Show Title: Harry LaRosiliere: How to Use Your Purpose and Passion to Inform Your Decisions

No matter how much thought, research, and advice you put into your decisions, you will still regret a number of choices you make throughout life. However, today’s guest tells us that the most important thing is to reach a level of total comfort and resolution in the decisions we make, which is only made possible if we keep our purpose and passion front and center as we walk our path.

We address:

What is the best framework for making sound decisions?

How can I identify my purpose and passion?

Why should I not be afraid of making decisions that I may later regret?

Jon and Paul welcome the first African-American mayor of Plano, Texas, Harry LaRosiliere, who shares his guiding principles when making any decision, and his failsafe practice of using his purpose and passion to keep him on the right track as the leader of his community of almost 290,000 residents.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Heed the four Ls of leadership when making important decisions. All leaders need to realize that they have to be fully accountable to their people and take responsibility for their actions. To this end, a leader must make sure to LISTEN in order to get the right amount of input from those around them. They must LEARN from their mistakes. Leaders also LEAD BY EXAMPLE, being the first to enter the building and the last to leave. Leaders LET GO and trust their team, giving them the space, they need to succeed. Finally, leaders need to know when to LEAVE, because no matter how successful (or unsuccessful) you become, there is a time to leave your position. Leaders do not build followers. They build other leaders.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

• Mayor LaRosiliere’s five Ls of leadership [04:30]

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Mayor Harry LaRosiliere’s life journey is a great American story. Born in Haiti, Harry moved to New York with his family when he was just three years old and became a U.S. citizen at age 18. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1985 and moved to Plano, Texas in 1994. Driven by a passion for public service, Harry volunteered with various nonprofit groups followed by service on a variety of Plano city boards and commissions before becoming a city council member. He was nominated and elected mayor of Plano, Texas in 2013 and elected for a second term in 2017.

ABOUT OUR HOSTS

JON  KRAMER:

Jon Kramer, Managing Director JMK Solutions www.jmk-solutions.com is a marketing services veteran with 35+ years of experience working with leading agencies, and major consumer packaged goods brands.

Most recently, Jon was the Enterprise Sales Marketing lead at WestRock, a $16B packaging and display company, responsible for interfacing with their largest clients. Earlier, he was CMO of the RockTenn Merchandising Division where he created a shopper-marketing team, and go-to-market strategies for the Henkel company. He was also responsible for providing the selling organization with insights into the evolving US retail environment.

Previously, Kramer served for 10 years as CEO of J. Brown, the Shopper Marketing agency of Grey Worldwide. He was responsible for creating the organizational positioning and strategy, and led all new-business efforts. During his tenure, J. Brown became the leading U.S. shopper marketing Agency, virtually defining the discipline.

PAUL KRAMER:

Paul Kramer’s distinguished marketing career is characterized by a long track record of building high performance communication organizations. His expertise is a unique blend of creativity, technical marketing analysis, and a keen business sense for strategic positioning. Paul’s earlier career included being the CEO of Catapult Marketing, President and COO of Hyper Marketing Inc and President and COO of D.L. Ryan Companies and has sat on Epsilon’s Strategic Management Team.

Paul is skilled in all areas of marketing. He is especially strong in strategic planning, national brand management, marketing communications, and business development. In addition, he has a solid management foundation with accomplishments in P&L management, intellectual property, forming and maintaining strategic alliances and building business.

Today, Paul is the General Partner of Riverside Consulting, a strategic consulting company working with senior leadership to help guide their business’ success.

RESOURCES

• Visit our website: rearviewinsights.com

Josh Kattef: Using the Framework of Expected Value to Make Major Life Decisions

Even if you graduated with a degree in Mathematics and have a prestigious career as a Wall Street trader and poker player, life will present you choices that you cannot quantify or evaluate through logic alone.

We address:

How do I decide whether or not to make a career pivot?

How do I use the concept of expected value to make decisions in my life?

How can I avoid regret and be genuinely happy with the major life decisions I make?

