June 6 

Dine With An Executive

At Fox Studios

"Dine With An Executive" event featured Janice Arouh, President of Domestic Distribution and Marketing for Entertainment Studios Networks. She shared some of her life's lessons that helped her excel in her career. She also allowed the Starwatch members to ask her for professional advice.

22 NAMIC Starwatch members attended this intimate dinner on Thursday, 6/6. The dinner was hosted by Brian Wright (NAMIC member) and Corinthia Jacobs (Starwatch member) at Fox Studios.

Mark Stephens  VP of HR Business Partners Residential Services Time Warner Cable

Michael Cooper  VP of Distribution Marketing Fox Networks

Emory Walton VP of Distribution A+E Networks

Val Boreland EVP of Programming Revolt TV

Tiffany Smith-Anoa'l VP of Diversity & Communications CBS Television

About NAMIC Starwatch Program

NAMIC Starwatch is dedicated to the professional development and sharing of marketing excellence, as well as mentoring of young talented professionals working in the cable, entertainment and telecommunications industries. This program provides a select number of up-and-coming "Stars" unique accesses to NAMIC Southern California educational programs who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to join our membership. For questions about the program, please contact: Cheryl Dorsey, cheryldorsey85@gmail.com.

Executives can talk about what is best for their workforce and yet can the rhetoric really hold true? For example, it may be best for an executive to "walk the floors" for employees to get to know them and yet how can you really let your guard down when the boss is around? Forget it!

Here are 3 leadership "norms" that bust through current ideas:

* Be humble - humility is a terrific leadership quality until it gets confused with tooting your own horn. How can you be humble while promoting yourself? Help someone get what they want. If you help someone else achieve a goal or think of an innovative idea that leads to a solution, people will talk about it. Key in to what is most important to the person you are speaking with. Be in the business of continually investigating what matters to others. Make what matters to them, matter to you. Champion their causes.

* Do the work and you will get noticed - Wonderful people are working hard and yet when it comes time for a promotion they get looked over or worse yet edged out for political reasons that has nothing to do with their performance. Doing the work does not equate getting visibility. Create a visibility strategy for every 30 days with 3 short key goals, an audience target and 3 "must make messages" (those key points that you want people to know about you and what you do). Keep your image noticeable and discernible.

* Speak up! - Experts say it's important for your elevation or sustained elevation if you speak up or take a contrarian view. The truth is depending upon the topic or hidden agendas and sensitivities of those in the room, you may simply sabotage your career by one seemingly bold move.   If you want to further a contrarian message do so privately with key individuals before you take give airtime to your views publicly. You'll get much further faster.

"Leaning in" may first mean re-examining. If you want results further faster, examine the leadership "norms" that exist in your organization. Which are the ones that produce powerful outcomes and which ones have to be refined or tossed. You may find what are seemingly best practices are now cultural hindrances to rising to the next level of success.