Ten things I wish I had known when I was 25 – Jon Evans, System1 & The Uncensored CMO

GUEST: Jon Evans, Host of Uncensored CMO & Chief Customer Officer at System1Group Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 25 If only we knew then what we know now! That notion recently prompted The Marketing Meetup Podcast to ask Jon Evans, master marketer and host of Uncensored CMO: “What 10 things do […]

GUEST: Jon Evans, Host of Uncensored CMO & Chief Customer Officer at System1Group

Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 25

If only we knew then what we know now! That notion recently prompted The Marketing Meetup Podcast to ask Jon Evans, master marketer and host of Uncensored CMO: “What 10 things do you wish you’d known when you were 25?”

He graciously offered up a list that is the culmination of serial career success, including in his current role as Chief Customer Officer at System 1 Group. The lessons weren’t always pretty, but Jon is here to share some of his hard-won wisdom and help us navigate the pitfalls. It all starts, he says, with a simple truth: “You’ve got to be captain of your own career!”

Taking command means keeping in mind a variety of factors, which our guest ticks off one by one. You’ll come away from this episode with concrete, actionable strategies for cultivating your personal brand and expertise, leveraging marketing data and theory, embracing failure and tuning out the haters. Jon offers up colourful anecdotes from his varied career, insights on the keys to marketing success and practical advice to fuel your vision, build your business case – and sell the value-prop confidently in the board room. 

If you enjoyed listening to this episode of The Marketing Meetup and would like to hear more, please visit our archives here.

Or tune in to hear more from Jon Evans on his podcast, Uncensored CMO, which is available at this link.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  • (00:30) The Topic at Hand: Why Jon is exploring 10 things he wishes he’d known as a 25-year-old!
  • (01:30) A bit about Jon’s career path and experience, from start-up to mature marketing environments.
  • (02:22) Thing #1: Want to start a venture?Take your shot!
    • You lose 100% of the shots you never take!
    • Wherever you are, it’s good enough.
    • There’s no such thing as completely prepared.
    • Life goes faster and faster and the weight of responsibility and aversion to risk only grow more pronounced.
  • (05:13) Thing #2: Use your network!
    • Your connections are a massive amplifier.
    • The more people you tap, the greater your megaphone.
    • Don’t underestimate the bounty of resources in your own contact list.
    • Create a 100-day (and perhaps 100-person) outreach plan.
    • Remember: People are generous. Try simply asking: What three introductions would you be willing to make on my behalf?
    • About “Trust Transfer”: When someone makes an introduction, trust vested in them transfers to you and your brand.
  • (12:30) Thing #3: Energy beats everything! (Check out Jon’s classic campaign here).
    • Great successes are built on more than talent alone. Energy is the “x” factor.
    • Find what gives you energy and focus on that.
    • Gallup’s CliftonStrengths research (more here) suggests that when we do what we’re good at, our energy compounds. And the inverse is also true!
    • There will be hard days and failures. Energy is what powers you through.
  • (15:58) Thing #4: Fail fast and fail often.
    • If you haven’t fallen short, you haven’t tried.
    • Failure is knit into the nature of success and innovation.
    • Remember: There is no shame in failure. It’s our common ground.
    • What you learn from (inevitable) failure is what matters most!
    • Failure consistently precedes great success. Why? It inspires:
      • Focus.
      • Learning.
      • Reflection.
      • Determination!
    • Celebrate failing. It’s a badge of honour and source of fuel.
  • (21:41) Thing #5: Look out, don’t look in.
    • The biggest (and most authentic) scores aren’t about posturing and perception.
    • Abiding success results from honestly focusing inward, on the customer and the intuitive journey.
    • The more time you spend outside your organization, the more you build:
      • Inspiration.
      • Clarity.
      • Your network.
  • (24:24) Thing #6: Decide who you want on your team – not just what you want to do.
    • When you’re younger the focus is on gaining experience and proving yourself.
    • Over time it becomes clear that your team trumps what you’re working on.
    • Get with the right people and success will follow because they will be:
      • A source of positivity.
      • Of good counsel.
      • Reinforcing when the chips are down.
      • The foundation for inspiration and creativity.
    • Solid relationships resonate and have impact throughout your career.
  • (26:57) Thing #7: Block the haters!
    • The naysayers will always be out there, but you don’t have to listen!
    • Don’t give doubters or critics the power.
    • Listening to negativity saps the very energy you most need.
    • Success breeds hate, so just know that. And move on!
  • (29:58) Thing #8: Stay the course … and enjoy compound returns.
    • Consistency is king. It builds on itself.
    • Exponential growth’s trajectory is often slowly, then suddenly.
    • Don’t give up before you’ve had time to succeed.
    • It can take longer than you think but the payoff will be greater than you imagine!
  • (34:36) Thing #9: It’s always about the business.
    • Marketing is about more than just comms, PR and product.
    • The overarching goal of marketing is delivering change to business outcomes.
    • Always be clear about – and know how to articulate – the value prop.
    • Huge Hack: Read the marketing books! They will spell out the business case and help you capture ROI.
    • Bringing data and marketing theory into the boardroom will set you apart from other marketers and give you confidence to make the right decisions.
  • (39:19) Thing #10: Create your own distinct, memorable IP.
    • Don’t devote your talents to others at the expense of developing your own brand.
    • Find what energizes you and what you’re good at, then be brilliant at it.
    • Parlay your expertise into an offering that is specific to you:
      • A consultancy.
      • A book.
      • A course.
      • A product.
      • A branding methodology.
  • (41:43) Parting Thought: “We spend so many of our waking hours thinking about the business we work for or the objectives that we’re set, but think a little about you … Have a little think about the long-term and where you’re going.”
  • (42:10) Wrapping up with thanks to Joe and to the global marketing community he’s building. If you’d like to follow up with Jon, he can be reached at the links below.