John and Paul welcome Josh Kattef, who shares his 20-year journey as a professional in the world of finance to find out how a numbers guy who looks at life through a zero-sum game lens makes major decisions.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Your family should serve as your compass when making major career and lifestyle decisions. A high-flying, fast-paced life in NYC characterized by regular nights out on top of a busy, prestigious career is probably best left to single men and women with their whole lives ahead of them. Money, while obviously a huge factor in the type of job or business you choose, is still just one of several factors you need to consider when deciding on a profession. Family should always be number one. If you have the resources and employability, relocating to the country or in a quieter neighborhood and taking on a less stressful role will do wonders for you and your family in the long run.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

• Why Josh decided to go into financial management upon graduating from MIT [03:44]

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Since graduating from MIT in 1998 with a degree in Mathematics, Josh Kattef has led an interesting life as a trader, poker player, blogger, dog lover, and now dad. Straight out of school he joined JP Morgan, but soon moved on to Deutsche Bank, where he quickly became a director.

After a short 8-year tenure there, Josh chucked it all and moved to New Hampshire where he has been living with his wife, lots of dogs, and most recently a new daughter.

ABOUT OUR HOSTS

JON KRAMER:

Jon Kramer, Managing Director JMK Solutions www.jmk-solutions.com is a marketing services veteran with 35+ years of experience working with leading agencies, and major consumer packaged goods brands.

Most recently, Jon was the Enterprise Sales Marketing lead at WestRock, a $16B packaging and display company, responsible for interfacing with their largest clients. Earlier, he was CMO of the RockTenn Merchandising Division where he created a shopper-marketing team, and go-to-market strategies for the Henkel company. He was also responsible for providing the selling organization with insights into the evolving US retail environment.

Previously, Kramer served for 10 years as CEO of J. Brown, the Shopper Marketing agency of Grey Worldwide. He was responsible for creating the organizational positioning and strategy, and led all new-business efforts. During his tenure, J. Brown became the leading U.S. shopper marketing Agency, virtually defining the discipline.

PAUL KRAMER:

Paul Kramer’s distinguished marketing career is characterized by a long track record of building high performance communication organizations. His expertise is a unique blend of creativity, technical marketing analysis, and a keen business sense for strategic positioning. Paul’s earlier career included being the CEO of Catapult Marketing, President and COO of Hyper Marketing Inc and President and COO of D.L. Ryan Companies and has sat on Epsilon’s Strategic Management Team.

Paul is skilled in all areas of marketing. He is especially strong in strategic planning, national brand management, marketing communications, and business development. In addition, he has a solid management foundation with accomplishments in P&L management, intellectual property, forming and maintaining strategic alliances and building business.

Today, Paul is the General Partner of Riverside Consulting, a strategic consulting company working with senior leadership to help guide their business’ success.

RESOURCES

• Visit our website: rearviewinsights.com

Craig Coffey: How to Trust Your Own Decision-Making Framework

Making the “right” decision with regards to career is often not a black-or-white process. How can we be more confident in owning the choices we make? Today’s guest teaches us that the decisions we make do not always have to make sense to everyone—they just need to make sense to you.

We address:

What type of mindset should I cultivate to become more decisive?

How can I know if the company I’m working in is truly the right fit for me?

What can failure teach me about making better career decisions?

John and Paul welcome executive coach Craig Coffey, who shares how being comfortable in your own skin is fundamental to making big decisions that will benefit you in the grand scheme of your career.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Your decision-making framework is worthless if you don’t have the right mindset. Since the beginning of his career, Craig embodied a mindset of optimism, hopefulness, and anticipation. Ultimately, you have to call the shots that you make, big and small alike. And that relies on you having a mindset that allows you to have complete faith in every single one of your decisions.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

• Craig’s decision-making framework [02:49]

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Craig Coffey is the Founder and President of Way Maker Leadership LLC, an Executive Coaching Practice focused on C-suite leaders building strong teams that deliver inspired results. Craig has achieved the credentials and certifications to be a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the most recognized, governing and credentialing body of the coaching profession.

Craig has had an extensive career as a Senior Marketer and General Manager across an array of Fortune 100 companies. He is an accomplished, results-oriented leader with a proven track record of building businesses and well-recognized global brands for Kraft, YUM, PepsiCo, Nokia and Wells Fargo to name a few. Craig is a Diversity & Inclusion champion and has a demonstrated ability to build productive organizational cultures and develop future leaders. Craig is also an active volunteer with American Corporate Partners as a dedicated mentor to US veterans transitioning from military service into the private sector.

