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OhHello - Akash Pathak
71 Plays2 years ago
Akash is a 20+ year marketing leader with CMO experience, focused on e-commerce, CPG, and omnichannel brands. He has a proven track record of driving financially sustainable growth and improving marketing team operations.
Akash is passionate about mentorship, marketing, leadership, English Lit, and giving back.
Former: McDonald’s, Accenture, Humana, and Trunk Club.
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Transcript
Global Reach of Oh Hello Pod
00:00:18
Speaker
Oh, hello! Oh, hello! Hello Akash, how are you? I am great Jeremy, how are you?
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm doing quite well. I'm doing great. Fun catch-up session right before this.
00:00:35
Speaker
We are recording probably about five, eight minutes from each other right now, even though we have the Oh Hello Pod and VOD is seen and listened to across the world, looking at the analytics and seeing some folks from Australia and Singapore and UK, someone in South America, thank you to that one person in Argentina or Brazil. But coming to us for the Oh Hello podcast, Akash, thanks for joining.
00:01:05
Speaker
Thank you for having me. Oh, hello from Highland Park, as you know. Oh, hello from Highland Park, Illinois. So Akash, I know who you are. Why don't you go and tell our audience?
Marketing Strategy: Performance Meets Brand
00:01:17
Speaker
Who are you?
00:01:19
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. While I am, you know, I think I'm a performance and brand marketer, which I think there's lots of good debate right now between the two. I grew up in should be there shouldn't be a debate between the two. And when you have that skill set of being of having the experience of both, to me, that's a double win. So keep on going, though. This is about you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And I agree. There should be no debate. We're all here to to make things happen, essentially.
00:01:49
Speaker
But I think another thing that is really important to me is being people first and coaching and developing teams. And that's why I'm excited to be here.
00:01:59
Speaker
and talk about this platform and talk about all the good stuff that we can do together.
The Art of Coaching in Marketing
00:02:05
Speaker
I think you're only able to do performance marketing well or brand marketing well if you have great people and you got to find the great people but then you got to keep the great people and then you have to coach the great people too and give them great opportunities to be awesome and
00:02:21
Speaker
that's hard. That's work, you know, on the leader. And so I'm proud to say that that's a big piece of, you know, what's made me successful today and hopefully successful tomorrow. So amazing. Amazing. So find, keep, coach, those are the three key
00:02:41
Speaker
Key words are using right now to basically cultivate as a marketing executive as someone who's well respected in our ecosystem. The people components are so they get overlooked way too often which is a bit disheartening and part of the reason why we are starting hello that i know. With that said just knowing that you're a people people first leader and someone that is so passionate about this industry.
00:03:05
Speaker
what defines you? Why don't you tell us a little bit more about just who we know that you're a dad, we know that you're a marketing executive. But tell us a little bit more about what you're going to be bringing to the Oh, hello community as one of our mentors as one of our hell lives. Absolutely.
The Power of Active Listening
00:03:22
Speaker
You know, I think
00:03:24
Speaker
One of the things I think is a skill I've developed over time is active listening. It sounds simple, but can you be patient enough just to listen? A lot of times people, as they're going through issues,
00:03:40
Speaker
They need to verbalize it. They need to express it. And so my job is to say, I'm going to just literally sit here and be an active listener, but I'm processing what you're saying. And I'm trying to find an experience in my life or an experience from a mentor I had that maybe can help you. But I'm going to shut up until you feel like it's time for me to help. And then when I can help, here's how I'll help you. And I think that takes discipline.
Reframing Challenges in Marketing
00:04:07
Speaker
And so I think that's one piece I definitely want to bring
00:04:11
Speaker
The second piece I want to bring is that marketing is consistently changing. All of our friends and colleagues who are coming up through marketing, I just want to help them understand that a lot of the things they're going through are probably pretty normal because I think in a microcosm of just my world or a mentor's world, they may think, oh my gosh, this is
00:04:34
Speaker
you know there's a catastrophe here but i promise you that probably hundreds of people marketing of gone through that it's it's dynamic it's changing its fluid that's part of the fun of it but we have to be open to it to embrace it we have to kind of flip it on its head and reframe and say you know what like this thing was awesome for a year.
00:04:57
Speaker
Now it's maybe not so awesome. And so I'm going to reframe it to, oh, that means I got to go learn about something else, you know, and figure out what how awesome that thing can be. And once you reframe it, then you start to get excited about it. And it's okay to have probably a week where you're like, what the heck, like, I used to miss the good old days, you know, I mean, that's totally fine. But then at some point, you have to reframe and kind of move on. So
00:05:20
Speaker
active listening, reframing, those two things I think have been really helpful for me in my career. And so hopefully I can shed some light for others on those two things. Those are two really impactful components of what makes what makes someone a great leader is just shutting up and listening. As much as we all like hearing ourselves talk or not talk,
00:05:47
Speaker
when we learn the most and when we're able to give the best advice is when we shut our mouths. So I appreciate you pointing that out. And then also just the consistent innovation that takes place in our ecosystem. That's why it's fun, is that you can't always do the same thing twice. You have to be fast. You have to consistently move. What excites you the most about mentorship?
