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OhHello - Matt Barash
87 Plays1 year ago
OhHello.io 🌞☕️ pod/vod episode 52 -- featuring the best background, yet, along with “the most misunderstood man in media.”
“I love AdTech, I’ve been married to it for a long time, but AdTech is not life. Life includes lots of things”.
We recorded this episode a few days prior to our "Hello" finding additional purpose in his life by adding the role of ”dad” to his responsibilities. Dad, husband, sneaker head, and industry influencer, Matt Barash, of Index Exchange, joins us to chat about #mentorship #marketing #advertising #career #mentalhealth
In this episode:
⭐ You'll learn why/how “Your character is your calling card.” (fantastic quote)
⭐Advice: “you’re gonna have to work for it.” Surround yourself with people who’ll empower you to become successful.
⭐“A career is a series of jobs w/ a bunch of chapters in your story.”
⭐"Mentorship can be peer2peer - not just generational. You can’t put a price on experience; experience matters and it’s how you navigate through tough times. Everyone needs multiple mentors. It’s a pleasure and privilege to help people navigate their time [via OhHello.io and beyond]"
Themes that embody this OhHello.io mentor: Honesty, empathy, someone willing to express themselves, and a pro that leads by example.
Listen/watch and SUBSCRIBE to hear how and why.
Some of Matt's mentors that he wants to call our:
Linda Yaccarino - a mentor and friend that hired him as an intern and has made an impact since day 1
Ari Bluman (RIP)- taught Matt how important it is to get out there, be active
Adam Bain (mentioned by other "Hellos" as their mentor)- media and data can be decoupled; every minute made the difference
Big thanks to Matt Barash for being one of our OGs during our soft-launch! Matt has a distinguished award that we'll be recognizing and honoring him w/ in the coming weeks.
Wanna learn more from Matt?
Book time for a 1:1 with him here:
https://lnkd.in/gnNzmTSF 👟☕
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Matt Barish
00:00:16
Speaker
Oh! Hello, Matt! Hey, hey! Hey, hey! How are you, Mr. Barish?
00:00:24
Speaker
I am fantastic, thank you. Thanks for having me, man. It's good to be here. It's a pleasure. It is an absolute pleasure to have you on the Oh Hello podcast and podcast where many people near and far are gonna be watching this and learning more about how you view mentorship. So with that said, I know who you are. I've had the pleasure of getting to know you over the past couple of years. Why don't you tell the audience who I have the pleasure of speaking with right now?
00:00:54
Speaker
Who am I? I often feel like the most misunderstood man in media, but that's it. By day, I'm the Senior Vice President of the Americas and run our global publishing business here at Index Exchange.
00:01:09
Speaker
Uh, and I love ad tech, so, you know, I like to joke that I've been married to an industry for a long time that said, you know, um, ad tech is not life. And so, you know, life includes lots of things. Uh, this time of year, it's kind of tough to be a Mets Rangers Knicks Tottenham Hotspur fan, uh, and balance out, you know, my love of sports with. I think probably, uh, a really bad sneaker habit.
00:01:38
Speaker
that many, many people know about.
Personal Milestones and Family Joy
00:01:40
Speaker
And so, you know, for me, that all becomes secondary in a matter of weeks because I'm expecting my first child and so I'm a dad to be, and super excited.
00:01:53
Speaker
love my wife, love watching her go through this process, love going through the process with her together, and think who I am and who I will be. I'm an inflection point, so thanks for asking. That's amazing. What defines you, Matt?
Personal Branding and Principles
00:02:10
Speaker
When you think about
00:02:12
Speaker
When you think about your brand, when you think about the kind of skillset that, that, that characterizes you, that you're going to be giving back to the Oh, hello community. What are just some skill sets and characteristics? Sure.
00:02:27
Speaker
You know, I'm a firm believer that your characters are calling card. And so, you know, we are all out there as public personas, whether you've got 10 followers on Twitter or 10,000, whether you sit in a room and you command the room, whether you're sitting there listening, uh, how you carry yourself says a lot. And so when we enter the public domain, I think it's really important to take ownership and take responsibility and accountability.
00:02:58
Speaker
I try to be empathetic. I try to lead by example. I try to be honest. I try to have an opinion.
