You spent more than 25 years as an Emmy Award-winning journalist, building a career around asking questions and telling other people's stories. Explain what you learned about yourself when you transitioned from being the journalist to becoming the person helping others tell their stories.
What I learned is a good story is a good story, whether I am reporting on it, or whether I am helping a client craft theirs. I also learned that I got far more satisfaction helping clients elevate their communication skills than I ever did receiving accolades and praise for mine.
Going from the structure and visibility of a television newsroom to entrepreneurship is a pretty significant leap. Describe the hardest part of that transition and what surprised you most about yourself along the way.
The hardest part about the transition from a W-2 life in journalism and becoming an entrepreneur was that there is no paycheck coming every week or two. If you don’t go out there and “eat what you kill”, you will starve. I learned in this dramatic transition that I was adaptable and eager to make the new journey work.
As a journalist, credibility and trust were everything. How did you take the personal brand you had built on television and translate that into Rob Johnson Communications?
Building a trustworthy and credible brand in television was the cornerstone of Rob Johnson Communications. It helped clients and potential clients understand my value proposition. It also allowed me to have instant credibility when I walked in a boardroom and began working with leadership teams.
You've spent years interviewing CEOs, politicians, athletes and other public figures. Now you coach executives on how to communicate with the media
and their employees. Share what you know about communication today that you wish you knew when you first started in journalism.
There’s almost no one who is a natural at public speaking. For 99.9% of the folks out there, preparation and practice are a necessity.
Your first book, Overcommunicate: A Guide for Business Executives and Aspiring Leaders, was published this spring. Why did this feel like the right time to turn your experience into a book?
I felt like I had learned so much from my years in television about the good and bad ways to communicate, and once I began my consulting practice, I saw it all the time. I felt like between both of those vocations and having come across dozens of people who I thought communicated effectively, there was a book in there. That’s how Overcommunicate came to be.