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Writer's pictureMike McVay

Being Thankful

It’s tough to be thankful for much of anything when so many of our friends, associates, and current and former co-workers have lost their jobs just ahead of the holidays. We’ve not seen a job contraction as widespread as this since 2008.


The workforce reduction is daunting and reaches far beyond programming and content. We’re seeing eliminations and increased multitasking at every position in media.  These deep cuts go well beyond radio touching every corner of the industry.


Market Managers, Directors of Sales, Sellers, Engineering & Technical, Programmers, On-Air, Production, Imaging, Promotion & Marketing, Administration, and HR appear to be positions that are no longer critical to the success of the business. The receptionist job was already lost at many properties during the pandemic. Digital and Social media teams are shrinking as well. If you’re still employed you may be wondering “For how long?”


Why then do I think there is anything to be thankful for this Thanksgiving?


The answer is twofold. The personal side of gratitude will vary for each of us. In my case, having grown up in a blue-collar family, it’s having a career where I don’t have dirt under my fingernails, where I can combine my love of music and travel, and feed my hunger for knowledge. Think of what radio has allowed you to do that’s beyond what most others dream of doing. Acknowledge to yourself that your everyday experiences are the envy of others. I know how blessed I am to enjoy this career. 


The professional side of gratitude should be because we are in an industry where the skills we learn can translate to many businesses. What we excel at in media is in demand elsewhere. Think about it. We sell, present, entertain, inform, know how to motivate an audience (customers), market ourselves and our stations, and understand marketing and promotion. Most of us are driven, creative, organized, good listeners, superb communicators, and possess above-average intelligence. I’ve never met a successful broadcaster who wasn’t also smart. You can leverage what you have to be bigger than one segment of media.


It’s a tough moment of reality when you realize that there are few safety nets in the media business. It’s a reality that many of us have long lived with, and others are realizing for the first time. If you’re on the content side, you’re more aware of the fragility of the position than many of those in other areas of radio. It is because of the tentative nature of the present-day business that I highlight the blessings of our business leading to being self-reliant and independent. 


Stop focusing on a job. All jobs end. Sooner or later they end. Careers can and should last a lifetime or until you no longer want to work. We are all entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have careers. Entrepreneurs eat what they kill. The really successful entrepreneurs are afraid to stop killing because there are periodic famines in life. They prepare for that. Leave the job mentality behind, even though you are an employer, think like an entrepreneur. Your client is your employer. When you give your client what they want, you get what you want. 


One of the most critical shifts in my career was when I read Tom Peters’s book The Brand You 50. The book was first released in 1999. It has been updated multiple times adjusting for evolving businesses. My mindset changed to being a “Brand” and not an individual person doing a job. When I became a “Brand” and no longer depended on anyone other than myself, my career crystallized for me. People pay me to do a job for them, but I didn’t have a job. I am hired to do a job. Be a “Brand.”


I’ve worked at radio stations that were sold, and things changed. I’ve been terminated. I’ve been transferred. I’ve had pay cuts despite success. I’ve experienced a hostile work environment. I know I’m not alone in these. My family and I have lived in 13 different cities (which I know is a small number of relocations by some standards). If you commit to following your career wherever it takes you, then that’s what you do. 


My point isn’t that I’ve faced adversity, because I haven’t. At least, not really like too many others have. What I’ve faced is change. That’s not to say that I haven’t had sleepless nights, felt anxious, felt fear of the unknown, worried about my finances or those of my family. I have definitely felt and faced those things. Entrepreneurs embrace change. Not because they want it, but because they have no choice. As an entrepreneur – a “Brand” – you have to depend on you. Be the person responsible for your career and bet on yourself. 


That’s my point. Be a “Brand.” Be an entrepreneur. Be responsible for your career. Don’t depend on others, because you can’t. Not anymore. The paradigm of the previous era was that employment for life on a company payroll was the ultimate in job security and achievement. The new paradigm of the emerging brain-based economy is not that. 


Apply the rules of The Brand You 50:


  • Each person has to act like an independent contractor – even if they are paid by the company.

  •  Each person has to add tangible value – or be replaced by better those that will. 

  • Each person is totally dependent on their available skill sets – which must be upgraded on an ongoing basis. Evolve. Continuing education. Expanding skill sets.

  • Each person is judged solely on their track record – the projects that they have completed successfully in the past. In short, everyone today must treat themselves and their careers as if they are a professional services firm with a total staff of one– themselves. 

  • To build the value of their firm, everyone must view themselves as a “brand.” Therefore, career management in the new economy should actually be built around the same framework companies use to build brand equity. 

  • Have a track record of working on successful projects that delivered impressive, notable results.

  • Create differentiation – achieve or do something that stands out from whatever everyone else is doing. 

  • Continue to add value over time – by upskilling and expanding networks of contacts with other people. This includes going to conferences… even if you have to pay for them yourself. Invest in You.

  • Maintain a laser-like focus on tangible results – and ignore everything else. 


The Brand You 50 are real-world ideas and suggestions for building equity in your own personal brand – and your own personal business – regardless of whether or not you formally work for yourself or someone else.


To my many friends who are in search of whatever is next: be thankful for this opportunity to move beyond where you’ve been and think like an entrepreneur and be a “Brand.” Have a career, not a job. Jobs end. Careers can be lifelong.


Happy Thanksgiving!

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