by Caroline Leach | Sep 5, 2018 | Careers, Change, Leadership, Social Media
Sometimes strategic procrastination can be a good thing.
Except in my case, it wasn’t fully strategic. At all.
Wrapping up several years in the corporate world, launching my own business, getting my children settled into a new school year and doing right by my community commitments didn’t leave much time for one very important detail …
… naming my new company.
Sure, I looked at a few articles. Jotted down some ideas. But a name is critically important. And I didn’t have one yet.
Suddenly I found myself with one day to go before my self-imposed deadline to rebrand my social media accounts.
And that one day was Labor Day.
Holidays carry a lot of symbolism for me. My husband and I got engaged on New Year’s Eve. While our April wedding didn’t fall on Easter, many of our anniversaries have. Our daughter was born on a holiday and our son was born on the first day of a new season.
Our daughter was baptized on Valentine’s Day. By comparison, our son’s September baptism date seemed nondescript. Until 9/11 happened.
His baptism was the Sunday after the world changed forever. My out-of-town family members couldn’t come because … no planes were flying. I wondered if it would be a bad idea to proceed in light of the national tragedy. But I decided to move forward.
The church was packed, with people seeking solace and answers to something that has no answers. Through tears, a few people sought me out after the service to thank me for bringing my infant son to be baptized. They said it gave them hope for new beginnings.
Fast forward to 2015. I launched a blog on New Year’s Day. As a VP of corporate communications, I began it as an exploration of the future of the field.
Later that year, the company was acquired. I had the opportunity to move into marketing analytics. So I pivoted my blog as well into a learning experience in the new field.
But that wasn’t something I ultimately found myself wanting to spend hours of my weekend and evening time on. But what about how people learn new skills? That was interesting to me. So I explored learning in my blog for a while.
Then I attended a women’s leadership conference two Septembers ago at Fullscreen, a media company for creators and brands. The actor/producer/entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon was a surprise guest speaker.
A comment she made changed my life. When she was asked about her success in social media, she talked about being authentic. And she mentioned a big white space in the area, helping people shape their images and reputations through social media.
It was an a-ha moment for me. That’s what I wanted to do.
So two years ago, I began writing, researching and speaking about how professionals can build and boost their careers through social media. It’s a labor of love I did on the side in early mornings and evenings and weekends.
It’s a dream for me to start my own business in this area. And I am very fortunate to be able to do that this fall.
But a name. A name. I needed a name. Not to mention I needed a catchphrase that my upcoming book editor Cat Spydell recommended. (And creating a catchphrase is next up on my list.)
So I started doodling ideas. I analyzed tech company names. I looked at PR company names. Ad agencies. Podcasts. Hashtags. Even multi-hyphenate lives, also known as a “slash generation” with portfolio careers.
For further inspiration, I put all the descriptive words about me in the farewell notes from colleagues into an Excel spreadsheet. Then I made them into a word cloud, thanks to wordclouds.com. Here it is:
Traits that describe me, thanks to my colleagues and wordclouds.com
But in the end, it turned out to be a variation on a placeholder my husband Kevin put into his business plan. He’s opening a South Bay, California steakhouse with a seasoned restaurant veteran in the coming months. He asked me to manage the PR and social media. And he noted Carelle Communications would lead the work.
It’s an amalgamation of my name, Caroline Elizabeth Leach.
Yet alas, there’s already a Carelle fine jeweler.
But what about Carrelle with two r’s?
It’s been used as a baby name on rare occasions. Of English and German origin, it has wide-ranging meanings – farmer, strong, courageous, melody and song.
Strong and courageous spoke to me immediately. Initially I was puzzled by farmer. But a farmer equates to cultivation and growth. Perfect. How about melody and song? That speaks to my joy in writing, researching, consulting and speaking.
What are the other reasons I like The Carrelle Company?
