The finalists for WashingtonExec’s 2023 Pinnacle Awards were announced Sept. 25, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 16.
Next is Ethan Meurlin, vice president of marketing and corporate partnerships at Octo, an IBM Company, and finalist in the Marketing Executive of the Year, Private Company
(annual revenue greater than $250M) category. Here, he shares what has made him successful in his role and career advice.
What has made you successful in your current role?
To understand my success, you need to understand Octo’s culture, first. We were built as a fresh alternative to the typical federal IT services provider. Our success is a derivative of our customers’ success. Because of that, the company practically tells its own story.
However, the stories don’t write themselves. In order to write Octo’s amazing stories, I had to become a value-added strategic partner for my internal customers – our technology leaders and business owners ⏤ to understand their goals and help them achieve them.
Additionally, no leader is successful unless they have a great team supporting them. I built an organization led by three superior directors overseeing Marketing, Corporate Partnerships, and Knowledge Management. These directors challenge each other and me, often. They collaborate with each other and their customers, support each other as true partners, and hold each other to the highest standards.
They in turn built teams whose creativity and passion are on display in everything they do, always placing their internal customers’ success before their own.
As a result, throughout every activity we supported, from a press release to a case study, from a social media post to planning our booth for the next major industry event, they constantly devised new and creative ideas, concepts, and solutions to help Octo stand out from the crowd.
When you’re a leader with excellent people behind you, leaders in their own right who are bought into a mutually developed vision, you wind them up, point them in the right direction, clear obstacles out of their way, and watch them succeed.
What’s your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
The first thing I would say is, don’t. Don’t follow my footsteps or anyone else’s. Forge your own path through your career, always looking for the thing that sparks your passion.
After college, when I was just starting out, I felt all this pressure to find the career ladder I’d climb. I felt like I only got one chance to choose before being “locked in.” It was only a few years later when I made my first industry change from hotel management to IT recruiting. Then I changed again, and again, finally settling into GovCon in proposal management. In my first decade I changed industries or professions four times.
As an English major who could also formulate detailed plans, proposal management suited me for a while. However, I always had held this burning idea that marketing was the path for me.
So in 2016 I had the fortune of being able to start Octo’s first dedicated marketing department. I grew that and then committed entirely to marketing in a mid-career transition few are able to make. It wasn’t easy at all – I essentially ran two service centers simultaneously. But I was following my own path toward the spark that would keep me engaged, energized, and passionate.
You hear the cliché all the time, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” That’s not quite accurate. However, doing something that brings you joy and makes best use of your unique skills, personality, and passions sure will make it more tolerable.
So, my best career advice is to follow your passion. Don’t ever feel locked into anything. You may have to work exceedingly hard to get where you want to go, especially the later in your career you decide to make a change. You will have to continue to grow your skillset. You will have to read and study and invest in yourself and your growth.
You will have to earn opportunity. But in the end, it’s worth it. Life’s too short to suffer through a career. If it doesn’t bring you at least a little joy, change something up. Follow your own path toward the spark. But just know you’ll have to work to get there. Nobody’s going to pave the path for you.