Hi there. My name is Avil Beckford, and I'm the host of the One Problem podcast. As you know, most of the time, the people who come on, I have some prior relationship with them. Well, this time it's a little different. My guest today is Barbara Feigin, and she was introduced to me by her publicist. Now, she has an interesting story. She's recently published this book, My American Dream: A Journey from Fascism to Freedom. I had to make sure that I did not mess that up. So Barbara is an author and a speaker. Over to you, Barbara.

Barbara Feigin

Thank you, Avil. The problem that I want to focus on this morning is a personal problem, the most important challenge I really dealt with in my Career, and that is finding a way to build a successful career in a male dominated business advertising at a time when really career building opportunities for women were virtually nonexistent. So I was a lone person trying to forge a career in this very exciting, very fabulous business. And I want to talk a little bit about what it took to make that happen.

The guiding principle for my life, really, my professional career and my personal life, was to dream big, work hard, and never quit. And that really guided me in terms of trying to develop a successful career. I had a big dream. I wanted to be a success. I worked like crazy, and I never, ever, ever quit. And there were several specific things that I thought were really important in helping to make this successful career happen. The first one was courage. I really had to face some scary things as I went along and had to pull myself together and figure out how I was going to do that.

The One Problem Podcast with Barbara Feigin

For example, when I got out of graduate school, I knew I wanted to go into marketing, and the center of marketing was New York. And I thought, oh, my goodness, I've got to have enough courage to come by myself to New York without any money, any friends, any contacts, anything. And figure out how to make it work. I did that. So courage is a really big thing.

Barbara Feigin

Another thing that helped to drive me forward, and I think will help to drive others as well, is to understand that there are going to be obstacles in the road as you go along. And you have to figure out creatively, how are you going to go around these obstacles? How are you going to go over them? For example, when I first went into marketing, the stepping stone to a career path in marketing was to get a job in product management, brand management.

And at that time, those jobs were absolutely closed to women. So I went around and through the back door into market research. But it was a creative way to get into the world I wanted to be in without really being stopped by the major obstacles.

Another important thing is being optimistic and being resilient. You always think and hope for the best, but sometimes the best doesn't happen. For example, in my first job as a market research trainee at the Vicks Chemical Company, which is now part of Procter & Gamble, Vicks made Vicks VAPORub and Formula 44 and a lot of those very famous brands that we all know. I worked there for a year. I got very, very good feedback on my performance.

Barbara Feigin

And I thought, well, now it's time for me to go and talk to my boss about my career path, development and compensation and that thing. So I made an appointment and I went in and sat down across the desk from him and I said, Tom, it's been a year that I've been here and I really want to talk to you about next steps. What is my career path plan? And he just stared at me for a minute, and then he threw back his head and he started roaring with laughter. And I said, Well, Tom, why are you laughing? And he said, Well, Barbara, there is no career path. I said, What do you mean?

Have you read or watched?

1. Impactful Presentations: Overcoming the Fear of Vulnerability with Meridith Grundei
2. Overcome Sunday Scaries with Jess Harrington, The One Problem Podcast Episode
3. Navigating Insomnia, Anxiety, and Stress with Stephanie Dalfonzo
4. Janice Shokrian: Mastering Time Management Journey to Success with Tausi Pillows
5. Kadine Cooper, Executive Coach and Job Search Advisor
6. Jennifer Mrozek Sukalo, Transformational and Wellbeing Expert
7. Brenda Pearson: Crush Impostor Syndrome & Boost Confidence NOW!
8. Crush Chaos in Life & Work, Master the CHAOS Model with Vitality Coach LaChelle Adkins
9. Mastering Difficult Conversations: Expert Tips from Madeline Schwarz
10. Boost Your Productivity with Professor Margo Berman’s 5-Step Process
11. Overcoming the Gender Confidence Gap with Sheena Yap Chan
12. LaRae Quy, Author of Secrets of a Strong Mind
13. Laura Flessner, Innovation & Leadership Coach
14. Jennifer Regular, The Soul Illuminator
15. Judith Sherven, Executive Coaching for the Brightest and Best
16. Jackie Lyles, C Level Growth Strategies to Maximize Sales
17. Jackie Maclean, Energy Innovator and Clinical Hypnotherapist
18. Leslie Nydick, The Conflict Strategist, How to Lead Inclusive Conversations
19. Holly Jackson, TEDx Speaker, Holistic Leader
20. Kes Morton, President and CEO, Pisces Research Project Management

