Vic Drabicky’s Post

I'm stuck between "I'm proud of myself" and "I'm not doing enough." Ahhh the eternal battle of the entrepreneur, founder, and leader. But, when kept in check, it is perhaps the right battle. Everyone should take time to step back, look at the progress they've made, appreciate it (strengths, flaws, and everything in between), and be proud. This action is what helps us keep context, appreciation, and motivation Equally, everyone should avoid resting on their laurels and consistently re-dedicate themselves to strengthening their strengths, fixing their weaknesses, and challenging themselves to continue to drive forward. This is what keeps us progressing, growing, and fighting through the hard stuff. Perhaps the fix is a small adjustment: "I'm proud of myself, but I can continue to do more." s/o to the amazing Michele (MO) Christopher for the inspiration. #entrepreneur #founder #leadership #progress

"Being in a leadership role means being constantly watched and reacted to without the benefit of grace." If you're in any sort of leadership position, you likely feel this...deeply. As a leader, you're faced with hundreds of decisions big and small. You use your experience, education, resources, intuition, heart, mind, and soul to make the best decision you can for your business and for your people. Inevitably, and often immediately, someone has an adverse reaction and criticizes the decision (and often criticizes you). You quickly go through the range of emotions: questioning your decision (did you make the wrong decision?), frustration (if they're so smart, let's see them do it!), understanding (they can't see what I see - that's why they're reacting the way they are), and acceptance (their reaction is theirs to own). This cycle is exhausting and, at times, infuriating, but it's also leadership gold. Even if the comments/criticism is off-base, it's still a different perspective and different perspectives are what allow us to formulate better opinions, become a more informed, more educated, and more empathetic leader - all of which make us a better, more successful, and perhaps, more graceful leader. Thank you to Rachelle Pereira for the quote! #entrepreneur #leadership #founder

What's the #1 killer of truly amazing, creative, boundary pushing marketing ideas? Hint: It's not money or lack of ideas. It's the question" "What's the ROI?" While well-intentioned, it's a conversation stopper. Great ideas rarely begin with an ROI mindset and the question puts the onus on the idea creator to sort through an impossible web of data - implying every impact can be known, tracked, and valued in a simple formula that wraps itself up nicely and neatly so the CFO can understand it. Oh yea, there can be no room for outside impacts, it all has to be modeled, and it all has to be delivered in an always too short (yet somewhat arbitrary)timeframe too. Asking idea creators "what's the ROI" almost always elicits the response "It's all too much and this is too hard...it was just an idea...just forget it." What would have happened if we asked what the ROI would be when Nike decided to roll out "Just Do It." Certainly there was none... What about when Elon Musk decided to launch Tesla? They were unprofitable for 17 years... What about Patagonia investing in advertising that largely says "don't buy so much stuff?" Can you imagine your board room if you said you were going to roll out marketing telling people to stop buying your stuff... It's completely fair, healthy, and encouraged to have an accountability framework for each marketing idea you test. However, a smarter question is "what's the impact?" By shifting the question in this manner, you shift from formulaic, yet arbitrary ROI metrics to a broader spectrum of potential impact on the brand, customers, and revenue. It gives the idea room to breathe, while still holding it accountable for being reasonable. It opens up the room to creativity and new ideas. In a world where all marketing has become "performance marketing," the organizations that encourage true ideation rather than simple ideas rooted in immediate commercial metrics open themselves to differentiation, growth, and a far healthier future. #advertising #creative #entrepreneur

FOUR. That's the number of the day today. Why? Because for the FOURTH time, January Digital has been named one of Inc. Magazines Best Workplaces in America. As the leader of a company, you are inundated with things that need improvement. From revenues to people to clients to office space and everything in between, you see the problems...all that's wrong with your company. It's a natural response, but can be exhausting and make you lose track of all the good you have going on. But every once in a while, someone from the outside gives you some perspective and reminds you it's not all doom and gloom. This is one of those nice reminders. I'm proud we keep fighting through the hard stuff...it's what leads to the good stuff like this. One last note: we're hiring. If you're amazing and looking, please do check out our listing. #culture #entrepreneur #bestworkplaces #incmagazine

This may be my first time to ever put an endorsement like this on LinkedIn...but I just felt I would be doing a disservice not to. Too much greatness not to share... There are bad people. They suck. There are good people. Love these people. Then there are great people. These people change your entire view and trajectory and are the highest value people you run across. Ali Merchant is one of the great people. I have known Ali for...as to not age myself, let's just say we've known each other a long time...and on top of being a wonderful human being, he is an absolute force of nature that drives meaningful change to any organization he is involved with. He provides some of the most impactful coaching on leadership, management, delegation, and so much more. He's interesting. He's personable. He's actionable. He's impactful. I cannot recommend Ali's work enough and encourage any leader trying to drive change and advancement in their organization to contact him. #leadership #management #training #leadershiptraining #entrepreneur #founder

It's amazing what you can get used to. A work trip every week. A sore shoulder. A lack of inspiration. A marriage that's just coasting. A growing credit card bill. But just because you are used to it, doesn't mean you SHOULD be used to it. Challenging your own norms - whether they be work, health, emotion, relationship, or finance related - is a requirement for improvement. But where to start? Start simply. Weekly, write down things you simply accept that you aren't sure you should. Monthly, determine which three are most recurring and most disruptive to you. Quarterly, pick one you will invest time and energy into changing. Over time, your norms change and your happiness, output, and effectiveness improve...which gives you the confidence to challenge other norms...which starts the cycle of improvement we all ultimately seek. #entrepreneur #leadership #selfimprovement

This is the perfect combination of a great idea + a great team + a ton of tenacity. The Carhartt and January Digital teams worked on this project for almost a year to bring it to life - and I couldn't be prouder. Luke Grimes' values directly align with Carhartt's values. The JD team's approach ensured each piece of the activation is authentic, creative, and results-driven. All the teams involved in bringing this to fruition acted as true partners - wanting the best for everyone involved. Really proud of the work done thus far and can't wait to see the rest of the campaign come to life.

The difference between good and great is somewhere around 10%. Let's look at sports for a few examples: - In the NHL, The New York Rangers led their conference with 114 points. The average points of the other playoff teams in their conference was 102. About a 10% difference. - In the NBA, the OKC Thunder won their conference with 57 wins. The average wins of the other automatic playoff bid teams was 52.6 wins. Again, about 10%. - In the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers won their conference with 12 wins. The other playoff teams in their conference averaged 10.5 wins. Once again, about 10%. The question is, what makes you 10% better? The sooner you figure that out, the sooner you and your organization move from being good to being great. #entrepreneur #leadership #motivation

Super Hot Take: If you don't put a reminder on your meeting invite, I cannot be held responsible for showing up late. :-) Who else is with me on this???

When things are inevitable, make them immediate. If it's inevitable, the waiting only exacerbates the issue. If it's inevitable, it's important to get past it so you can make progress. If it's inevitable, others likely know it's inevitable too, so it's preventing more than just you from moving forward. The inevitable isn't always easy to deal with, but making it immediate allows everyone (you, your team, and your organization) to move forward and continue to progress. #leadership #managementtips #entrepreneur #founder