Coffee with Kara Walsh
Kara Walsh
Harvard Business School Graduate, Marketer, Entrepreneur and Founder of No Small Plan
Age: 51
Coffees from The Albert Memorial Kiosk in Kensington Gardens
Describe your career path in two or three sentences including any twist or turns ending with where you are now and where you see your future.
This might be two or three paragraphs rather than sentences but it's been an adventure! I started on the analytical path with a major in math and minor in computer sciences. My first job was in consulting, helping to design computer systems for a range of businesses. I soon realised, I was more interested in the businesses themselves rather than the systems so, I decided to go back to school to study business. Shortly after that the marketing chapter of my career began. I worked at Coke in Atlanta and then through a series of personally driven moves, transitioned into the media industry in London, where I met you.
My media career would evolve into a new digital career in the media industry. In 1999, I returned to the US and became the accidental CEO of a joint venture between two big newspaper and television companies. I say accidental because I was doing things that were interesting and compelling to me at the time, I didn't have a goal of being a CEO but fortunately, that’s where I ended up.
I would go on to be a CMO three times over but I am glad I was a CEO first because it made me a better leadership team member. At this point in my career, I was focused entirely on digital businesses. I became the first-time CMO of two consecutive founder-led, VC funded startups — they were both relatively short stints which is not uncommon for the role and the tumultuous nature of start ups.
After 15 years of building new businesses, I decided to take an entrepreneurial time-out to start my own business. I had the idea for a business that I initially wanted to launch as a passion-driven side project — a travel related e-commerce business called No Small Plan. I decided to focus on it full time and spent 6 months building it and then a another year and a half growing it. I see the business as something that I can develop as an asset that I aim to cultivate as part of a larger portfolio of activities that will drive me through the rest of my career.
It is important for me to feel that I am not dependent on any one job for my sense of satisfaction and fulfilment but rather that I can have this range of activities including this entrepreneurial e-commerce business, consulting, maybe stepping back into a corporate role and mentoring. I am still figuring out what the right combination is but my belief is that having some optionality for myself and having a range of activities is going to be the best solution going forward.
What decision / experience proved to be the most helpful to your career?
Recognizing that I craved more right brain / left brain balance that I had squelched in my decision to go the math / science route. Marketing has very much been this — I like the balance offered in brand marketing, how it is both creative and performance driven — this combination is very important for me. Finding myself in a CEO role was also helpful as it made me realise that I like to have my hands in all the different pieces of the puzzle and that I have the capability to be both strategic and tactical and fluid across different problems and stages of a company.
What do you think are the most important qualities for sustaining a fulfilling career(s) as you grow older?
It's important to cultivate a professional identity that is not fully contained in (and dependent on) just one job so you can have more control over your destiny and fulfilment. Also, an open-mindedness and flexibility in bridging where you've been with where you ultimately want to go; it's more realistic to transition gradually then expect people to embrace you as something completely new and different from what you've previously been known for.
What advice would you give your 20 year old self knowing what you do now?
It is really important to capitalise on the momentum you have in your career when you have it. While it is important to pursue your passion, you also have to be cognisant of how human nature works and how people will perceive your career choices.
That doesn't mean old fashion rules like don’t leave a job without having a job or you must follow a predefined career path - I don’t think any of those things are really practical advice in today’s world - but recognising that when you have momentum, even if it means you have to navigate a situation for longer than you would like, you may need to wait for the right opportunity to catapult yourself into something better. I have been more indulgent and taken time out to go think and try new stuff but in the process I left some of my momentum on the table rather than capitalise on it.
What do you think are the biggest challenges for people wanting to make a career re-entry or re-invention in later life?
Your age itself is not an issue but people’s expectations of where you should be and what you have done are. If you have taken the path less travelled then there is a greater chance that perceptions of you are something you need to learn to navigate.
There can be a disconnect between people’s true skills and capabilities and how perceive those skills and capabilities — buckets and stereotypes that have to be addressed and dispelled. And of course there is also the issue that there are plenty of (younger) people behind you who have the exact skills and experience that others are looking for and it can be challenging to sell your broader range of experiences and pattern recognition as an advantage.
What do you think the opportunities are for people wanting to work in their 50s and 60s and beyond.
Teaching could be an interesting way to bridge where you have been and where you want to go. This could mean many things such as consulting, mentoring or being on a board — something that takes your past expertise and uses it in a concentrated fashion, whether this is something that becomes your main revenue or simply allows you to explore areas that have been under fulfilled.
Again, the opportunity is to develop a portfolio of things that contribute to your overall fulfilment by having greater self awareness of what it is you want coupled with the practicality of needing to fit in where other people think they need you. I am admittedly still trying to optimise this myself!
What is your top tip for staying relevant in today’s job market?
I think finding active roles where you are engaging with people that are up-and-coming with different skill sets than yours is very helpful beyond traditional networking like teaching were you can both share your skills and learn from others that you are interacting with.
And this might be a bit cliche but taking the opportunity to continue learning and growing — for some this might mean taking online courses or for me it's stepping into an entrepreneurial venture where after many years of being the manager of people who do the hands-on things, I am now doing hands-on everything!
By learning as I go I am finding I am pretty good at some things and other things not so much, but pushing myself has taught me skills that are not expected from someone of my age and I think this has given me a competitive advantage.
Recommendation: Favourite book to read, podcast to listen to or website to browse while drinking coffee?
I don’t read many non-fiction or self help business books but the ones I like help me to think differently about myself and / or my work. One such book that I can highly recommend is Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant that examines how people can champion new ideas and how leaders can fight groupthink. I’ve heard Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement by Rich Karlgaard is good and I think would be very relevant to The 50:50 Project but I haven’t actually read it (I plan to soon!). Finally, I recommend culling your social feeds to mainly follow people you admire and learn from them and cut out a lot of the less helpful noise.