And he said, women. Women, they get married, they have babies, they leave. And I said, Well, Tom, I do plan to get married, and I plan to have babies, but I went to business school. I definitely don't plan to leave. I plan to have a career. He said, well, Barbara, if you want to have a career, you have to leave here. And so I did. And I found my way into the advertising business, which was terrific. It was a business that I absolutely loved and adored and had a very long, many decades long, very successful career. So it seemed like a stumbling block that could have stopped me.

But I just picked myself up and went on and did something else. Determination and perseverance. Sometimes it takes a long time to really achieve your dream.

Barbara Feigin

As I said before, there are sometimes bumps in the road, and you have to figure out, how are you going to navigate? What are you going to do? And you got to think about this. So to go for your dreams, one example is my career was basically at Gray Advertising, one of the worldwide powerhouse advertising agencies.

And it was a wonderful career. But the first time I went to an interview for a job at Gray, I got turned down. And a wonderful woman interviewed me, and she was very kind. And she said to me, Listen, Barbara, I really like you, and I think you could do well here. But you don't quite have the right experience. You have a particular experience, but what we're looking for is something else.

And she described what that was. I was very lucky because a colleague of mine was starting a new job involved in exactly the experience the Gray person said I needed. And he offered me a job to be his assistant. So I went there. I worked there for a year as the Gray person had told me to do one year of experience. Come back and I'll hire you. So after one year, I came back to Gray, and she hired me, and it was off to the races.

I was in a place that was absolutely fabulous for me, and I had a great career there. I think it's very important as you're building your career. It certainly was important for me to always have something of value to bring to the table.

Barbara Feigin

And for me, it was becoming an authority on the American consumer. I was a pioneer in my days at Gray in consumer attitude research, figuring out new kinds of ways to understand what makes consumers tick. And at that time, that was a new thing. Nobody was doing that. And it became Gray's competitive edge as it was looking to build its business and to build its clients' businesses.

So it's important to think about what you are bringing to the table that is going to be important to building a business, to building a brand, to building a company. And really work on that and figure out how you're to get that across. And finally, I think this is very important, particularly for women. Make your voice heard. Make your voice heard. When I first became a corporate director at a New York Stock Exchange Company, I went to my first meeting. I was the only woman director.

They've not had a woman director. And the men there didn't know quite what to do with me. They thought I was the woman director. And they talked among themselves, and they talked over me. And I learned I had to keep raising my voice, and raising my voice, and raising my voice, until finally, they listened.

And as they listened, they realized that I had something important to contribute. And that really, I think, is really, really important, particularly for women, as I as you try to build your career and move forward. So, as I said before, the guiding principle that drives all of this is my mantra: dream big, work very hard, and never, ever quit. So back to you, Avil.

Avil Beckford

Thank you so much. There are so many nuggets here. And I also love the stories that you shared because it will bring life to what you've said with the one problem. So thank you so much.

Barbara Feigin

Well, thank you very much. It's been lovely to be with you.

Next Steps

Wondering what to do next, here are ways to support me:

1. Buy my new book, Leadership Reading: Spilling the Tea on How Top Leaders Read

2. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

3. Join the Art of Learning Membership Site

4. Download Unlock Your Genius Power Reading Tips Sheet

5. Buy me a cup of coffee!

If you want access to my Bookish Notes, please consider joining my membership site, the Art of Learning.

This post contains affiliate links and The Invisible Mentor® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!  

The post Barbara Feigin: Journey Breaking Through Career Barriers appeared first on The Invisible Mentor.