What happens if you’ve got your life all planned out and then things start to go awry? Obviously, the pandemic was solid proof of that. Now, it’s okay to make plans. But you also need to be open to other new, exciting opportunities that come your way that might lead you to success and happiness.

In today’s episode, we have David Rubin, the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the New York Times. We'll touch on business marketing trends, reinvention advice, and tips from a veteran of the business and brand world who has had massive success and tremendous reinvention moments.

David is also responsible for all acquisition and performance marketing, helping to propel The Times’s digital consumer business, which has surpassed 4 million subscribers. He was named one of Business Insider’s “25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World” in 2018. Prior to New York Times, he worked at Unilever for 16 years and left for Pinterest.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

- The Difference Between Invention and Reinvention

- The importance of knowing the immutable things for you

- How their team is adapting to these times

- The impact of the pandemic  on culture

- David’s most profound reinvention moment

- Having a life plan vs. seizing opportunities

Highlights:

Some Thoughts on Reinvention

With reinvention, there are some things you take with you but the hard part is how do you know that the things you’re holding on to are not going to slow you down and keep you from really changing? And what are things that you need to take with you which you shouldn’t change?

In a company, you need to be able to differentiate the things in your business that are on a mission level that cannot change and those that are just business model choices. However, how do you really know what your mission is? How do you know what your brand is about? And how do you know what are the things that if you don't change you're not going to keep up with the times?

There are things that are what they are. In the end, there are truths about the product that are immutable and your job is to amplify and frame them to tell the story. And sometimes, too, the product itself should change.

The Impact of the Pandemic on Culture

The pandemic has forced us to relate to each other more as people and to support each other in different ways. The good thing, too, is you’ve got controlled environments because you only see people on a camera and the angle that people show.

Marketing is fundamentally a creative business. The more you can be yourself, the more you can bring your whole person and diverse teams that are coming from very different places, the better the work is.

Having a Life Plan vs. Seizing Opportunities

There's a lot of pressure today to have a life plan. But follow every choice according to your exact passions. The risk in some of those things is that you don't open up the opportunity to change. You only know what you know until you experience something new.

You can have those plans, but also, be open to the idea that you might learn something weird and wonderful along the way and go follow it. The key to people who break out success-wise and happiness-wise is that lifelong learning approach and following the opportunities as they come. At the end of the day, what do you want that core to be? That's the question that only you need to and can figure that out.

Links to Resources:

www.SharpeAlliance.com

www.TheReinventionExchange.com

RE:INVENT YOUR LIFE! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

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