through a friend of hers that was 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:37.200 running UM globally, a gentleman named Matt Syler, and she said, 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.680 you should look at this because it would be a 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.199 next phase of your career. And I had never wanted 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.280 to be at the agency side. I'd been on a 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:49.440 panel at Advertising Week and famously referred to agencies as 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.840 a barrier to my progress as a media owner, which 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:56.280 did not go overwhelm but I believed that agencies were 0:10:56.320 --> 0:11:00.640 failing clients and media owners because they or not giving 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.800 us the gift of time and transparency. Those were the 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.439 two things that I really wanted from an agency, and 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:09.240 I just couldn't get anyway. Long story short, Matt saw 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.040 what I saw. Matt saw the opportunity to leverage media 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.600 owners as real content partners in the work that media 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.360 brands and UM specifically was doing for clients. And it 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.200 was the first time that I saw an agency executive 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.040 see what I saw as the opportunity to partner differently 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:28.800 with media owners. And it was one of those moments 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:30.880 in life where you can keep complaining and pointing the 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.120 finger and wishing it was different, or you can jump 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:35.920 to the other side and help make that so. And 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:37.960 then I got this right. Then I just loved the 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.320 agency side. It's such an incredible place to operate in 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.080 our industry. But that's how I got there. Great people 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:45.120 that told me I should. 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.960 Jackie decided to keep an open mind and try experiencing 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.640 a part of the industry she had serious doubts about. 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.000 Instead of writing it off, she jumped in head first 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:58.960 and brought her career to the next level. 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:00.000 We'll be right. 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:12.880 Back after a quick break. Welcome back to Math and Magic. 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.640 Angel le Yee has been on the airwaves for over 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.480 a decade as founding member of the Breakfast Club, host 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.960 of her midday show Way Up, and now the podcast 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.400 Lip Service. She's also an entrepreneur who loves to get 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.960 back to communities in need. During a live recording at 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.480 the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, I learned 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.559 how she made her career jump from intern to assistant 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:39.040 to manager and eventually host. Even as an assistant, she 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.080 did right by some pretty important people and carved out 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:43.480 a name for herself early on. 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:46.480 So the first internship I had was at a label 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:49.760 called tvt Records right and they also licensed like all 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.719 the TV tunes, the cartoon music that you hear. And 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:54.920 so when I did that internship, it was in the 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.720 legal department. I did not care about the legal department 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.440 at all, but I knew that in order for me 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.880 to get my foot in the door, that was just 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:04.719 a way for me to get in. And so one 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:06.440 thing I learned was just get your foot in the door. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.800 And so I started doing these internships. I had an 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.439 internship with MTV and the person I interned for. He 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.000 was a music manager, so he would present the videos 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.520 that they would then have to decide what was going 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:19.880 to air. So everybody wanted to get in with him, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.680 you know. I remember going to Puffy's studio back then 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.960 when he was playing like Bigis videos for him and 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.600 they gave us champagne and I was just interning and 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:30.920 I was like, this is amazing. And so for me, 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.080 internships in college were really important, and so when I 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.679 graduated from college, I had an opportunity to work at 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.480 either Columbia Records, but I was actually going to visit Wuting. 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.480 It was the same day that they were doing summer 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:46.079 jam and I didn't even realize it, and they were 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.120 like coming us a summer jam, and the guy who 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:49.959 I interned for was like, you know, we've been trying 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.360 to find you. We wanted to hire you, and so 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.960 I was like okay, cool, and I turned down everything 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.040 else because I felt like this was a better opportunity 0:13:58.080 --> 0:13:59.079 and that's why I took. 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.960 That job, seaking of learning things. There's a story that 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.200 you went on the road as a manager and you 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.440 turned out to be a roaring success because you were 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:11.960 good with money. Can you talk a little bit about that, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.200 because there's a lesson in there somewhere. 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.160 So I ended up going on the road with Jizza 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.160 from Wu Tang. He had to go to Europe at 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.320 the last minute his manager couldn't go, and so I 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.560 went on the road and when we came back, had 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.680 like a whole ledger down to the penny of what 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:29.800 everybody got paid and what money we had left, and 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.840 he had never gotten that before, and I just thought, 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.440 that's how I have to do things. And so he 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.720 was so impressed by the fact that he got all 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:39.840 his money that he was supposed to get, everybody was 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.160 paid what they were supposed to get paid, and everything 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.920 was correct to the penny. That after that I just 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:45.960 was his manager. 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:47.480 Wow, that's pretty good. 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.560 I think that at the foundation of things, that hard 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:55.120 work is the fundamental thing. I feel like a lot 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.160 of times people see other people who are successful and 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.000 they think it just happens, or they think it's just relationships. 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:02.760 You can get your foot in the door, but then 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.640 what happens after that? And so for me, I've always 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:07.960 been like the first person in the office the last 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.480 person to leave. That's what I was doing. And also 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:14.240 honesty is important. I feel like money can get people 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.600 to act very different when that gets involved, and so 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.720 they're always surprised when you can be really transparent, but 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:22.280 people appreciate that it's rare. 