5 lessons 2024 taught me about work and marketing
My personal learnings from the year, and some objectives for 2025
2024 was, for a few reasons in my life, an important year. I was mostly thinking about work, that’s where my head was, and everything else took a back seat. I was fine with that, I knew it was going to be this way, and I sort-of doubled down on it. Q3 especially, was hectic.
This meant that I didn’t do a lot of other things this year, including write, or even travel that much. And because work was all I was thinking about, a lot of my learning were about work and what came with it, so bear with me on this. But still, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t an enjoyable year, in the sense of coming back home sweaty and tired after a long hard day of cricket.
And that means there’s also gratitude. I worked hard, I succeeded at more things than I failed at, and I did some hard things. You cannot ask for more.
In that process, I learned a few things about myself and the world. Let me tell you about them.
1. Grit is always going to be a huge marker of success
I haven’t actually read the book. I mean Angela Duckworth’s Grit. I might later. But my own learning has been that talent and hard work are one thing, they are prerequisites. But the people who survive tough situations and thrive are the ones who can stay uncomfortable longer. Which is why I’ve realised how important grit is. Because things are going to be tough. That’s why you were hired, because the job is tough. You have to learn how to power through the difficult times. And what can get you through them is grit.
2. Customer first, then company, then team, then you
This year was the first time I heard this being articulated, but it makes so much sense. Whenever you are thinking about a difficult decision, or even a slightly dicey, politic-y one, use this framework. Do what’s right for the customer first, then what’s right for the company, then what’s right for the team, and only then what’s right about you. This will serve you well to do what’s right. It did for me.
3. Trust your own instincts
I wrote before on this newsletter about the mistakes I made as a manager, and about a couple of situations where I didn’t act like I should have. That’s fine, everyone has to make mistakes to learn. But since then, I have learnt to trust my instincts in terms of mistakes and in anticipation of them. Your mind and heart know, listen to them. Don’t move in directions they are telling you not to go in.
4. It’s never as good or as bad as you think
There was a time early in the year when I thought I was doing everything wrong and was going to lead my team down a tunnel. Later in the year I thought I was doing everything right and that I was invincible. I was wrong both times. When you feel too low, tell yourself it’s not that bad. When you feel too high, tell yourself you are not that good either.
5. Elevate everything
Something I kept asking myself and of my team in the latter part of this year: What’s the Apple version of that? If it was a product video, how would Apple make it? If it was an event, how would Apple plan it? We obviously don’t have the scale and resources of Apple, but asking the question allows you to elevate everything you are doing. It allows you to think: What more can we do here? What’s the best version of this? And so on. It’s an incredibly useful question, and I think it has helped me and my team.
There you go then. I hope these learnings help you in some way to think and operate through 2025.
What do I want to do in 2025?
Seems apt to end this edition, the last of 2024, with what I’m looking forward to.
Three things: Write more, learn more, move more. I want to get back to writing and creating, and hopefully in 2025, I get a better handle on work so I can devote more time to writing. Learning is high on my agenda: As AI evolves, anyone not dipping their heads into it will be left behind. I have always been a bit of a Luddite, I adopt things slowly. Not an option this time. And I want to move more, go on short trips, walk a lot more (I really enjoy it), and get a bit fitter. One thing I have been able to do in 2024 is play cricket regularly, and I hope to keep that going.
I would love for you to tell me how you want to go about 2025, or how this year was for you. I’m at sairamkrishnan@outlook.com. Thank you for reading the newsletter this year. It is because you read that I write.
PS - If you haven’t yet gone through what we did as Atomicwork marketing in 2024, I wrote about how we built an inbound engine for the enterprise in 6 months. Remember to read it, it’s my rewind and assessment of the whole year.
How we built an inbound marketing engine for the enterprise at Atomicwork
Finally, 2025 will be the 5th year of writing this newsletter. I hope to have a live event in Bangalore for readers and friends to celebrate, and will be sharing more details soon. If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter yet, you should definitely do it now!
And to my readers, in all this time, if this newsletter has helped you, made you think, or even just been enjoyable to read, I would love it if you could share it with your friends, or even just one friend. Would mean a lot to me!.
See you on the other side, and hope you enjoy a lovely holiday with your friends and family. Happy new year!