And Carrie On

I’ve been pondering how to talk about the work I’ve done as a thought leader. It’s work I’ve really enjoyed, and I have enjoyed it more than I ever thought. I want to share a few lessons I’ve learned about how to find success in this kind of work, while remaining consistent with who you are as a person.

Before I do that, I want to give a little background context on how I got started in this space. To be honest, it wasn’t something I set out to do. It happened as a result of change.

I had an identity crisis of sorts. I finished my doctorate and took a new job within two months. Everything I knew about my identity as a student and a professional changed.

Carrie Phillips

During the committee-only defense portion of my dissertation, the committee asked me what I was looking forward to the most about being done. I answered with the dumbest answer (because I didn’t have a good one). I shared…. I wanted to do some recaulking in my house.

Yup, that’s what we went with. Truth moment there — wasn’t my best response. But it was the best I had in the moment.

After that lackluster answer, my professor encouraged me to think more broadly about what was next. She suggested I think bigger than caulking the house. She suggested I try to publish or do something to establish myself as an expert in the space.

Not long after that conversation, I had a follow up conversation, with Liz Gross. She suggested that I decide what I like doing and do more of that.

Those two conversations were the first moments I really started thinking what was next for me in the academic expert kind of space.

New Job; Who Dis?

Not long after defending, an amazing opportunity came available to become the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at UA Little Rock. I jumped on the chance for this leadership position at an institution that is doing incredible work and transforming education in Arkansas.

However, that led me to the identity crisis. After accepting the role and letting people know, I had the realization that everything in my world was really changing all at once.

What Matters

It was in that moment that andcarrieon.com was born. I decided to create a website and blog about topics that were important to me.

I would regularly write and decide the content. It could be practical, informative, short reads. The site truly begin as a way for me to have a voice at a time I didn’t know who I was exactly.

I sat down and started building the site, and I begin with what I wanted it to be about. I decided to focus my writing on three broad topics that matter and are core to me as a person and a professional:

Marketing in HigherEducation – I love this field. I’ll be the first to admit, we have some challenge. However, I really like writing about our industry, the successes, and how we can keep pressing forward.

Collaboration – Marketing (within higher education) resonates because we continue working to showcase the professionalism of our industry, and I want to help teams continue advancing in this area.

Leadership – I have benefitted from exceptional leaders and learned from others. I want to share about leadership both from a theoretical and a practical perspective to help future leaders learn and avoid the same mistakes.

While the topics I write about are sometimes different, the majority of what I discuss ties back to these core topics.

Building a Brand from There

While I didn’t set out to become a thought leader, I do want to share a few things that I think have played into that for me. The tips are advice I would give to people who want to be in the space based on my own experiences.

Be consistent – When you’re thinking about this work, recognize that it’s work and it takes consistency. I try to write a post three times a month. That gives me a week off, and I can plan that week whenever it works best for me.

To help me be consistent, I have a word doc of dozens of content ideas that I’ve written down. I try to hit at one of those core topics each week; however, I quickly learned to give myself some grace in being too rigid.

The list of content is also always in flux. Good ideas ebb and flow, so when a great idea comes, I’m the first to switch it up and write something else.

Be authentic – I think the work that you publish (in any form) has to be authentic to you. The style needs to match how you think and approach other things. I am incredibly practical, so that is one way my authenticity shines through. I also think authenticity matters in terms of where you post. LinkedIn as a platform feels most natural to me, so that’s where I externally share most of my content.

I’m not saying you can’t put it in multiple paces, but if a platform doesn’t fit perfectly for you, it’s okay to not be on that platform. Again, this is your journey, so you really do get to decide what’s best for you.

Be patient – I hope you’re doing this work for the intrinsic value it brings, because that’s where I have seen the biggest results. My first month’s content had a whopping 64 views across the entire month. I wasn’t overly focused on metrics, but if I had been, that would have been disheartening. Connections and relationships take time. To be successful in this space does too.

Over the course of those first few months, I really stuck with writing, and over time, the views, the connections, and the relationships came. I now have developed friends and mentors that I 100% would not have without this work. I am better as a person and a professional because of this work. That’s the real win.

Be selective – Make sure you get your topics right in the beginning because those things matter to frame who you are and what you want to craft content about. Be judicious and really hone in on selecting topics that matter to you.

Selectivity also involves getting comfortable saying no. As someone who has FOMO, this is hard for me. However, I think it’s important that we be able to assess opportunities we lend our voice to in order to make sure we’re selecting the things that are relevant to the topics that matter and help us advance those particular objectives.

What’s Next in My Thought Leadership?

As we head into the new year, I am trying to take my own advice and really think about where is my voice best served, where do I see myself in this journey, and what best helps me get there.

Because I never started with being a thought leader as the goal, I need to spend some time on reassessing what’s my goal and making sure I’m focused on that in 2024.

That said, I’ll definitely be here about three times a month and look forward to continuing our conversations!