Top Career Lesson From an Associate Director of Brand Marketing at Free People
Amanda's most significant career lesson involved mastering relationship management, a skill learned through "managing relationships and balancing them," especially during a career transition where they worked with the same client. The Associate Director of Brand Marketing at Free People emphasizes the importance of "being kind and honest," even when delivering difficult news, to maintain professional connections and build authentic relationships.
Communication, Relationship Management, Authenticity, Professional Relationships, Business Acumen
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
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Amanda Jimenez
Associate Director of Brand Marketing
Free People
New York University
UCLA Anderson School of Management - MBA
Communications
Apparel, Beauty, Retail & Fashion
Communication and Marketing
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Prioritize relationship management in your career. Learn to navigate and balance professional relationships, even when transitioning between roles or working with the same clients.
2. Kindness and honesty are vital for building strong business relationships. It's important to be authentic in your interactions, even when delivering difficult news.
3. Maintain open communication and flexibility. Keep the lines of communication open, even if a collaboration isn't feasible at the moment. This approach helps preserve relationships for future opportunities.
Transcript
Here's the cleaned transcript:
Q11: Significant lesson – career
What is one lesson that you've learned throughout your career that has proven most significant to you?
Taking care of your relationships. This was really important to me when I was leaving my first job. I was essentially poached and was going over to my second big job, and I was going to be working actually on the same client account.
So it was my first time where I had to really learn how to manage and balance relationships. I think that's a lesson that I've really learned to value, and it's a lesson that I've struggled with and messed up. But I have learned the art of being able to be kind and honest.
I really understand that that's something that I value in all types of relationships, but specifically in business relationships. I try to put my teams on that and work with people in that type of way because I feel like that is the most authentic way I can build a relationship.
Sometimes you can say, "I think this person's really cool, it's not the right time, we don't have the budget, it's not aligned where we're going as a business, but let's keep the door open." Being able to have more fluid conversations that way, that is the most important thing that I've learned and have made my own mistakes with.
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