“Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.” - Romans 12:21
“My name is Katelyn, I am a junior, and I am majoring in marketing.” I sometimes really dislike telling people what my major is, because most people think they know what I do, but rarely do they. People think my job is creating the advertisements, and while I do enjoy designing, that is advertising, not marketing. Then there are the classic Mad men-esce stereotypes that marketers are naturally deceptive and “expand the truth,” or they were just not smart enough to get into finance. Yes, some of those are true for some of the people, but that is not the field.
Marketing is best explained as a mixture of psychology and statistics. The combination of psychology and statistics is because numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. I design measurement instruments(surveys, focus groups…) to collect quantitative and qualitative data from people, along with secondary research and analyze it. From that I find what are called “nuggets of insight,” or basic human truths, and apply those to products, companies and brands. That is where the ethical questions come into play. Is it right to persuade people to buy a service/product based on the desires/fulfillment the marketers make the people feel when they use it? This is a question I have wrestled with more and more as I dive deeper into my marketing career. I do not know all the answers yet, but there is starting to be a shift in the marketing world.
Is it right to persuade people to buy a service/product based on the desires/fulfillment the marketers make the people feel when they use it?
This January I received the opportunity to go the student program portion of the National Retail Federation Conference in New York City. There were hundreds of students who wanted to go into the retail field and while not all marketing is in the retail field, this conference is where I saw the shift most prominently. During my time there I asked questions and heard from CEOs like Buddy Teaster, founders like Jo Malone and Andy Dunn, CMO of Hallmark Lindsey Roy, and other industry leaders. All of their stories aligned with some common themes: perseverance, authenticity and family.
They told us that to achieve their dreams it took perseverance. Yes, grades are important, but they are not everything. It is more important that you know how to fail. How do you embrace failure and get back up when something or someone knocks you down? That is the perseverance that it takes to do well in the business world. Doesn’t that sound oddly familiar? The Bible tells us over and over to preserve: “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) Perseverance is not just something we need to have in the business world, but in our spiritual life too.
How do you embrace failure and get back up when something or someone knocks you down?
Through your entire career you are going to be working with people and you need to be authentic in order to do well. I asked a head at BJ’s Wholesale, “What is the difference to you between leading and managing?" He said, “To lead you first have to be authentic. If you are not, it will be found out. From there, it is how often are you right versus wrong." In a world with social media, there is little you can hide from others, and sometime who you are on the inside is going to come out. Being authentic in leadership - doesn’t that sound oddly Catholic? FOCUS, a college ministry organization, talks about living authentically all the time. It is something that is necessary to be an evangelist, but that is for another post.
To lead you first have to be authentic. If you are not, it will be found out. From there, it is how often are you right versus wrong.
Finally, the biggest takeaway was the importance of family. Through all of their hard times it was their family that was there. When they were injured, when they started a new company, when they walked away from one, what was their light in the storm to remember why they started the company… it all was about their family. The family is a rock in the business world. In my career path, there are people who challenge you to do things that would not be the best, or when the late nights happen and your perseverance lacks. When this happens, it is your family who can give you the encouragement and the drive to continue. This is what the Bible tells us too: “A friend is a friend at all times, and a brother is born for the time of adversity.”(Proverbs 17:17) Our family will be the ones who stay with us. Maybe for you it is not your blood family, but your Church family or other people who are like family to you. We need those people in our lives.
Through all of their hard times it was their family that was there.
With these good things, I will be the first to admit there are areas that need improved. Companies need to clean human trafficking out of their supply chains, they need to be providing fair wages in other countries and have better sustainable and ethical sourcing. Perseverance, authenticity, and family are slowly being the lifelines of corporate America. I do not agree with everything that happens in corporate settings, but I agree with and am excited for the transition it is making. Maybe all it will take is a few more committed Catholics to turn business to the Catholic way of thinking.
Challenge: When you are doing your job or preparing for work or studying to have a full-time job, give your work up to God and ask Him how can you glorify Him through it,
“[B]y their competence in secular fields and by their personal activity, elevated from within by the grace of Christ, let them work vigorously so that by human labor, technical skill and civil culture, created goods may be perfected according to the design of the Creator and the light of his word.” – St. John Paul II
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