As Cal Ripken is to baseball, Mitch Joel is to podcasting.
Ripken is the hall of fame baseball shortstop who played 2,632 consecutive games over more than 16 years. He never missed a game for injury, personal reasons, etc. Joel, the influential speaker, author and blogger, is the Iron Man of podcasting. He started his Six Pixels of Separation podcast back in 2005 to complement his daily blog. Since then, he has published a new interview with luminaries like Seth Godin and Henry Mintzberg every single Sunday since then. No breaks or holidays!
On episode 15 of the Informational Interview 2.0 podcast, he shared how this creation of consistent content took his career to new heights and has served as a source of learning.
"I was asking questions that I would selfishly ask if I could have coffee with some of these authors,” Joel said. “It was education for me. I wanted to learn. I wanted to understand. If I felt I had a particular perspective, I wanted to have it challenged. In that journey of a content creator I learned a lot. I found it stimulating and it spoke to my core.”
Godin has been on the Six Pixels of Separation podcast eight times. “There would be no Mitch Joel without Seth Godin,” Joel said.
Also noteworthy are his interactions with Nancy Duarte and hearing her thoughts around delivering keynote presentations.
“Any time I speak to her I feel there are 50 things I should be rethinking and doing.”
In the process of creating content, Joel was able to lead his agency to new heights. It led to opportunities to speak in front of thousands of individuals and then additional collaboration possibilities for his agency, which he ultimately sold in 2017.
"I thought there was an easier way to sell which would be to bang a drum by creating content,” he said.
On the episode, Joel also offered advice for students and young professionals on communications and career development.
As a former journalist in the music industry, he warns against creating content for the sake of it and just adding to the noise. Using social media to create a portfolio of work is important. He advises to consider the following four questions:
- Do you understand how to communicate?
- Do you have an area you want to communicate in - written, video - what does that look like?
- Do you understand the platforms?
- Do you understand what communication looks like with what social media is today?
He also thinks emphasis should be put on presentation of ideas.
“We are recording this on Election Day in the United States,” he said. “Regardless of who you are voting for, the candidates have an ability to stand up and express themselves. I do believe the ability to stand up and cogently share a concept with a group is incredibly powerful.”
The Informational Interview 2.0 Podcast is brought to you by the Global Innovators Academy's "Interview an Innovator" course experience and by Career Path Writing Solutions.