- It’s a takeoff of my name, which is my brand in a way … as our names are now our personal brands
- It’s alliterative with the repeated “C’s.” I changed “communications” to “company” to keep the possibilities open for the future
- The initial letters are evocative of “careers,” which I help to fuel through my work
- There’s a slight link with the C-words related to what I do – communication, community, collaboration, consulting, critical thinking, connection
- The “car” evokes an automobile with motion, acceleration, speed and freedom
- It sounds elegant and classic … and slightly French, my chosen language of study as a teen (which comes in slightly handy now as I struggle to learn Spanish)
- It’s strong and it’s feminine with the “elle”
- It’s unique … who else but me could use this name?!?
And then there may be the name-letter effect in my dedication to the field of communications. According to research by Dr. Brett Pelham, a psychologist, people “disproportionately choose careers whose labels resemble their names.”
So just as “people named Dennis or Denise are overrepresented among dentists,” this could partly explain why I, as a Caroline, am attracted to communications.
And perhaps why, in my Google search of people named Carrelle, the two I found work in communications on other continents.
So that’s the story of how The Carrelle Company came to be.
And now it’s on to the business of writing, researching, consulting and speaking. I’m helping people grow their careers and business owners grow their companies through digital branding in social media.
by Caroline Leach | Aug 30, 2018 | Careers, Leadership, Work/Life
What 5-minute action can you take at work today that will pay huge dividends and possibly change someone’s life?
Write a thank you note.
Yup, a thank you note. It can be by email, text, card or direct message. The medium doesn’t matter. What matters is taking the time to share with a colleague what you appreciate about them.
Science says so. Gratitude research is on the rise, according to Heather Murphy reporting in The New York Times. A recent study covered in Psychological Science asked participants to “write a short ‘gratitude letter’ to a person who had affected them in some way.”
Many of the note recipients said “they were ‘ecstatic,’ scoring the happiness rating at 4 of 5. The senders typically guessed they’d evoke a 3.”
The major finding of Dr. Amit Kumar at the University of Texas at Austin? “People tend to undervalue the positive effect they can have on others for a tiny investment of time.”
Dilbert creator Scott Adams put it well in his bestseller, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life.
“Adults are starved for a kind word,” Adams wrote. “When you understand the power of honest praise (as opposed to bullshitting, flattery, and sucking up), you realize that withholding it borders on immoral. If you see something that impresses you, a decent respect to humanity insists you voice your praise.”
What else says so? My own experience.
Today is my last day at AT&T, which was DIRECTV before that. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own.) It’s been a great run at a great company, and I’m excited to move on to the next stage of my work life. But it’s bittersweet to leave an incredible group of colleagues.
When my departure note went out, I thought a few people might reach out to say farewell.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the outpouring of appreciation. And thanks. And love.
(And in the #MeToo era with so much bad behavior, I must qualify that to note what I experienced was entirely professional and fully within the bounds of respectful and appropriate workplace behavior.)
What caught me completely by surprise is a stack of now-printed emails with thanks and good wishes that I’m saving for posterity. I share a few excerpts anonymously here, with the hope the writers do not mind and that their thoughts might inspire you to thank a colleague today, and every day …
Thank you for making us smile and wanting to do our jobs. You are an amazing leader who leads by example.
I always enjoyed your leadership and especially looked up to you in so many ways, hoping that I could be half of what you are in my lifetime.
Did you hear that?! That was the sound of my heart breaking. While our work together was short lived and limited (much to my dismay), you truly made an invaluable impact and for that I thank you.
On behalf of all the people you have inspired, but are probably unaware of, thanks for all you do.
It’s been my biggest pleasure and honor to work with you.
I’m sure you don’t remember me, but you had lunch with a small group of new hires during our onboarding. We had a lovely conversation and I was so impressed and grateful for how welcoming and inclusive you were with us.
You’ve had such a profound influence on my life and I am so grateful for that.
Wow.
I had no idea.
