The Power of Role models
I graduated college in ‘71 when the economy was disrupted and unemployment surged, so I was happy to get a job as a temp (temporary typist) at an ad agency in NYC, taking the subway from my home in Brooklyn every day.
At McCann Erickson Advertising where I worked, my attention was drawn to Barbara Lindberg who walked past my desk in the typing pool to her office everyday, wearing her mink coat. We smiled “good morning” and soon shared small talk at the coffee wagon.
Of course that mink coat got my attention - I never knew anyone who had a mink coat! Soon enough she brought me on as her secretary. I was happy to serve as her “go-for” who would stay late to get the sandwiches for the focus group participants who came in the evening, with Barbara as the moderator.
Dear Barbara was my role model and first mentor, launching in my long career in market research.
Years later I was able to buy my mother a mink coat thanks to my first role model, who helped me see what was possible.
Realize How Long Things Take
These days I sometimes watch YouTube when I’m on a lunch break. I recently stumbled on an episode by Rick Steves, the travel writer who has built a significant empire based on European Travel. In this episode he talked about the time 50 years before, when he as a resentful 14 year old dragged over to Europe by his Dad who was there for business. Rick Steves is a funny guy and a great storyteller and said he remembered thinking “Europe was stupid” because nobody spoke the right language and he couldn’t even get a Coke when he needed one.
But sure enough, he acquired a taste for Europe and today, more than fifty years later he’s a rich man doing “work that satisfies”. As we say here in the South where I live now: it took a minute.
What To Avoid
In that same YouTube episode Steve remembered those early days when he worked as a tour guide for a big bus tour company. The tour guides made their money taking tourists to shopping destinations where they would get kickbacks for what was purchased. We call them “tourist traps”, don’t we?
Steves knew that didn’t work for him, so instead he’d redirect his folks off the beaten track to colorful out of the way places where enticing bargains were to be found. He was a kid, he remembered. He didn’t care about the money.
All through his decades of building his empire he knew that integrity and value needed to be baked in.
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