Has anyone ever told you to just follow your passion?
Emily Heyward, co-founder of Red Antler, the company behind the branding of Allbirds and Casper, shares her career story
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I’ve always been suspicious of those people who told me to “just follow your passion.” I know that this advice works for some, but I’ve never personally had such conviction. Early on in my career, I was more motivated by the opportunity for growth and advancement than working on a particular problem or mission. Nonetheless, I really admire the people who are able to identify their passion so easily and dedicate themselves to it.
Our latest podcast episode features one of those amazing people who found their passion early on and grew it into something huge. We interviewed Emily Heyward, co-founder of Red Antler, about her career journey. Emily pursued her passion in advertising right out of the gate. She loved the work, until she found herself working at a company that made her question whether advertising was her calling, after all. Emily realized that there’s more to a job than just having the opportunity to work on your passion: the culture and people you work with matter — maybe even a thing as simple where your office is located can change how you feel about a job.
Take a listen to Emily’s episode to hear more about how she rebounded from this funk to create the brand agency behind some of the most well known start up companies like Allbirds, Casper, and more!
Here’s a quick run-down of the episode:
Our guest: Emily Heyward, Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Red Antler
Career highlights: Studied “Social Studies” at Harvard, a major that allowed her to pursue her interests across a number of courses and subjects (one of her favorite classes was called “Shop Til you Drop”). After graduating, Emily honed her advertising and branding skills at Saatchi & Saatchi and JWT. And then after a quick stint at a New Zealand ad agency, Emily co-founded Red Antler. Red Antler is the brand agency behind Casper, Allbirds, Rent the Runway and more.
What the interview has got us thinking about: Beyond excitement and passion for one’s work, what else do you need from a job? Share your thoughts in the comments!
If you’re interested in getting another perspective on how following your passion can navigate your career, check out our episode with Uvini Lokuge. Despite working at a company with a mission that resonated with her, she discovered that was more she needed to find career happiness and fulfillment.
For most of us, passion for our work won’t define our whole identity and life’s meaning. We often think of keeping work and life in balance, but sometimes life has other ideas. Mia Lim recounts her own experience of this happening during her MBA summer internship on her 30th birthday.
“My 2-year MBA experience was bookended by two miscarriages. I lost the first one at 18 weeks over winter break the first year, and had an ectopic pregnancy ending in emergency surgery at 8 weeks during my last semester. But this story is not about these two sad events -- it’s how I got through them with the help of people around me.”
You can read Mia’s full career story here.
Mia is a 2020 graduate of MIT Sloan’s MBA program. She previously worked in Human Capital Consulting at Deloitte and is currently an Organizational Effectiveness Manager at Philip Morris International in Manila, Philippines. You can reach her at mia.lim@sloan.mit.edu.
Want some more thoughts on these themes of passion and making room for life and work? Here are three more perspectives to consider:
Kat Cole shares some tactical strategies for checking in with yourself and others, ensuring that you’re doing the best you can. We often think about using these tools for work, but they’re also so valuable outside of the work context.
“We put so much energy into our work and careers because money and jobs are at stake. But what about the much more valuable elements: our relationships, love, and our families? Those things are at stake, too and deserve reflection, intention, and action.”
Cal Newport offers an alternative to the “follow your passion” mantra. He says, instead, focus on mastering a valuable skill. The passion will inevitably follow.
“What works better? Put in the hard work to master something rare and valuable, then deploy this leverage to steer your working life in directions that resonate.”
And lastly, we’ll leave you with a quote from Laura R. Walker, former president and CEO of New York Public Radio. Instead of narrowly pursuing a passion, perhaps we would be better served by focusing on our core values.
“Embrace the ambiguity and contradictions that life invariably will bring, and develop habits—exercise, talking with friends, writing—that help you do so. Don’t spend time chasing a right answer or a right path, but instead spend time defining how you are going to approach whatever path you choose. What values most define you? What questions do you want to pursue?”
Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the short week!
-Eric
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