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:31.240 By making yourself trustworthy, Angela became indispensable very early in 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.800 her career. Tim Castri has a similar story about catching 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.560 the attention of potential mentors at a young age. Today 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:41.840 Tim is the VP of Global Content and Media at Amazon, 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.760 but he used to be a kid in Melbourne groofing 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.200 off at his grocery store job until he got a 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:53.720 lucky break. So you started as the advertising cadet. What 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:55.440 is an advertising cadet? 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:58.360 I think I was the first and only ever advertising cadet. 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.880 This wasn't a long line of but it was basically 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:02.440 a way to give a break to a high school 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.240 kid who was in a family situation where I couldn't 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.040 afford to go to college. Moment said, look, you need 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:08.360 to go to work for a few years. That's what 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:10.920 the family needs. So I was working in a supermarket 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:12.960 after school. I thought the girl who worked in the 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:14.840 Dali was kind of cute, and I was showing off 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.680 to her juggling watermelons in the supermarket. Two watermelons, not three, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.680 and this area manager came around and she said, what 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:23.240 the hell are you doing? And get back to work. 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:24.840 And then about an hour later, I was on my 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:26.640 lunch break and she came and talked to me and 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.600 she said, oh, sorry, I'm so hard on you. I said, no, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.560 no problem. I shouldn't have been juggling watermelons. And we 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:32.280 got talking and we hit it off. Her name was 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.720 Margaret Kem and she said, well, you're about to graduate 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:36.440 high school. What are you doing? I said I don't know, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.360 and I explained my situation how I needed to go 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:39.680 out and work, and she said, what do you want 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:40.880 to do? I said, I really want to work in 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.360 marketing and advertising, and she said, well, you know, we 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.520 have an advertising department here at Safeway. Why don't I 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:47.320 make some phone calls and see if there's anything they 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:49.600 could do for you? Lo and behold. She called me 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.280 back three days later and said, you know what, They've 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.560 just decided to launch this first ever cadetship program, and 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:55.880 why don't you apply for that and I'll see if 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.520 I can help you. And sure enough, I applied and 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.880 I was given this cadetship, which was basically working in 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:05.399 the internal advertising department of Safeway Supermarkets and loved it. 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.640 About a year into it, the internal advertising department got 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:14.960 absorbed into Leo Burnett. So I moved from Safeway into 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.760 Leo Burnette about a year after I'd started, which is 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.199 a whole other story. Do you want to hear that? 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:19.560 Yes? 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:20.760 I do. I do want to hear that. 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:22.560 So I was in this cadet ship and they were 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.840 waiting to give the contract to Leo Burnette. A bunch 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:26.760 of folks they took into the agency. A bunch they 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.240 let go and moved into other departments, and I was 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.080 the last person they hadn't resolved. My story is basically 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.520 a long litany of people who gave me breaks. And 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:37.399 there was a guy who ran advertising. His name was 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.800 John Simon, and John was saying to the CEO of 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.000 Leo Benett, you've got to take this guy, Tim. He's fantastic, 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:43.879 he's a young guy. And they said, look, we just 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.360 we don't know what to do with advertising cadet, and 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.879 so we don't need him. John was adamant about it, 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:50.440 and they went back and forth on this for weeks 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.320 while they were negotiating the contract. They got to the 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:54.919 final day where John was about to sign the contract 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:57.320 to give them the account. It was still unresolved, and 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:58.959 he said, look, I'm not signed until you give him 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.199 a job. And he held then and he sat and waited. 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.160 Took him about ninety seconds after that, I said, fine, fine, 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.200 we'll give the kid a job. And then he signed 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.400 the contract. And that's how I was. What was their job, Well, 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.920 they basically brought me in a similar capacity in Lea Burnette. 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:14.400 So they said, we'll take him on for two years 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.520 and we'll move him around to all the various departments 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.680 from production to creative to account management and media. They 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:22.639 didn't have programs like that at the time. But my 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:24.399 boss there was still one of my best friends to 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.840 this day, a woman named Melinda Gertz. She went to 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.200 Northwestern and they've transferred to the Melbourne office of LEO 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.160 Burnett from the Chicago office. Melinda just said, well, I'll 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.199 take him and I'll redesign what we used to do 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.560 at Leabnett in Chicago. I'll just make a little training 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.160 program for one and so that was where they designed 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:41.000 this kind of program to put me around in each 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:42.959 of the departments and learn the ropes of advertising. 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.560 Well, you did really well, so you must have impressed somebody. 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.760 What did you do in that advertising cadet job that 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:51.840 so impressed them that you began to move up in 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:52.280 the world. 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:54.800 Now, I had a real work ethic. When you grow 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:56.399 up in a working poor family. I mean a lot 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.520 of people who have that experience, they burn, you know, 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:00.800 they really burn with the ambition and a drive. And 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:02.280 I had that as well. You know, a lot of 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.919 fuel from my childhood circumstances really pushed me forward. So 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:08.399 I'd say it was a real combination of work ethic. 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.440 God gifted me with a good brain the gray matters 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.120 always worked pretty well, and also real willingness to take 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:15.720 risks and put myself out there. I'd be constantly making 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:19.680