The Things I Carry on My Career Journey

Jan. 29, 2024. Here at the St. Louis Fed, we started a new internal blog series in 2024 where the Bank's senior leaders share our first-person reflections to give employees a larger picture of who we are as people. I kicked it off in January and thought I'd also share it here on my LinkedIn page.

When folks ask me about my career journey, I often liken it to a marathon. A career is not a straight path, which becomes the beauty of it. There are highs and lows, twists and turns, hills and spills, and friendly water stations along the way. You have different strategies for how you’ll run different stages of the race. There are some stretches where lots of people are cheering you on or you’re running in a pack, but other times when you’re out there by yourself. In any case, you carry with you reminders and affirmations to help keep your head in the right place and keep pushing forward.

One of the things I’ve carried with me on my career journey are maxims–you know, a proverbial saying, like the one we all likely heard growing up: “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.” There are so many great maxims I’ve learned throughout my career and life journeys, and they help me keep my head in the right place at different stages.

Preparation and the Beauty of Problems

One of my all-time favorite maxims I picked up from my best boss ever: John E. Jacob, former CEO of the National Urban League and then executive vice president and chief communications officer at Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. when I worked there. He used to remind us of a saying that many athletes live by: “Success happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The point was that opportunity will knock over and over in our journey, but it will almost always go to those who are ready. You can’t be getting ready when opportunity knocks; you need to be ready. So, if we want to achieve success, we must work hard to be prepared–learn, practice, grow. Like training for a marathon.

Also at Anheuser-Busch, August Busch III would often say, “It’s not a mistake unless we don’t learn from it.” I’ve always loved that one. There are going to be mistakes, but if we can look beyond blame and really dig into what went wrong, then we usually find a revelation on how we can do things differently and get better. To me, that’s a gift! It’s akin to something our former St. Louis Fed board chair, Jim McKelvey, liked to say: “Never let a good problem go to waste.” I think problems are the route to “aha!” moments, creation and growth, and that’s exhilarating.

Now, the opposite of that reminds me of a quote I heard once from a former college professor: “It’s easier to change the course of history than it is to change a course on history.” Haha! I think this speaks to the inertia in many organizations to dig in on the way it’s always been done, to defend one’s turf and to be comfortable with being comfortable. Ugh! I would not want to bring that head trash along with me on my marathon.

Going Fast and Going Far

Recently I heard the St. Louis Fed’s incoming president Alberto Musalem say, “Go alone to go fast. Go together to go far.” I was inspired and thought, “How true!” There are times we need to use both of those dynamics, but going far is a thrill, and being part of the team that accomplishes something transformational together creates mutual respect, trust and personal satisfaction on a whole new level.

Sometimes, though, it takes time to go far. One of my favorite maxims came from a TV ad for prunes when I was a little kid. Back then, prunes were something only your grandparents ate. For centuries they were hard, shriveled up and had a giant pit in the center. Eww. But someone had just engineered how to grow a pit-less prune. It was a giant breakthrough. Companies like Sunsweet were now poised to grow the market for prunes, and they launched a funny ad campaign with a victorious and valiant: “Today the pits! TOMORROW THE WRINKLES!” I’ve carried that with me everywhere I’ve worked. Do big things. Create and transform. But don’t try to do it all at the same time. Taking on too much change at the same time can bog you down or burn out a whole team. So, calibrate yourself and your plans and always have some big transformational ideas on your drawing board for the future. (By the way, several years later, they did indeed engineer those nasty wrinkles out of prunes, too. Today they’re a very plump, soft and pit-less fruit. I am not yet a grandparent, so I still don’t eat them.)

Life’s Journey Coming to Light

Not doing everything at once reminds me of good advice a therapist shared with me after my first marriage failed, and I was questioning so many things in my life. She said: “More is yet to be revealed.” Her point was that I don’t have to know all the answers right now or figure it all out right now. Life reveals itself to us day by day, week by week, experience by experience. I found that so reassuring. It helped me trust myself and know that if I’m paying attention, the insights and answers will reveal themselves to me as I grow and go along on my life’s journey.

A First and Last Maxim

And that gets me to the last maxim I’ll share, which is also probably the first one I ever learned: “Remember who you are!” My dad, Ron Branding, said these four words to us kids for as long as I can remember. They meant different things to me at different stages of my life ("You are a Branding: be honest, work hard and believe in yourself"…"Don’t let others pressure you into doing something or being someone you’re not"..."You are my daughter, and you matter!") My dad is gone now but his voice stays with me on my life’s marathon. Remember who you are. We all have a personal brand, and we must strive to make sure every one of our interactions, decisions and actions live up to the kind of person we want to be.

My best to you on your marathon. And let me know if you have a favorite maxim. I’ll keep it with me on my ongoing journey.

P.S. I have never run an actual marathon race!

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Karen Branding is the senior vice president for External Engagement and Corporate Communications and the St. Louis Fed’s corporate secretary.