Craig has a business degree from Boston College and received a degree in management from Harvard Business School.

ABOUT OUR HOSTS

JON KRAMER:

Jon Kramer, Managing Director JMK Solutions www.jmk-solutions.com is a marketing services veteran with 35+ years of experience working with leading agencies, and major consumer packaged goods brands.

Most recently, Jon was the Enterprise Sales Marketing lead at WestRock, a $16B packaging and display company, responsible for interfacing with their largest clients. Earlier, he was CMO of the RockTenn Merchandising Division where he created a shopper-marketing team, and go-to-market strategies for the Henkel company. He was also responsible for providing the selling organization with insights into the evolving US retail environment.

Previously, Kramer served for 10 years as CEO of J. Brown, the Shopper Marketing agency of Grey Worldwide. He was responsible for creating the organizational positioning and strategy, and led all new-business efforts. During his tenure, J. Brown became the leading U.S. shopper marketing Agency, virtually defining the discipline.

PAUL KRAMER:

Paul Kramer’s distinguished marketing career is characterized by a long track record of building high performance communication organizations. His expertise is a unique blend of creativity, technical marketing analysis, and a keen business sense for strategic positioning. Paul’s earlier career included being the CEO of Catapult Marketing, President and COO of Hyper Marketing Inc and President and COO of D.L. Ryan Companies and has sat on Epsilon’s Strategic Management Team.

Paul is skilled in all areas of marketing. He is especially strong in strategic planning, national brand management, marketing communications, and business development. In addition, he has a solid management foundation with accomplishments in P&L management, intellectual property, forming and maintaining strategic alliances and building business.

Today, Paul is the General Partner of Riverside Consulting, a strategic consulting company working with senior leadership to help guide their business’ success.

RESOURCES

• Find us on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/insights-through-the-rear-view-mirror/id1535911730

Jon and Paul Kramer: A Framework for Making Big Decisions

“Should I walk away from a toxic work environment where I’m being paid a boatload of money?”

“Should I spend $250,000 on a law degree when 44% of lawyers today regret their decision to spend a quarter of a million building their legal career?”

In today’s episode, Paul interviews his brother Jon on the biggest personal and professional decisions he’s made in life.

We address:

Is there a reliable decision-making framework that I can start using today?

How does my personality affect my decision-making process?

How can I evaluate bad decisions to learn from my mistakes?

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Be crystal clear on the outcome you want, and have a concrete plan of action towards it. Jon adheres to two constructs that he almost always uses when making decisions. The first consists of objectives, strategies, and tactics, and the second addresses Now what? So what? Do what? Paul puts particular emphasis on the emotional element of decision-making. Are you happy with the choice you made, and will you be happy in the long haul? By balancing the emotional and the rational, with equal focus put on each aspect, you’ll have yourself a reliable framework for making big decisions of all kinds.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

• Jon’s decision-making framework [4:42]

ABOUT OUR HOSTS

JON KRAMER:

Jon Kramer, Managing Director JMK Solutions www.jmk-solutions.com is a marketing services veteran with 35+ years of experience working with leading agencies, and major consumer packaged goods brands.

Most recently, Jon was the Enterprise Sales Marketing lead at WestRock, a $16B packaging and display company, responsible for interfacing with their largest clients. Earlier, he was CMO of the RockTenn Merchandising Division where he created a shopper-marketing team, and go-to-market strategies for the Henkel company. He was also responsible for providing the selling organization with insights into the evolving US retail environment.

Previously, Kramer served for 10 years as CEO of J. Brown, the Shopper Marketing agency of Grey Worldwide. He was responsible for creating the organizational positioning and strategy, and led all new-business efforts. During his tenure, J. Brown became the leading U.S. shopper marketing Agency, virtually defining the discipline.