00:03:05
Speaker
And I think it's really healthy to have an opinion when there are a lot of people who are afraid to express it. And so, you know, when you've got a thought, when you've got a position and you're willing to express it, that's when great things happen. And so it doesn't mean you have to be right every time, but it means you have to be willing to place bets, take chances, assume some risk, and hopefully reap the rewards of those challenges.
00:03:32
Speaker
I really respect the way that you replied with, I try, I try, I try for all the different characteristics. I try to be empathetic. I tried to be a good listener. I try to set a good example. I try to be a great communicator because what that really showcases is just your authentic self that you are giving it your best and raw human.
00:03:55
Speaker
some of the word there were fragile and everything's gonna be perfect but you give a shit and you give it your best which is really important. Yeah i mean look i give too much of a shit and yeah i think for me.
00:04:10
Speaker
It's really important to have purpose.
Purpose and Authenticity in Life
00:04:12
Speaker
And so, you know, that purpose is, you know, whether I get up in the morning and I get on the treadmill and I say, you know, I'm committed to running three, four or five miles today, I'm going to hit that goal and I'm going to fill on it. Or whether it's that I'm going to walk into this office and I'm going to lead by example, or, you know, I'm going to walk down the hall of a, uh,
00:04:34
Speaker
you know, of a customer or, you know, a meeting and I'm going to put on a happy face and I'm going to, you know, at the end of the day, tell like it is because I think it's really important that in a complicated world that we simplify it. And, you know, simplification comes with authentic, like with a sense of authenticity. And, you know, if you're going to go fake the funk, your days are probably pretty long.
00:05:04
Speaker
But if you're gonna go and you're gonna tell it like it is and keep it real and do it in a way that I think is fair and it comes with a level of understanding that you're doing it in a thoughtful manner, then do it all day. And that's been the brand, that's what we've been for better part of the past 20, 25 years as a professional. And that's stopping anytime soon. What would you tell your younger self?
Career Insights and Mentorship
00:05:33
Speaker
You know, I think a lot about that. I think, you know, my younger self didn't realize he really had to work for it. And so, you know, sometimes you're good. Sometimes you're lucky. Sometimes there's a equal equation where you've got a little bit of both.
00:05:52
Speaker
And so, you know, as I look back at a career that has definitely had ups and downs and, you know, for the most part, far more ups and downs, I've always surrounded myself with people who allowed me to be successful, who empowered me to be successful, and who taught me. And so, you know, once upon a time when I started out, I hit the jackpot with
00:06:19
Speaker
a first boss who let me observe everything that they did and really introduced me to an industry that I knew nothing about.
00:06:28
Speaker
And from there on, that set the bar pretty high. As I looked at opportunities and I looked at career path and I thought about how to get from point A to point B and what would be point C and point D, I started to think about a career as a series of jobs. And the career is when you leave school, ultimately to when you hang up the jersey,
00:06:56
Speaker
And everything in between those jobs are a bunch of chapters in your story. And so how do you take your story and make it really interesting? And how do you take that story? And how do you continue to grow it? And how do you start to think about if I knew then what I know now? The answer is it doesn't apply because everything that I do today didn't exist when I was early on in my career. So I think ultimately it comes down to having a thesis
00:07:26
Speaker
that you operate under and saying, OK, this is how I'm going to define myself as I look at my career objectives moving forward. So with that, who were some of the co-authors, if you will, some of the mentors that made an impact on you professionally?
00:07:44
Speaker
that have helped you get to where you are today because they helped you realize that you have to work hard. You have to put in the effort. You have to be authentic. Looking back, who are some mentors that have made a profound impact on your career thus far, both professionally and personally?
00:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, look, you know, I knew nothing about the advertising business growing up, right? I went off to the University of Wisconsin, I was a C student. And my dad was a doctor, my mom was a lawyer, and I was a 2.5 GPA. And so I wasn't going to follow on anybody. You got into Wisconsin? Yeah, that was that was in Wisconsin. But uh, yeah, that's where the EQ IQ conversation.
00:08:26
Speaker
You know i applied for an internship at nbc and this woman named lindy acarino who's first time sales manager pulled my resume off pile and invited me into what was her house at that point thirty rock and.
