Participant Spotlight | Matthew Isaacs

Ceresa Community Manager Emily Worthington talks with Matthew Isaacs from Dealerware about his time as a Ceresa Accelerator participant, where he received 1:1 coaching & mentoring that helped him uplevel his managerial skill set. The Ceresa Accelerator program is an energizing nine-month guided program with self-work, 360 feedback, executive coaching, and a deeply personalized match to a world-class external mentor.

How did you become involved in the Ceresa Accelerator program? 

A manager recommended me for the program. I believe she felt that I was ready for the growth the Ceresa program could provide like adopting new management skills more quickly and honing the ones I already had. It’s called Accelerator for a reason.  It's kind of a crucible for thinking strategically so that you can grow and meet new challenges much more quickly. 

The program was presented as optional - it was if you're interested in this program, it's available to you. It was only later that I learned that my boss was planning a transition out of the company and had plans for me taking over a portion of the work she was doing. I was extra thankful [to be involved with Ceresa] when that came to light. 

Can you tell me more about your goals of the program?

I split my goals between the professional and the personal.

On the professional side, I wanted to chart a path for myself to take the work I was doing in content management and add in the skillset that I had built being in a PR agency previously to lead PR and editorial strategy for my company. I wanted to understand:

• How do I get buy-in from the leadership team?

• How do I build a team that can accomplish this in a way that fits with the company's marketing plans?

• How do I institute some of the things that I think are most powerful about corporate storytelling?

On the personal side, I wanted to grow, but I didn't want to sacrifice much more of my time; we're a small team, and I was already really busy. I came into the program thinking: I need to make clear distinctions between my work and my life. And I came out of the program thinking: I need to be as strategic with my personal time as I am with my professional time.

I have a sticky note on my monitor with the question: Do I have the energy after work to pursue my personal passions? And if the answer becomes no, do I reevaluate the work I'm doing that's bleeding into time that should be spent on the things that enrich my life?

Then personal side, I wanted to grow, but I didn't want to sacrifice much more of my time; we're a small team, and I was already really busy. I came into the program thinking: I need to make clear distinctions between my work and my life. And I came out of the program thinking: I need to be as strategic with my personal time as I am with my professional time.

If you could use one word to describe your relationship with your mentor, what would it be? 

Surprising or collaborative. I say “surprising” because, at first, I felt that our work was quite different, but as we went, I found her advice super applicable.

Collaborative. Because as much as I've learned from her, she's also very clear in telling me what she's learned from me. I love that as the program went on, she would ask for advice on things I have expertise in. By asking me for my perspective, she helped me to understand how to look at corporate relationships on a flat level; instead of worrying about seniority, consider if you have the expertise—if you do, weigh in. 

Can you describe a specific professional challenge that your mentor helped you navigate?

I have grown from lower management to senior management in the last year or so. Part of that was when my boss left; I took over content planning for a huge event that we hosted in Austin. I had to put together ten panel discussions, and a handful of keynote presentations. I went from managing zero employees to leading 10 different teams and building discussions with external people for this event. 

At first, it was a freak-out moment. I felt very uncertain. Tara [my Ceresa mentor] helped me to understand:

• How do you organize yourself to take the expertise in content development and content marketing and teach people who don't do this to make powerful in-person content?

• How do you use this as an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to handle more and the seize opportunity for growth?

• How do you get in front of your leadership team and show them what you're doing, and why it's important?

Tara very much helped me to organize a huge challenge and to be opportunistic about it.

I have been involved in other tentpole events throughout the year now. It's definitely given me the trust of the leadership team to develop PR programs that we hadn't launched before, enter new content strategies, use more videos, and get in touch with more of our customers, which is really freeing for me.

Of course, I'm a committed employee, but I want my growth too. The ability to be open about that, tell them what I don't know, what I do know, and come to understand my strengths by talking about them helped me to grow more quickly than I think I would have if I had an internal mentor doing the same work with me.

How was your Ceresa experience different from other professional development experiences that you may have had in the past?

It's really, really valuable to have an objective external advisor who can understand both the emotional and the organizational challenges of trying to grow. Of course, I'm a committed employee, but I want my growth too. The ability to be open about that, tell them what I don't know, what I do know, and come to understand my strengths by talking about them helped me to grow more quickly than I think I would have if I had an internal mentor doing the same work with me.

I think that’s because it's harder to be vulnerable with someone when you can't ever be fully confident that it's not going to go back to your team lead or the CEO. And nothing that you say is going to make them think, "oh, you're not worthy of your job anymore.” Being confident that everything is objective is a huge benefit.

What is exciting you most as you kind of move forward post-Accelerator?

I really love having a team. I manage a team now, and that growth was definitely enabled by the Accelerator.

One of the goals I set for the year is "make sure your team is happy.” By being so thoughtful about my growth, I now get the opportunity to be really thoughtful about my team's growth.

I challenged them to think of a better way to respond to feedback. So my question was: "Okay, this internal customer wants to see more from this. How do we exceed that request now?” As a team, we are open to growth opportunities, things that need to get done now, and coming together as a team to get them to accomplish them. I’m excited about putting an intentional growth mindset into action with myself and my team.

Nothing your team is doing day-to-day will help them grow as quickly as a dedicated advisor program. If you want your employees to be fulfilled, give them the tools they need to create that fulfillment for themselves with your company.

What would you say to organizations that are considering sponsoring their employees in the accelerator program?

Do it. If your biggest investment is your people, there's no better bang for your buck than Ceresa to uplevel your employees. Nothing your team is doing day-to-day will help them grow as quickly as a dedicated advisor program. If you want your employees to be fulfilled, give them the tools they need to create that fulfillment for themselves with your company.

 What haven't we asked you about your experience that you would like other people to know? 

Another thing the program will teach you is how to use failure and move on from it better. Don’t be afraid of saying you missed the mark. If you aren’t afraid of saying that you missed the mark, you’ll be better at identifying growth opportunities.