NOTABLE QUOTES:

  • “You learn by doing and it’s almost not possible to have everything lined up and ready before you (launch a business venture). And it’s so easy to talk yourself down from it.”
  • Very often for successful entrepreneurs, it’s not their first business which succeeds … So the sooner you start, the sooner you can learn and find the thing that’s going to take off.”
  • “When I got outside the corporate bubble and networking amongst start-ups and private investment funds … the generosity was amazing.”
  • “That’s what networking is all about: Transferring the trust one person has in another to somebody else. And it’s incredibly powerful.”
  • “If you’re talented and lazy, you’re going to go nowhere. But if you’ve got energy, it can really overcome anything.”
  • “Fail fast and fail often. By doing that, you will learn what success is really made of.”
  • “We need to have the psychological safety that allows us to fail and to learn and to grow and to get stronger.”
  • “There’s a direct correlation in my career between the amount of time I spent outside of the business and the amount of success I have had.”
  • “Who you’ve got on your team makes a massive, massive difference – to the extent that I would say who you work with is greater than what you work on.”
  • “If you’re passionate about something and really want to succeed, then please, please – block the haters.”
  • “What you need to do as a marketer is present the business case for marketing. And if you (do that) you will never be turned down.”
  • “We don’t think about it enough, but you’ve got to be captain of your own career!”  
  • “We spend so many of our waking hours thinking about the business we work for or the objectives that we’re set, but think a little about you … Have a little think about the long-term and where you’re going.”

FURTHER RESOURCES/RELEVANT LINKS:

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Jon Evans is an experienced commercial leader with lots of senior level sales & marketing experience running both well established and challenger brands. He is currently working as Chief Customer Office for System1, the world-leading provider of advertising and innovation testing. He combines this role with being host of the Uncensored CMO podcast, which has become one of the most popular marketing podcasts in the world. Jon’s previous experience includes a short stint as CMO for Brewdog, Marketing Director at Suntory leading some of the UK’s most iconic brands, on the Board of Purity Soft Drinks, a Private Equity backed Soft Drink business and working for Britvic Soft Drinks running a ‘Seed Brand Unit’ in conjunction with Pepsi.

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