And maybe the people you work with have no idea either … of how talented, valued and appreciated they are. So I encourage you, every day, to share your thanks with at least one person. It reminds me of what a wise colleague, Andy Bailey, always used to say – start every meeting with recognition.
Here’s my love letter to all the amazing people I’ve worked with over the years, from a real-estate developer to what became Northrop Grumman, and from to DIRECTV to AT&T …
Friends,
You are the reason I enjoy coming to work every day.
You are my “why” for being at work … the purpose that is bigger than all of us. You bring the ideas, the inspiration and the innovation that make our teams a success. You make the seemingly impossible suddenly possible. You make the workday fun, yes fun.
There’s a lot of hard work behind what you do. But you take the high road every day, making your hard work appear effortless and going above and beyond to deliver for colleagues and customers.
I have learned so much from you, whether a new skill set in a new role or a better way to lead and engage people. Maya Angelou was on to something when she said that people won’t remember what you said or did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel. You make me feel like anything is possible, that there is good in the world, and that the present and future are exciting places.
You have given me many gifts over the years. The most important ones? The feeling that I have made – and will continue to make – a difference. The knowledge that each of us leaves bigger footprints in the sands of time than we can ever know. That quite possibly is the best gift ever. It speaks to our humanity and our desire to be part of something larger than ourselves.
I am ever grateful, and I ask that you keep paying it forward.
Who has made a difference in your work life? Who will you reach out to today?
by Caroline Leach | Jan 28, 2018 | Careers, Social Media
How does a two-minute chance meeting at Starbucks turn into 100+ likes and positive interactions in social media?
When your colleague asks another colleague to take a quick picture and shares it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with a fun caption promoting #LifeatATT.
That person is TeNita Ballard, a passionate champion for diversity and inclusion at AT&T. We both work in Southern California, and we ran into each other at the company’s headquarters in Dallas this week. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own.)
I’ve written about TeNita before in the secret to fitting social media into your professional life. She was the first example I held up of people who are especially good at documenting the highlights of their professional lives.
She’s always looking for ways to share the public side of her work — from Chief Diversity Officer Corey Anthony’s recent visit with employee resource groups to the Los Angeles African American Women’s Public Policy Institute at USC.
This is all part of a strategy to simply document your day, rather than attempting to create content above and beyond what you’re already working on.
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vayner Media, articulates it well in his post, Document, don’t create. It’s an easy and authentic approach.
To get started, ask yourself a few questions …
- What are you working on that you can share publicly?
- What actions are you especially excited about?
- What information would benefit your network, promote your colleagues, and/or amplify your employer’s brand?
Many good examples of this appeared in my social media feed this month.
Fiona Carter, Chief Brand Officer at AT&T, shared a gathering of high-powered marketers convening to discuss big topics around gender equality. It highlights the company’s leadership in improving the representation of women and girls in advertising in the #SeeHer industry initiative.
Mo Katibeh, Chief Marketing Officer for AT&T Business, sparked advance interest in his presentation at the 2018 AT&T Business Leadership Kickoff meeting with a picture of his rehearsal, the group’s theme for the year and @mentions of key colleagues.
Karyn Spencer, VP of Hello Lab at AT&T, shared an interview clip at the Sundance Film Festival of the work she and colleagues have been doing, especially in the areas of inclusion and diversity.
It was one of several interviews Carrie Keagan conducted during the event, with Nicholas Bianchi posting the great news that “AT&T was the #1 mentioned brand on Twitter at Sundance.”
While I wasn’t at Sundance or the power marketers’ dinner, I felt like I was part of the experiences, thanks to my colleagues. I did get to see Mo Katibeh’s presentation, and it was well done. After coming across his post, I looked forward to seeing his talk.
To wrap up my own week back in Southern California, I hosted three students from USC Annenberg at AT&T’s El Segundo campus – Gina Wanless, Kaitlin Rhodes and Avalon Harder.
They are finishing graduate and undergraduate programs this spring. I’m excited to see the great things they’ll do next.
What you you doing this week that you can share in social media?
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