That moment when you realize you don't know your peers
An exercise to get to know your team, and share more about you, too.
README, typically a text doc that readers see first, is meant to tell you everything you need to know about a product, a launch, or in this case, you.
At the height of COVID I found myself working with several peers who hadn’t previously worked remote and left without the opportunity to travel and see each other in person, we resorted to creating detailed one-pagers about ourselves, our motivations, working styles, feedback styles, etc. You name it, it made someone’s README doc. And they were incredibly helpful.
According to a Stanford University study, teams that work well together are 50% more productive. And there’s stat after stat that shows that the better you know your peers and teammates the higher your overall happiness is, your engagement, and your output.
So, what’s in this doc anyway? I’ll lay out out for you here and drop a link to a template below so you can steal this and implement it with your team.
BASICS
Please call me: [INSERT NAME]
Pronouns: [INSERT PRONOUNS]
Cell: [INSERT CELL]
My People: [WHAT’S YOUR SUPPORT CIRCLE LOOK LIKE]
Favorite food / food restrictions: [FAV FOOD]
Favorite place in the world: [FAV PLACE]
Daily routine: Family is #1 in my world. I love working and I am obsessed with marketing, but with two littles, I want to be there for every daycare drop off, daycare pickup, bathtime, and bedtime. This means I start my days early and am online on or before 7:30 am (central), and offline by 5ish. I’m always checking Slack/texts to make sure there aren’t any fires. This is not always easy, but it’s much easier than regretting not doing it in 5-10-15 years. I’m also trying to be diligent about taking time to walk/think/workout throughout the day. My calendar will always be my source of truth.
Anything else to share?
I’m an INFJ - crazy how accurate this stuff is.
I look for marketing lessons and threads in every single part of my day. I’m obsessed with picking apart copy, positioning, advertisements, everything. I love sparking joy/inspiration from the world around me. So as a result, I eat / sleep / breathe marketing. Books. Podcasts. Audiobooks. You name it. If you have recs, please share!
Fun facts:
I married my high school sweetheart.
Southpaw.
Won a national title in 2014 – I’ll let you all guess what for 😅
Obsessively reading and learning about ways to “retire” early (actively following the F.I.R.E method)
WHAT MOTIVATES ME
Why I’m here/What I look for in a brand:
Mission | People | Disruption
Mission – [Example Text] Having the opportunity to fuel the growth of a company with such an impactful mission and affect on future generations is invigorating to say the least. While I can’t say that I’ve walked in the footsteps of our ICP, I can say that I’ve felt the pain of childcare from a parent’s perspective. It’s stressful. Choosing and trusting a center is by far the largest decision my husband and I have made in parenthood so far. Through this, I feel connected to this mission and this brand to help make a difference.
People –[Example Text] When I first met X, Y, and Z the lightbulb in my head went off, “I have to work with these humans!” Their connection to the mission, and passion for their work sparked such joy I knew I had to be a part of this.
Disruption –[Example Text] X is, and will continue to be, such a disruptive technology in the XYZ industry. Challenging the status quo speaks to my enneagram 3w2 personality.
VALUES [What I care about most, and what this looks like in action]
Transparency: I value being able to be upfront and direct. As a team, we need to feel comfortable sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly. When it comes to people or performance I don’t want to feel surprised. The earlier we can address situations that aren’t ideal, the better I can partner with you to resolve them, or get a plan in place. On the flip side, celebrating wins, in a company that’s moving and growing quickly, are often overlooked, and I LOVE celebrating the wins. So please be transparent about those, too!
Ownership & Accountability: Ownership in this sense is being proactive. I value working with teammates who not only take ownership of “their lane” but also projects, tasks, and concepts far outside of their JD as well. We have so much opportunity here to operationalize, scale, and iterate.
Ownership is visible when a team member realizes potential that others have yet to see.
I strive to hold myself to a high level of accountability, as I will for this team as well. Establishing a high bar and then holding each other to it breeds trust, allowing us to count on each other, whether that means meeting deadlines, fulfilling responsibilities, or feeling comfortable enough to approach one another for help.
Communication: I personally value communication above everything. A remote environment only heightens the importance of being able to communicate early, often, and diligently. The details will matter – especially as we scale.
Work/life balance: These past 4 years have blended that category more than I ever could’ve imagined, but for what it’s worth I relentlessly manage my time so that I can prioritize every minute during the day to focus on work, and be present for all of the important moments with my girls, too. That being said, stuff happens, especially with small children. During days where we’ve got a sick kiddo my husband and I split sick days, doctors appts, etc. If I’m out unexpectedly for a sick day I’ll let you know via Slack and will touch base async over Slack for urgent matters.
PRINCIPLES
TEAM PRINCIPLES
I believe strongly in personal development. If there’s something you’re eager to learn, explore, etc. by way of personal development, please let me know.