PAUL KRAMER:

Paul Kramer’s distinguished marketing career is characterized by a long track record of building high performance communication organizations. His expertise is a unique blend of creativity, technical marketing analysis, and a keen business sense for strategic positioning. Paul’s earlier career included being the CEO of Catapult Marketing, President and COO of Hyper Marketing Inc and President and COO of D.L. Ryan Companies and has sat on Epsilon’s Strategic Management Team.

Paul is skilled in all areas of marketing. He is especially strong in strategic planning, national brand management, marketing communications, and business development. In addition, he has a solid management foundation with accomplishments in P&L management, intellectual property, forming and maintaining strategic alliances and building business.

Today, Paul is the General Partner of Riverside Consulting, a strategic consulting company working with senior leadership to help guide their business’ success.

RESOURCES

• Call Chuck Bolkum of Industry Intelligence at (920) 891-5496 and get a free 30-day trial when you mention the Insights Through the Rear View Mirror

Have you ever thought about the importance of decision-making in your life? Maybe not when it comes to choosing between a latte or an Americano at Starbucks; but on pivotal choices such as relocating for a promising new job, investing $250,000 to go to law school, or making a complete pivot in your professional career several years or even decades in. On today’s episode, we answer the question: Is there a successful decision framework?

How can I take the first few steps into the career of my dreams in an industry where I’m underrepresented?

Where can I find the wherewithal to keep going when it feels like I’m all alone on my journey?

How do I embrace my “voice” to stand out in my career?

John Kramer welcomes writer, director, and filmmaker Rachel Feldman. Her most recent directing credits include Blue Bloods, The Rookie, and Criminal Minds, among others. Her pilot script KINKS won the 2020 Screencraft Best Pilot and the WGA Drama Queens Best Pilot. Rachel began her career in entertainment as a child actor. Her experience working on set coupled with an affinity for the visual arts inspired her to explore a variety of different fields in her teenage years, from graphic design to theatre to fine arts. In her senior year, she read an article in the New York Times about international women film directors. That was the moment she realized that all of her creative pursuits over the years were part and parcel with being a film director. She went on to study for a Master’s Degree in Film at NYU, and the rest was history.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• You can’t be what you can’t see. For many people, the potential to be something greater can be buried under a whole slew of challenges, from societal expectations to economic circumstances to a lack of having the right support. Rachel was born to be a filmmaker, but the entertainment industry during her early years did not expose her to any other female directors to look up to.

ABOUT OUR HOSTS

JON KRAMER:

Jon Kramer, Managing Director JMK Solutions www.jmk-solutions.com is a marketing services veteran with 35+ years of experience working with leading agencies, and major consumer packaged goods brands.

Most recently, Jon was the Enterprise Sales Marketing lead at WestRock, a $16B packaging and display company, responsible for interfacing with their largest clients. Earlier, he was CMO of the RockTenn Merchandising Division where he created a shopper-marketing team, and go-to-market strategies for the Henkel company. He was also responsible for providing the selling organization with insights into the evolving US retail environment.

Previously, Kramer served for 10 years as CEO of J. Brown, the Shopper Marketing agency of Grey Worldwide. He was responsible for creating the organizational positioning and strategy, and led all new-business efforts. During his tenure, J. Brown became the leading U.S. shopper marketing Agency, virtually defining the discipline.

PAUL KRAMER:

Paul Kramer’s distinguished marketing career is characterized by a long track record of building high performance communication organizations. His expertise is a unique blend of creativity, technical marketing analysis, and a keen business sense for strategic positioning. Paul’s earlier career included being the CEO of Catapult Marketing, President and COO of Hyper Marketing Inc and President and COO of D.L. Ryan Companies and has sat on Epsilon’s Strategic Management Team.

Paul is skilled in all areas of marketing. He is especially strong in strategic planning, national brand management, marketing communications, and business development. In addition, he has a solid management foundation with accomplishments in P&L management, intellectual property, forming and maintaining strategic alliances and building business.

Today, Paul is the General Partner of Riverside Consulting, a strategic consulting company working with senior leadership to help guide their business’ success.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Rachel Feldman is an accomplished film & television director. This past season, she directed multiple episodes of “Blue Bloods,” “Criminal Minds,” “The Rookie,” and the pilot and first season of “The Baxters.” She has directed movies for Freeform, Lifetime Television, and The SyFy Channel.

