Bant Breen:
Elizabeth is the Head of North American Revenue and Global Client Solutions at Verizon Media. Tell us a little bit about what you guys are up to?
Elizabeth Herbst-Brady:
I would say one of the full companies that have the intersection of brand storytelling and performance. We have content where we have first have a direct relationship with customers and things like Apple finance, and Yahoo Sports. We have outstanding Tech. We have first-party data through Yahoo Mail and all of the first-party data associated with our ID graph. We can offer clients performances and the opportunity for great storytelling. One of the things I’m excited about right now is we’re getting ready for the new front. Even in this virtual world, I can’t share too much. I will say what we’re building out from a set perspective and a content perspective will showcase that we can have helped clients be masters of sports storytelling and performance.
Bant Breen:
Elizabeth, you run one of the larger teams in the media space. This year, we’ve all been working remotely. How have you guys managed that process? How has that worked out with Verizon?
Elizabeth Herbst-Brady:
I think this year, it is almost been the ultimate paradox. On the one hand, no matter who you are, it was incredibly challenging. There was unbelievable isolation, in some cases, literal isolation, where you had people that were all by themselves for a protracted period of time. In other cases, you had young families who, before when they were trying to do whatever they do, whether were school and work that was happening in separate areas, and it was all happening under the same roof. I call that a puzzle without a solution. I don’t even know how you manage that. You have challenges with older parents, friends family. Those I would argue are the lucky ones because those are the ones who were able still to be able to work. Then there’s a whole other group of people that lost their livelihoods because of COVID. I think one of the things that we tried to do is to be present, be focused, and do a lot of checking in on you. We like to think of ourselves as a purposeful and caring company, I think we had to double down on that both what we did in terms of society, but also then within our own company. We didn’t have a single layoff, we took care of people, we tried to give people space, to take care of their families or take care of their parents or just take care of themselves.
Bant Breen:
How have you been keeping sane? What is what has been giving joy in your life? Oh, well, that would imply that I’m actually saying to start with
Elizabeth Herbst-Brady:
I would say it’s an extension of a framework I try to use in general, which is when people come in and they say, “How do you think about having a successful career.” I thought to myself, “I’m not gonna be sure I have anything to say about it.” After being asked enough times, when I think about it, for me, it’s a construct for three things. The first is to be curious because if you’re curious, you’re always going to ask why you’re doing something. I think honestly when you and I met, you are the recipient of some of my curiosity, as I asked you to explain ad infinitum about what we were doing in Korea. The next is to be accountable. Why that is important is that I’ll make mistakes, right? The opportunity is to learn from them and give your space to learn from them. Again, that can be very hard because you feel pressured to deliver and do a good job. It is the secret to building and growing and learning. Then the last thing is to have this ongoing journey around gratitude. Again, purposely sitting there and saying, “What is good, and what are we grateful for.?” That is both in personal situations and in business. Through that lens, that’s how I’ve tried to look at things in wood, as we talked about in the beginning. I’ve been incredibly lucky. I’ve worked at a company that I am so proud of and it showed up well. I have an incredible team and they’re wonderful. I have a great family. My kids have been okay, nobody’s gotten sick. I go through that mental checklist almost regularly.
Bant Breen:
Elizabeth, thank you so much for being on UNCAGED today and we look forward to having you back.
To see the full interview on the Uncaged YouTube channel, go to:
