Madison Calvert

For the past year, I lived and worked for Sprinklr in London, a city nearly 3,500 miles from my home in New York. It had always been a dream of mine to live and work overseas & in late 2015, the opportunity to make that dream a reality presented itself following Sprinklr's acquisition of my former company NewBrand .

During my time in Europe, I visited a dozen countries, experienced t he seemingly improbable Brexit and woke up one day in November to the eerily similar sensation when Donald Trump was elected President. Professionally, I was privileged to work on the most interesting and complex business accounts and challenges of my career.

The opportunity to live and work abroad provided a platform to work on competitive, cross - departmental evaluations with some of the largest brands in new industries and to say that I was constantly learning would be an understatement. As a result of these experiences, I am more confident than ever in the additional value and perspective that I now add to the work that truly excites me the most: engaging with complex, multinational businesses to help solve the meatiest and most mission critical existential challenge that the majority of them face today. In my opinion, Digital Transformation and the shift from Brand-Centric to Customer-First will truly revolutionize the largest companies and the ones that adapt their strategies vs. those that do not will have tremendously different futures in an increasingly digital world.

Below are a few key principles that I consistently applied during my time in the UK that were critical in helping me make the most of my opportunity.

Think Big & Have A Winning Attitude.

Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. " - Wayne Gretzky

Truly BELIEVE in the mission you chose and the work you do and align yourself with an A-team of people around you who feel the same way. Winning is contagious, but so is losing. Be knowledgeable yet humble and challenge the status quo if you see a better way to do things.

In business projects, find a Champion or change agent and understand their personal wins and how they might align to your own goals. He or she will be invaluable in helping you win where others falter and without a Champion, I've learned that the likelihood of a project succeeding is almost non-existent.

Never Win or Lose on Your Own.

Collaborating vs. going at difficult challenges accomplishes three key objectives:

It decreases risk on every front. 2. It creates the opportunity to demonstrate additional value and diversify your perspective while better getting to know the scenario or challenges you're trying to solve.

3. Cowboy behavior doesn't scale. Always win (and lose) as a team & share learnings.

(Sprinklr 2017 Global Sales Kickoff - this group wins as a team.)

Take Big Risks.

"Very few things are proven. One thing that is proven is this: the only regrets octogenarians have are for the risks not taken." - Andy Dunn , CEO & co-founder, Bonobos

When you are considering any radical change, I find it helpful to remember that inevitably, you will encounter challenges and experience highs and lows that you had not expected or prepared yourself for. My advice: Take that big risk anyway, it's going to be OK! I personally find that writing down the justifications for taking on a meaningful new challenge and documenting the reasons why you made the decision for your future self to reflect on help sense check things when you do encounter some unexpected turbulence down the road.

Negative emotions like fear and self-doubt only limit your ability to reach your greatest potential. Candidly, there were multiple times early on where I questioned whether I'd made the right decision in leaving a successful management track in the US to risk striking out overseas as an individual contributor, with companies I had no prior business relationship with to boot. In keeping focused on both the long term goals and outcomes that I wanted to achieve, I was able to course correct where necessary and maximize the outcome of my experience. I also finished with my best performance against a sales plan in my career, was named Global Sales Rep of the Year - EMEA, at Sprinklr and got to lead a panel at our Annual Sales Kickoff on customer engagement. None of this would have been possible without the courage of trusting myself and just doing it .

Also, reward yourself and have some fun when you reach benchmarks along the way. If you are lucky enough to have a great partner like I do, thank them for the sacrifices that they make to help you achieve your dreams!

(With Victoria enjoying a bit of exploratory time in London by Buckingham Palace)

Genuinely, Passionately Care.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

Several areas that I focused great attention on in my time abroad revolved around being a more effective communicator. I prioritized listening first, asking questions and attempting to understand "why" things worked the way they currently did. By doing this, I really earned the right to speak before sharing my point of view. Much of my focus on these areas of improvement stemmed from my awareness of the perception of Americans living abroad and the desire not to embody the stereotype of the entitled "seen it all before" type. By genuinely caring about the perspective of others first, I found that my agenda shifted from "showing and telling" to "serving, understanding, and advising." This was in many ways my Eureka moment abroad.

Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Give Up.

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game - winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

In my line of work, persistence is key and having the conviction and belief to power through troughs is what separates good from great. Have grit, dig in and always think of both the "why" and the "why not" when qualifying how to spend your time reaching your goals. Never, ever give up when you see a true opportunity to add value you customers and your future self will thank you for the persistence.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found my insight valuable and enjoyed the read. If my perspective was helpful and you have any questions, I would be happy to connect and would love your feedback.

- Madison

Madison Calvert has worked in London, Washington, D.C. and now New York with extremely talented people at high-growth, innovative technology companies including 2U , LivingSocial , and Sprinklr . He has gained unique insight into how forward - thinking senior executives leverage social media to lead more effectively in a rapidly changing digital world and as an expat, into International perspectives on solving complex business challenges. In his free time, Madison enjoys traveling and dining with his better half Victoria . You can follow the visual side of his journey on Instagram:madisoncalvert.

Madison Calvert

Washington, District of Columbia, United States 4K followers 500+ connections

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Education

The George Washington University

Projects

Livingsocial Takeout & Delivery

Oct 2011 - Nov 2012

Recommendations received

Jenn Pansegrau

Cindy Filiatrault

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