30 lessons at 30*

Today marks 30 years since I started paid employment. By that I mean began a proper career, rather than newspaper rounds, cleaning coalyards and stacking shelves.

Many conversations in recent months about how workplaces, motivations and commercial fortunes have changed in the past couple of years have been making me reflect on how they’ve changed over the past few decades.?

In talking about that with former colleagues and connections, I’ve become acutely aware that contemplating it all publicly can easily make me seem like a grey-haired, middle-aged bloke ‘moaning on’ - and equally those reflections can seem introspective and self-absorbed.

That’s not the intention of this post, in any way. But as I travelled to the office this morning, dropping off my 14-year-old for his own initial journey on a work experience week, I did think back to the first day in the summer of ‘92 and all that has changed since then in the world I work in. Mostly for the better, including no longer commuting by Ford Capri.

So here’s a 30th anniversary view of 30 things I’ve learned though all of that change, and what I hope to apply to the next (*cough*) 30 years.??

And no, I won’t be using the phrase ‘pearlyjoobs’.

1.Listen hard. This is the single most important lesson I’ve learned. I thought I was OK at doing so, but have learned to tune in more closely to what clients, colleagues, partners, media contacts, politicians and everyone else I talk to is really saying, and what they really need. For someone in communications who talks too much, using the ears more than the mouth is a vital skill.?

2. Don’t fear change or confrontation. Things will evolve, bringing risk and?opportunity. I’ve certainly seen a lot of that first-hand working in media (briefly) and communications. And undoubtedly my few years in the former, with doors slammed in?faces and emotions often running high, brought confrontations that helped to prepare me for life agency-side.

3. Respect everyone. Yes it needs to be earned and maintained, but start from a position of?mutual respect for anyone - CEO to occasional partner to entry-level joiner to security on?front desk. And don’t just respect them as a person, but for the part they play, the life they lead, the time they give and their needs.

4. Words matter. Think about them, choose the right ones, don’t be lazy or fed by ‘business?convention’. After all, we’re communicators.

5. Be honest with yourself and others. Don’t be disingenuous with others; have the?gumption to be straight. Legal or due process, management bravado and seemingly easier paths will always offer alternatives. But pick the human one, mindful of risk. And even more importantly, don’t kid yourself about opportunity, capability or virtue. Hope is not a good strategy.

6. Rudeness is (he said politely..) unwelcome. In all of its shapes and forms: ignoring?people, cutting across them, belittling them, whatever it may be. In the long run, it will?never produce the right returns anyway.

7. Detail matters. Oh yes it does (and I can sense the wry smiles aplenty with this one).

8. Everyone has different motivations. Understand and acknowledge them wherever you?can, and don’t ever think that because something drives you that it does the same for?others.

9 Be truthful. Yes communicators may add lenses, optics and other filters. But root it in?truth.

10. If you give your word, keep your word. Obvious, but don’t play that game.

11. Work hard, play your way. Be your best professionally, care about what you do, and?make room in your life for not-working in ways you enjoy. And yes, even put that phone down sometimes.

12. Teams are made of individuals. Appreciate the make-up of a team, and that there will?always be a need to balance individual and collective needs/attributes/capabilities.

13. Lead by example (because you don’t have a choice). If you’re leading something, how?you behave in doing so will set the tone. See point 30.

14. Be helpful when you can. Pay it forward, do so without seeking anything in return, and of?course don’t choose to be unhelpful (unless it's fully-warranted, of course).

15. Read. So that you’re informed, forever learning and satisfying that curiosity about the?world which brought you into this game in the first place.

16. Smile. Yes, it doesn’t hurt.

17. Make it memorable. Make the right impression, spark conversation, practice what you?preach.

18. Learn outside the job. Learn more about what you’re passionate about and interested in,?above and beyond what you get paid to do.

19. Look after yourself. As someone who made themself ill through overwork several times?at the outset of my career, and home-cured a broken leg to get to meetings, I should know/know better.

20. Let nothing deter you. Background, breaks in life, luck, network - yes they can all be very?helpful. So can sheer bloody-mindedness.?

21. Behave at your best when times are worst. As several people said to me at the outset?of the pandemic, “this will bring out the very best of some people and the very worst of?others”. How true. Tackle adversity head on, don’t shelter behind your inadequacies.

22. Slow down and think. Yes, in this frenzied world. Use your head.

23. Leave the ego at home. Home working screws this a bit doesn’t it? OK, find a suitable?cupboard.

24. Don’t believe the hype. Particularly the hype about you: take fair criticism as it’s intended?and learn from it, but don’t grasp for shallow compliments that aren’t meaningful and?don’t seek to construct a narrative of your own making around yourself. Be confident, but grounded in reality.

25. Always be seeking advice. You don’t know it all - far from it.

26. Do or do not; there is no try. This is a family motto, almost. Really. Yoda believed it too.?Crack on, give it your best shot, don’t be left with the ‘what if?’

27. Take real pride. In your work, and in you.

28. Family comes first. ‘nuf said.

29. Drop the bullshit. Particularly in the world of media and comms, where so many practice?it as an art form, most people can see straight through it. Which is not the kind of?transparency we advocate for.

30. Don’t be a dick. You always have a choice, so make the right one. I haven’t always done?so, but I have tried to learn from doing so.

That’s quite a list. But, if you’ve read this far, 10 points at 30 years would have seemed a cop-out.

To everyone who has helped me along the way, given me opportunities, shown faith, undoubtedly had much patience, and in one case even married me, a huge thanks. You know who you are.

*to be clear, my 30th birthday was a while back.