I was asked on Thursday to participate in a panel discussion on the current state of Account Services, by the University of South Florida’s Zimmerman Advertising Program, as part of the School of Communications. While I didn’t go to USF (I went to LSU, Geaux Tigers!), I’m a huge fan of the school. Every time I’m on campus, I’m even more impressed with the caliber of students I see, and this past Wednesday was no different. The students asked me wonderful, thoughtful questions. So, I thought I’d take a moment and write a two-part blog series that capture the responses and recommendations I provided – 7 in total. Here are the first 3…

• Embrace failure, strategically. Don’t be afraid to fail, but fail forward. One thing I do after every meeting/phone call/day/and at the end of week is sit down in a quiet room for a period of time and reflect on my performance. Of those things I did poorly, I challenge myself to explore ways to avoid that in the future. Wise is the man that experiences failure, learns from it, and grows to become a stronger man.

• Keep up-to-date on, well, everything. Account Directors must have a working knowledge of just about everything in order to lend direction on projects and communicate. Keep yourself in the know on everything – from politics, to world news, to American Idol, to reality TV, to music and film. Be able to have a conversation with anyone about anything. The Wall Street Journal is a great place to start. At the very least, read the first page, every day.

• Commit to a lifetime of learning. Our job is not a 9-5’er. It is a 24/7 labor of love. Commit yourself to lifelong process of learning. I challenge you to become a student of life. Successful people are successful because they ask better questions and get better answers.

Stay tuned for the second part of this blog series as I wrap up the additional 4 recommendations and how to implement them. – Jamie