Paige Arnof-Fenn Of Mavens & Moguls On The Book That Changed Her Life

An Interview With Sara Connell

Not getting what you want can lead you to magical outcomes and you learn a lot more from failure than success in life.

Books have the power to shape, influence, and change our lives. Why is that so? What goes into a book that can shape lives? To address this we are interviewing people who can share a story about a book that changed their life, and why. As a part of our series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Paige Arnof-Fenn.

Paige is the founder & CEO of global branding and digital marketing firm Mavens & Moguls based in Cambridge, MA. Her clients include Microsoft, Virgin, venture-backed startups as well as non profit organizations. She graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Business School. She serves on several Boards, is a popular speaker and columnist who has written for Entrepreneur and Forbes.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory” and how you grew up?

I am a child of the 60s and 70s who grew up in the Deep South. All 4 of my grandparents were Southerners too, we all lived within a few hours drive when I was a child. I am the oldest of 3 and was always a good student and athlete growing up, responsible and hard working. My father and both grandfathers were in business so I always thought I would go that route too. From a young age I loved sports, movies, TV and travel. I went to a girls sports camp every summer for 2 months from age 9–16. I was an exchange student in France in high school and Italy in college. My family moved when I was in middle school and I am still friends with most of the people I grew up with from school and camp. As an adult I have lived and worked in NYC, LA, Bay Area, Atlanta, DC, Cincinnati, etc. but have been in Boston for the past 20+ years.

I love being an entrepreneur but I did not plan on starting a company. I always wanted to go work for a global business and be a Fortune 500 CEO. When I was a student I looked at leaders like Meg Whitman & Ursula Burns as my role models. I started Mavens & Moguls after beginning my career on Wall Street in the 80s and having a successful career in Corporate America at companies like Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola and then working at 3 different startups as the head of marketing. All 3 startups had positive exits. I took the leap right after 9/11 when the company I worked for cut their marketing. I had nothing to lose. Running a global marketing business provides me a platform to do work I truly enjoy with and for people I respect. I get to set my priorities, I have time to travel (pre-Covid) and hang out with my inner circle, and work out every day. It has been a journey to get here but I am lucky to have found it. I love the autonomy, flexibility and the fact that I know every day the impact that I have on my business. When I worked at big companies I always felt the ball would roll with or without me, that if I got hit by a bus someone new would be in my office right away. Now my DNA is in everything we do and I can trace every decision and sale to something I did or a decision I made and that is incredibly gratifying and fulfilling. Like most entrepreneurs, I am working harder and longer than ever and I have never been happier. Working for yourself and building a business you started in incredibly rewarding and gratifying. It has been a lot of fun, I joke that I am the accidental entrepreneur. I knew I had made it as an entrepreneur when Harvard wrote 2 case studies on my business a few years after I started it, we were very early to pioneer sharing resources on the marketing front (before my company it was really only done with HR, legal and accounting/finance).

Let’s talk about what you are doing now, and how you achieved the success that you currently enjoy. Can you tell our readers a bit about the work you are doing?

I was raised to be responsible, honest, hard working, and confident all great qualities for an entrepreneur. Both my grandfathers were successful entrepreneurs so I think it is in my DNA. My parents always supported me to challenge the status quo and question authority when I had done my homework and could make a strong case which is also great training to becoming an entrepreneur. They also seemed to get me when I tried to bend, break or change the rules if I had a solid argument so I learned early on to not stop just because someone says no. That is such an important part of being an entrepreneur and has served me and my business very well.

The beauty of running your own business is that if you are not genuinely excited by the work then you can pass on it. I only take on work that I find interesting and worthwhile. Finding the right words and pictures to tell great stories that attract more customers to our clients’ products and services is incredibly fulfilling. Market Research is more important now than ever! Whatever our clients thought they knew or understood before Covid about their customers/market must now be checked because the world has changed so much since last March so that is keeping us very busy now. We are also doing a lot of PR/Thought Leadership with organizations that have great stories to tell from lessons learned in the pandemic. We recently started working with a tech company that needs trade show materials with a fresh design to reflect the new normal, a new real estate business in need of branding, positioning and messaging and a healthcare business looking to rebrand with a new name and tag line. We continue to conduct market research for B2B tech companies, build websites for B2B and B2C companies, and creative development for nonprofits. Marketing is more important now than ever! I think we’ll be busy helping organizations adjust to the new normal. It’s an exciting time for the business, change brings lots of opportunities to grow.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Resilience is so important having the mental toughness and the ability to bounce back from adversity or the inevitable setbacks. Covid has definitely made me/my business more resilient. There have been so many times in my career where things did not go as I had hoped/planned but with each setback, I learned important lessons which made me more resilient and able to bounce back stronger/mentally tougher/try again.