00:08:43
Speaker
Open my eyes to an industry that I didn't know existed and you know she hired me for a couple summers she remains a wonderful friend and You know what I consider to be a personal board member and so you know when I've got questions when I need advice I look back at the people who have really left that mark on me and who I try to carry with me a little bit of
00:09:06
Speaker
what they instilled upon me once upon a time everywhere I go. And so, you know, I look at a couple stops in my journey. I look at my time at 24 seven real media. I look at a guy named Ari Blumen, who is a legend in this industry, you know, would probably sit on her mouth, rush more of ad tech if there was one. And, you know, Ari taught me just about, you know,
00:09:31
Speaker
how important it is to get out there and the notion of activity and sales leadership. And then I went on to Myspace and News Corp and I worked under Adam Bain who has gone on to do some amazing things. And when I look at Adam and how he
00:09:48
Speaker
So effortlessly led a massive organization and the world's largest website at the time in my space started to think differently and started to recognize that media and data could be decoupled to create this thing called programmatic. I was in the eye of the hurricane that was the revolution.
00:10:06
Speaker
And so, you know, you may not have been conscious of it at the time, but these were people who every minute that they invested in me by allowing me to sit in on a meeting, by listening to a call that they were on, by, you know, presenting ideas to them, and they weren't dismissive. They were totally accepting. That encouraged me to be my best self. And so, you know, I take that with me every single day as I encourage our employees and the people around me to be their best self.
00:10:37
Speaker
Amazing, Matt.
Knowledge Sharing and Future Generations
00:10:38
Speaker
What excites you about mentorship? What excites you about the Oh Hello community and the Oh Hello platform itself?
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, at some point, you blink and you become the old guy in the room. And so the experience guy, I take it back the experience. Yeah. And so, you know, when I look back at almost 25 years of working in the broadcast world, the print world, the measurement world, the digital world, the ad tech world, you know, I think
00:11:08
Speaker
I've been really, really fortunate to have people who've invested in me. And, you know, now all of a sudden turn about as fair play. And it's my turn to share some of that knowledge and, you know, my time and
00:11:25
Speaker
my insights and experience to help them to forge the next generation. And so the next generation doesn't mean that you have to be an early stage employee that's just getting out of school and starting to find their way. Next generation can be someone who's appeared to me, who's thinking about something radical and disruptive. And so I think it comes back to you, you can't put a price on experience. And in an environment like the one that we're in today,
00:11:55
Speaker
You know, experience matters. Experience is how you navigate through some tough times. And there are plenty of tough times out there. So, you know, whether you're trying to manage through the operational part of your day, the capital markets part of your day, even the regulatory part of the day, it's an industry that's a moving target. And, you know, I think it's my pleasure and my privilege to sit here and help people to navigate it because at the end of the day, I feel very fortunate.
00:12:25
Speaker
feel very lucky and I want to help people to get to that point where they take this industry that I've helped to drive through a certain point. It was gonna be a day where I hand that baton to that next generation and I want them to be well equipped. Nice, that was a really nice response. As a hello, you know that you're gonna be able to donate to over 40 plus charities that are baked into our platform.
Mental Health Awareness
00:12:50
Speaker
What's a cause that's near and dear to your heart, Matt, and why?
00:12:54
Speaker
What cause is plural? Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, we're at a time where mental health is real and, um, you know, there are plenty of people who have challenges, including myself, uh, you know, waking up every day, getting out of bed, operating and, you know, having a clear head and thinking with, um, you know, with, with poison purpose. And so, you know, at a moment in time where.
00:13:20
Speaker
It's really easy to see the doom and gloom and read bad headlines and gravitate towards them. There's plenty of.
00:13:26
Speaker
positive opportunity out there. But the question is, how do you harness those opportunities for yourself? How do you get the help that you might need? How do people find it when they may not have the resources to go out and secure it on their own? And so mental health has been really an initiative that I think has largely been
00:13:50
Speaker
unfortunately labeled with the stigma. I think it's about time that we kind of get past it. I think we're starting to see prominent folks speak out about their own challenges. And I think that if we can do things to help to drive towards better resourcing, better utility, and better access, then everybody wins.
00:14:12
Speaker
Awesome. Matt. So appreciate you being a guest on the pod. So appreciate you being part of the Oh, hello community and the platform. Thank you, my friend. Thank you everybody for listening. Thank you for having me. I think, uh, you know, it's truly a pleasure and appreciate everything you're doing and, uh, keep up the good work, man. Cause, um, you're doing God's work here. It's really important. Thank you, Matt. Thanks everybody. Take care.