life through the rear view mirror

An old saw about early racing drivers is that they ripped out their rear view mirrors because they didn’t need to see where they’d been, only where they were going.  I’m not sure if that’s still true – I imagine that being able to see what’s coming up behind you is pretty useful even at 200 mph – but as a guide to life it is inadequate.  While it’s not a good idea to dwell on the past, life does seem to move in cycles and knowing where we came from is a pretty good guide to how to manage the future.

On the first day of my new job with Burson-Marsteller, I’ve been reflecting on how I got to this point.

I first joined Burson-Marsteller ten years ago, as the culmination of a series of decisions that began when I left the UK in 1994 for Korea, knowing little about where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there.  After a number of jobs in which I gravitated toward toward marketing communications, Burson helped me formalize what I already understood about the PR discipline and expand my professional capabilities.  When the disaster area that was my personal life at the time made my continued tenure at Burson financially non-viable (a long story!), it was my training at Burson that allowed me to take up my role at Kia Motors.

Kia also gave me an opportunity to work with Bob Pickard, who was instrumental in facilitating my transition into Edelman when I left Korea and who is now one of the primary reasons why I’m moving back to Burson.  Another reason is the opportunity to continue working with some of the very talented people who were my former colleagues at Edelman.

In a lot of ways coming back to Burson-Marsteller feels like coming home – or at least coming full circle.  It’s a great firm – a lot stronger in Asia-Pacific than it’s often given credit for being and still rather reluctant to blow its own horn, but the great sense of community and the strong intellectual commitment that I recall from my early years with the firm is still very much in evidence.

The point of the rear view mirror analogy is that looking back has value.  Not every decision I’ve made in the 16 years since I got on the aeroplane at Newcastle has turned out positively, but for every bad experience there have been many positive outcomes which have culminated in bringing me to this next stage in my career.  I don’t regret any decision I have made, but I don’t dwell on the difficulties.  At the end of the day, you get more of what you focus on.  Some of the the lessons I have learned over the course of my career have been hard, even painful, but without them I would not be starting this new job today.