Thoughts on career progression:
Master the art of managing up
Be the person on your team that can pull people across different departments & get them to work together
Take on big, highly visible projects
Deliver (and present) real results, publicly
Invest in public speaking/presenting
ALWAYS be learning (especially if it’s not “your lane”)
Show your work – Marketing should not be a black box. We should be showing what we are doing internally with the marketing team, and regularly to cross-functional partners outside of marketing.
The art of managing up – I expect you to manage up. Push me and tell me what you need to get your job done and be happy and successful.
Everything needs a clear goal. A clear goal has a metric and date. Can be: increase homepage conversion from 3% to 4% by end of Q2; can also be: Create a new video series with at least 5 recorded episodes by January 15. Clear goals are not just for demand gen marketers. Also, we need to understand the WHY - why are you doing this? What is it going to do for our business? Etc.
HOW I WORK
Back-of-the-napkin math is my jam. Imagine the Zach Galifianakis math gif...that’s me constantly trying to think of the path of least resistance to scale this business.
Speed is everything. I like to move fast in marketing – months never fly. There’s always an incremental version.
Always down to chat or work through something in Slack or hop on a quick Zoom.
I’m a lifelong learner, therefore you’ll find I’m naturally very curious. I love asking questions, learning from and about others, and hearing how others think (especially if it’s different from what I’m thinking).
FEEDBACK
I give very direct, up-front feedback. I believe it makes life easier.
Expect and welcome you to be direct with me. The risk of insult is the price of clarity.
I like to stay in the loop - 1) it helps me manage my type-A personality and lets me know stuff is moving like we said it would 2) it lets me know you’re on top of everything.
1:1s are your meeting - nice to catch up, hear about how you’re doing, what you did this weekend. But ultimately it’s a meeting for you to let me know how I can help you get your job done / do it better / hit your goals / etc.
COMMUNICATION
Communication preferences:
I’m naturally a note-taker & a list maker. Prioritization is key.
I largely prefer Slack over email. Emails are long and thoughtful. Everything else goes on Slack.
I share ideas all day & all night. That doesn’t mean I expect you to respond at all hours, but I am not going to not share it. It also doesn’t mean you need to do everything I share - I often just share because it’s interesting / worth watching / potentially worth debating / etc.
Email vs Slack: Inbox zero is distracting. I have my email notifications turned off and only check emails in the morning, midday, and EOD, but Slack is timely and I check it more frequently.
MARKETING PRINCIPLES
Some guiding principles:
Think scrappy – budget can make people lazy.
Offers - offers are everything & usually the missing piece with demand gen. People spend so much time putting together a campaign but often forget to ask themselves “what is going to make people move, switch, buy, engage, take the action, etc.”
Creative - creative is the variable for success today.
Think Gong, Mailchimp, Masterclass etc.
Very memorable/recognizable creative.
Strong visual brand affinity.
Social Proof/Testimonials - 99% won't do it unless they see others have already done it.
Momentum - speed is everything in marketing. This means we ship more, learn faster, and outrun everyone in our space. It also signals to customers/the market we are for real. We need to always be launching.
Perception - perception is everything. No empty seats.
Dating Up - who we partner with, who we feature matters; it’s all signaling.
Copywriting - Copywriting is selling through words. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Network - Build 👏🏻 your 👏🏻 audience 👏🏻. There is nothing in today’s world more important than finding your people. Building relationships. It will help you in every single thing you do throughout your career.
Lead Gen - It’s not about lead gen. Throw that out. We’re not here to generate leads. We’re here to drive revenue // closed won deals. I don’t care if we have 5000 people at an event, or 50. As long as they’re the right 50 people, then that’s all we need.
Stories - there are 3 reasons people make a change.
1. Dissatisfaction with the present state
2. A vision of a better state
3. Belief they can reach it! A story is how you get them there.
Good artists copy, great artists steal - innovate, don’t invent - Who’s your role model? (ex: HubSpot, MailChimp, Gong)
People - marketing is about PEOPLE - not technology. Understand the principles of social psychology (Influence, Thinking Fast & Slow) and study old-school direct response advertising – with an open mind.
MARKETING/DEMAND GEN RESOURCES I’D RECOMMEND:
People to follow
Dave Gerhardt - Exit Five podcast pumps out actionable podcast episodes weekly
Tas Bober - She’ll tell you everything you need to know about conversion-based LPs
Lashay Lewis - The BoFu content queen
Jason Oakley - Everything you’ll need to know about Product Marketing
MJ (Peters) Smith - Actionable tips for marketing leadership (VP + CMO+)
Books to read 📚
They Ask You Answer - Marcus Sheridan
Obviously Awesome - April Dunford
Category Creation
Founder Brand
Building a Storybrand
Storynomics
Managing Oneself - Peter Drucker
Thinking Fast & Slow
Ogilvy on Advertising
Behind The Cloud
Copywriters Handbook
Breakthrough Advertising
Scientific Advertising
Copywriting Secrets
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This
Hypergrowth
Steal like an artist
UnLeadership - Scott Stratten
The Culture Code - Daniel Coyle
If you’re needing to up the collaboration within your team, start by getting to know them. And allowing them to know you. Here’s a template to steal.