Drea Burbank

I think being an executive is kind of unrelated to knowledge and insights. Far too often executives talk from a position of authority as if that was relevant. People listen to novel ideas, or to complex ideas explained simply. I really found my voice, and a true audience once I committed to only writing things that I thought were original, and were written for the purpose of helping people avoid mistakes or misconceptions I had made.

OMG. Google Scholar, Google Scholar, Google Scolar. Too many people parrot dumbed-down versions of insights. Going back to primary research, and really looking at what original authors said is invaluable for writing projects. We write in about seven different styles now. Social media, blog posts, popular science, academic writing, grant writing, scientific writing. Each of these styles has very specific protocols and knowing them in advance will sharpen your ability to reach an audience effectively.

I read somewhere that "When you find your purpose you will have all the energy and enthusiasm you will ever need." I'm quite ruthless about leaving projects, jobs, and companies (my own or others) where I cannot find that passion for what I do. However with that passion, I have found an unending source of persistence which I believe is truly necessary for getting anything meaningful off the ground. People radically underestimate the discouragement inherent in starting meaningful projects. You have to have more fundamental motivations, sometimes opaque even to you, to really get it to work.

I think starting over in a new career is a great way to remove ego from your life. We highly prize career switchers at our @DelinquentSavants consulting agency. Once you do it once, you forever retain the ability to distinguish skills from stagnation when assessing anyone's competency in an industry or topic. Whether your own or others.

Assertiveness is a very Westerized value. Most of my team is Indigenous and we often discuss Western communication styles which are more forceful, as opposed to Indigenous communication which is subtler. To compensate for this, we encourage Indigenous kids to use very clear, simple statements of fact. These often have the dual outcome of indicating assertiveness to a Westerner, while making multilingual communication more effective.

I would argue that a personal brand is not relevant. To work effectively and build a great reputation in philanthropy, you need to be able to contribute meaningfully, and add insight, toward collective aims.