As a leading technology and data-driven advertising agency, Hawthorne Advertising specializes in integrated campaign solutions for brands. As CEO, Jessica Hawthorne-Castro has prioritized company culture and has received numerous awards for her career accomplishments, most recently winning the CEO of The Year award for technology-based advertising by Corporate Livewire. In this episode, Jessica shares with us her incredible journey and what it takes to be an award-winning CEO.
In This Episode You’ll Hear About:
- How growing up in small-town in the Midwest established a hard-working ethic and a discipline influenced by a unique school in Iowa that taught transcendental meditation
- How dreams of California took Jessica back west to UCLA for college to study Fine Art
- How her dad is known as the Father of the Infomercial
- Her experience working as a Television Literary Agent at Endeavor (later William Morris Endeavor) where she learned that there will always be mistakes, but also there are solutions
- Why work ethic in the agency world is so critical and also a huge part of her success
- How she came to be a part of her father’s established ad agency company and fell in love with it, even though that was never part of the plan
- How she l came up with the company’s mission and vision, company strategy, yearly planning, which then led to her becoming the COO, then the CEO, and then the owner of Hawthorne Advertising
- Her recent discovery of the Entrepreneurial Operating System and how that has streamlined all the moving parts across the organization
- How Jessica and her teams have created a culture of giving back, enjoying work, making sure her company is a great place to work and helping their clients’ companies thrive and grow is at the core of what drives them
- Ways she leads by example in personal and professional daily growth through organizations like Vistage and YPO
- Some of the many awards Jessica has won, such as LA Business Journal’s Top Marketers in LA, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 40 Under 40 and Rising Star awards, CEO of the Year, and more
- How getting the execution and operations behind an idea right is the only way to actually bring good things to fruition and how this includes not only managing people well but managing your own time well
- Ways her high efficiency, incredible organization skills, ability to delegate, and drive to complete daily tasks leads to less stress and more successful output
- Jessica’s advice to learn all parts of the business
To Find Out More:
Quotes:
“I do appreciate growing up in the Midwest and the values that I got from the Midwest and the work ethic that comes from that.”
“Many entrepreneurial paths are born out of necessity.”
“I never wanted to get a job or have an experience that anyone handed to me. I always wanted to do it myself. I never wanted to owe anyone, anything ever”
“We’re always going to have problems… Nothing is ever easy. But it is how you approach everything in a way that you’re coming to fix it. You’re coming with solutions instead of just coming with complaints.”
“What is important within our culture is that it’s not about the individual. It’s about the client’s best interest. And if we are growing their company and their campaign as a result, then we’re all growing together.”
“It’s really important to me that people work very hard, but that they have a lot of fun and enjoy what they’re doing because we’re spending more time at work than really any other parts of our life.”
“Those who do focus on personal and professional development are those who keep coming along with you on the ride and help drive the growth of the company and what you’re doing.”
“Getting the execution and the operations right is absolutely critical to anything because you can have the greatest ideas ever, but they are absolutely worthless unless you can actually execute them.”
“You have to figure out how to execute and operate to be able to bring things to fruition. And it is about consistency.”
“I can really perform at a high level every day because I push myself to work and complete everything so that the next day I can start completely fresh.”
“Learn all parts of the business, start from the bottom. I’m a big advocate of starting from the bottom.”
