{"id":15495,"date":"2024-02-26T19:54:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T19:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azadvertising.co\/?p=15495"},"modified":"2024-03-12T20:36:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T20:36:32","slug":"my-biggest-career-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azadvertising.co\/my-biggest-career-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"My biggest career failure."},"content":{"rendered":"

Being thankful for the biggest career failure of my life<\/h2>\n

\ud83e\udd14 I have never viewed myself as a great leader (I wish so much that I was one).<\/p>\n

I’d like to share one of my largest failures of my career.<\/p>\n

I know my weaknesses well (too many sleepless nights internalizing and beating myself up over them).<\/p>\n

– I have a lot to learn.<\/p>\n

– I have learned a lot, but not enough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I saw a post today on LinkedIn about leadership and it inspired me to share this leadership moment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This story is real and it was a massive failure on paper, BUT it’s something I’m VERY proud of and I learned more than any other single moment in my career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was hired by an agency to come in and as one of the owners put it, “save the agency.” And to this ownership group’s credit, they saw the writing on the wall years before the agency was to go bankrupt.<\/p>\n

The agency was a good size, but needed to re-invent itself.<\/p>\n

It was built on services that were no longer were valid at the time.<\/p>\n

I was replacing someone that the owners felt was a failed leader (but I would later find out was deeply loved by the entire team).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So right off the bat, the majority of employees had a negative view toward me before I even stepped in the door.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was replacing a loved manager, that had fallen out of love with ownership.<\/p>\n

On top of that (what should have been a red flag), ownership did not speak well of this individual, and moved him into another department upon my arrival (a demotion).<\/p>\n

So not only does my new team highly dislike me, this individual (not disgruntled), is still around speaking negatively every. single. day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, I gained favor quickly with the ownership group by suggesting some administrative changes and process re-organization (bringing money in the door sooner from clients).<\/strong><\/p>\n

And over time I began to try and build rapport with team members.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, I felt good about it, but it was never enough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My approach will always be to take care of the people, and the people will take care of the business.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, roughly 3 months in – as I’m setting my plan in motion to re-build the team’s confidence and put them into a place where every, single individual felt empowered – I begin to learn that the ownership group had a completely different view.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You see, this ownership group believed the exact opposite. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In their eyes, we needed people that put the business first. The business was the most important thing and if an employee’s views didn’t align with this simple, yet complex view, this WAS the problem that needed to be solved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next 5 months were then the hardest of my career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I began to try and solve for all situations.<\/p>\n

I wanted to create a new, positive culture (empower employees, create a great work\/life balance, put client view top of mind first and foremost, and more) at the same time the ownership group was pushing me to put the business first (replace employees that don’t walk the line, deploy strict employee policies, and push their agenda).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The two didn’t mesh well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I failed at almost everything I was doing. I was spread too thin and failing both the employees and the ownership group.<\/p>\n

And around month 6, the ownership group began to talk with employees directly. The were asking about my effectiveness and if I was being successful in their eyes.<\/p>\n

They were also talking to the individual I replaced who continued to discredit and poison my efforts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The environment of cynicism, closed door whispers, and gossip was winning vs. my efforts to employ a positive, empowering, and employee-first culture.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I had failed.<\/p>\n