Feldman is in active development to direct her screenplay LILLY, a feature film based on the life of Fair Pay icon Lilly Ledbetter, championed by Meryl Streep.  The screenplay is an Athena List winner and Feldman is the recipient of the NYWIFT Ravenal Foundation Grant. Her pilot KINKS was optioned by eOne Television, won the 2020 ScreenCraft and WGA Drama Queens Best Pilot Awards.

An activist for women behind the camera, she is interviewed in “This Changes Everything,” “Half The Picture,” and “Celluloid Ceiling.” A former chair of the DGA Women’s Steering Committee, you can follow her on Twitter @WomenCallAction.

RESOURCES

• Visit our website: rearviewinsights.com

Mike Perlis: How to Decide on Your Next Job with Confidence

Sometimes, the next big stepping stone in your career isn’t what you expected it to be. When opportunities are thrown at you out of left-field, how do you properly evaluate whether you should capitalize on it or not?

We address:

How do I decide if a job currently being offered to me is really the best option?

Is it ever okay to take a job or a role that doesn’t feel genuinely me just to get ahead in my career?

How important is money when choosing a job, exactly?

John and Paul welcome Mike Perlis, who shares the many huge decisions he had to make throughout his career in order to achieve the level of success he enjoys today.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Almost any business is people-oriented. Never underestimate the power of great mentors and peers who challenge you. When starting up a business, surround yourself with people who you consider as being forward-thinking, having good moral character, and are better than you in ways that will help the entire team rise as you all contribute your individual gifts to the business.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

• Why Mike decided to become a bartender at the very beginning of his professional life [04:49]

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Mike Perlis is a business executive with deep experience managing a wide range of content and multimedia brands.  Mike is currently on the boards of Condé Nast Global, IDG, Hart Energy, Ground Truth and Your Tango. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and is a Board member of Hurricane Island Outward Bound.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Perlis served as Publisher of GQ, President of Playboy Publishing, assuming Hugh Heffner’s publisher position, President of TVSM, Rodale Publisher of Runner’s World and Men’s Health, and Chairman and CEO of IDG Peterborough.

Mike Perlis was also the first non-family member to run the Forbes Media business as CEO. He spearheaded the sale of majority ownership in the company to Hong Kong based investors in 2014.

Mike has also served as a General Partner for 10 years at SoftBank and continues to be a Special Partner.

ABOUT OUR HOSTS

JON KRAMER:

Jon Kramer, Managing Director JMK Solutions www.jmk-solutions.com is a marketing services veteran with 35+ years of experience working with leading agencies, and major consumer packaged goods brands.

Most recently, Jon was the Enterprise Sales Marketing lead at WestRock, a $16B packaging and display company, responsible for interfacing with their largest clients. Earlier, he was CMO of the RockTenn Merchandising Division where he created a shopper-marketing team, and go-to-market strategies for the Henkel company. He was also responsible for providing the selling organization with insights into the evolving US retail environment.

Previously, Kramer served for 10 years as CEO of J. Brown, the Shopper Marketing agency of Grey Worldwide. He was responsible for creating the organizational positioning and strategy, and led all new-business efforts. During his tenure, J. Brown became the leading U.S. shopper marketing Agency, virtually defining the discipline.

PAUL KRAMER:

Paul Kramer’s distinguished marketing career is characterized by a long track record of building high performance communication organizations. His expertise is a unique blend of creativity, technical marketing analysis, and a keen business sense for strategic positioning. Paul’s earlier career included being the CEO of Catapult Marketing, President and COO of Hyper Marketing Inc and President and COO of D.L. Ryan Companies and has sat on Epsilon’s Strategic Management Team.

Paul is skilled in all areas of marketing. He is especially strong in strategic planning, national brand management, marketing communications, and business development. In addition, he has a solid management foundation with accomplishments in P&L management, intellectual property, forming and maintaining strategic alliances and building business.

Today, Paul is the General Partner of Riverside Consulting, a strategic consulting company working with senior leadership to help guide their business’ success.

RESOURCES

• Visit our website: rearviewinsights.com