Value of Mentorship and Asking for Help
00:06:08
Speaker
And just knowing that you've coached and mentored so many people within our ecosystem,
00:06:16
Speaker
looking back, like what would you tell your 25 year old self, your 20 year old self, your 30 year old self.
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think what probably excites me the most is I probably didn't ask for enough help as a 25 year old, right? And I think that's what's awesome about this platform. It's like, let's, let's help, you know, it's, you know, it's a big bad world out there. You know, I know when I was around that age, I was living in New York City. Talk about a crazy place, you know, 10 million people, whatever, how many ever live in Manhattan, I don't even know, but you're packed in.
00:06:49
Speaker
You know, I'm a kid from, you know, Illinois suburbs, you know, trying to figure out, you know, big old New York. You know, I should have asked for more help. I mean, I did okay. I asked for help from those people around me, but I, oh, hello, expands your world. And I think there are people willing to offer a lot of help. And I think that's the number one thing. Ask, and you'd be surprised how many people are like, absolutely, let's grab a cup of coffee on, oh, hello, let's talk, let's email.
00:07:19
Speaker
I'm surprised now, I think in the last 10 years, I've done a lot more of asking for different ideas and advice or just someone I can bounce ideas off of. So I think it's great. I think that's the key. As you're getting up there, ask some really good questions and see where they go. And I guarantee you, people will be like, absolutely, would love to share some ideas with you or just be here to listen to some things that you're thinking about.
00:07:46
Speaker
Love that you put it in the perspective that you just did. That's the purpose of the platform is to create that bond and having the O's and the hellos. And hellos can be O's. O's can be hellos. We all, no matter what stage we are, whether we're 25 or 45 or 65,
00:08:05
Speaker
Being able to meet new people and get unbiased mentorship is so valuable. I love that you, looking back, that that's something that you wish you did more of. But guess what? You've got a long life ahead of you, so you'll have plenty of opportunities.
Influences from Family and Mentors
00:08:20
Speaker
Who are some folks that have had a big impact on you throughout your life, throughout your career? What kind of impact did they have?
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, this is great. I'm going to start with my mom and dad, just really close to home. Good inspiration for me. They came here. They were able to establish some good stuff. I've got a sister, so two crazy kids. Didn't know anybody here and able to figure it all out. It takes a lot of reframing, as we talked about, every day and figuring out different opportunities.
00:08:59
Speaker
takes a bit of fearlessness too, you know, in terms of like, you know what? Yeah, sure. I'll move to the States with 50 bucks and kind of figure it out. Did they have 50 bucks when they came here? Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, so it's a good story there. And then yeah, other people, you know, I've had some great bosses and
00:09:27
Speaker
I've just had people who were really good, I feel like thought, like not thought partners, but just good collaborators. And so... Toss us one or two. Yeah, you know, I had a boss back when I was at a company called HSBC. His name was Curtis and he had two things I loved. He was really bright.
00:09:48
Speaker
And then the other thing was he was so funny, right? And so what was great is like, we had all this fun, you know, when we were working on these really cool ideas. And he just taught me that like, we can have fun. Like, it's not, you know, it's credit cards. It's not. It's marketing by chance. Curtis Larkin. Yes. I know. He's a great dude. That's what a small world and we did. We did not rehearse any of this. I just know that he was there a while ago. That's amazing. He's a great guy.
00:10:17
Speaker
Yeah, one of the best bosses I've had. And then the last thing I'll throw in there is like, I studied English as an undergrad, so I'm a big reader still. I love English literature. And so I read Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a book about John Wooden. I've read it twice actually now.
00:10:37
Speaker
I read it once and I'll be guilty. I did the Ottawa book for the second time on my bike. I read it at 1.5. I don't know how it works out. But anyway, I love both of them. And I just think that they're great examples. I would encourage everybody to take a look at it. I was just saying the one thing they talk about, it's not always about winning.
00:11:01
Speaker
you know, it's, it's about the effort you put in, it's about your principles, and they both have great insights on that. I encourage everybody to look into that. As a high spirited bench warmer, I completely agree, completely agree.
Supporting Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
00:11:17
Speaker
As a hello, you're going to be able to donate after each Oh, hello session to 40 plus different charities. What's a charity that's near and dear to your heart that's integrated within our platform?
00:11:27
Speaker
integrated into the platform. I've got a look at the platform. Sorry, Jeremy, but I do have a charity. Yeah, just tell me a charity that's near and dear to your heart. That's what matters. I am on the board of a local charity here in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Illinois. And it's or sorry, Riverwoods, Illinois, it's called the Center for a Rich Living.
00:11:50
Speaker
And I'll just do a 30 second promo here on this organization. It is for those who are intellectually or developmentally disabled.
00:12:00
Speaker
Illinois is ranked 48th at the bottom in serving these individuals. A lot of what happens for them is that there's not a lot of infrastructure in the state to help them. And so they might have cerebral palsy, they might have other disabilities, and this is a place that they can go and they can thrive. And it is amazing to be there. I was just there last Friday for three hours playing bingo.
00:12:25
Speaker
And we had a great time. So I encourage people to check that out. And I will be donating to one of the causes on Oh, Hello, very happily because I love that part of the program. Awesome. Well, Akash, it was so good to do this. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being one of our earliest mentors and on the platform for when we launch very, very soon. We appreciate you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, everybody, for listening. See you, my friend.