To be more resilient the traits I rely on most are persistence/determination/focus. Those are the ones that make the biggest difference between success and failure I think because the road is always bumpy and you know you will have to overcome obstacles along the way. You get knocked around often so you have to be able to keep getting back up/trying again with enthusiasm/energy. You have to be driven/focused/learn to say no to distractions you cannot pursue every opportunity so be selective/concentrate on only those ideas with the greatest potential say no to everything else/be intensely curious/always be looking for the next way to make something better. With these traits they attract the best people so increase the odds to recover and succeed. Every setback has made me stronger. Getting a bad grade on a quiz made me work harder for the midterm and final so I could end the term strong, not getting into the Ivy League college in the early round lead me to a place that was a perfect fit for me academically where I met lifelong friends including my husband. When doors shut find the open ones to see where they lead. Other important traits are:

Excellent communication — able to rally the troops and keep them on the critical path

Strong moral compass — you cannot compromise on ethics and values

Smarts — technically competent and work hard to earn the respect of the team

Bonus — great sense humor and fun to work with

What’s the WHY behind the work that you do? Please share a story about this if you can.

When I started Mavens & Moguls I envisioned a future where all organizations regardless of size or budget have access to the best marketing talent on an outsourced basis to help them find their audience with the right words and pictures to tell their stories in compelling ways. I want to bring world class marketing talent and expertise to organizations that want to make a difference in the world. We believe every organization deserves to tell their story. Your core values should be reflected in your branding because people choose to do business with companies that align with their own values, so this information needs to be visible to them. It is important to me to stay true to my core beliefs. Loyalty is one of my core values — loyalty to self and to others whom I respect. It’s important to me to gauge how many colleagues and customers come back and refer us to those who trust them. Being true to the mission of the organization and delivering superior experiences matter to me a lot too. Having the confidence to walk away from a client or colleague who’s diluting the equity in your brand is tough, but it’s necessary sometimes. You must always be authentic to the essence of your brand and surround yourself with people who reinforce your brand and its values — not tarnish it.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have been so fortunate to have great mentors, champions and role models throughout my career including former bosses, my father, and senior women in organizations where I worked. Finding a mentor, coach, mastermind group, etc. gives you support and a thinking partner/tribe/ecosystem to help navigate challenges along the way especially when you are first staring out. As an entrepreneur these people and networks can also be invaluable sources of inspiration, advice, encouragement and can help you avoid rookie mistakes (with hiring, fundraising, etc.) in particular at the beginning They can also make key introductions so that you avoid getting burned by service providers or potential investors who have mixed reputations. I have seen several situations where a lot of time and money could have been wasted but was not.

The person who has always encouraged and supported me as an entrepreneur and has my back every day is my husband. He started a company too so understands the journey of an entrepreneur and has been my sanity check and thinking partner every step of the way. He is both a cheerleader and butt kicker depending on the situation and I trust his judgment and advice because I know he always has my best interests in mind. I am very fortunate to have him in my corner. There are times when you need cheerleaders, butt kickers, people who can be counted on for tough love and others to help expand your footprint and elevate your profile in the community. Accountability is so important as an entrepreneur. Having friends and family to keep you grounded and humble is critical too, it is easy to lose perspective when you are launching a new business. Having people you trust for judgment and advice who have your best interests in mind is priceless. Entrepreneurship can be consuming if you aren’t careful. In my experience it takes a village to launch a successful business.

Awesome! Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. I’m an author and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Can you please tell our readers about “The Book That Changed Your Life”? Can you share a story about how it impacted you?

I have always read a lot for professional development and usually prefer books by practitioners because they are more relevant and have current examples from pop culture vs. theories based on research. I also like the classics that have advice that has withstood the test of time and in my case the most impactful book is How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie — it is evergreen with insights on manners and people/human nature. In my experience you can learn a lot from books which offer practical advice whether you are someone just starting a career in business as well as anyone managing and leading a team. It was published almost 100 years ago and the advice has held up so you cannot go wrong with this one. Here are my key takeaways on leadership, influence, success and interacting with people:

* Always begin with praise and honest appreciation.

* Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person and only call attention to other people’s mistakes indirectly.

* Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.

* Use encouragement, make any fault seem easy to correct and let the other person save face.

* Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise” so that you give the other person a strong reputation to live up to.

* The goal is to make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest so remember when dealing with people you are not dealing with creatures of logic but creatures of emotion, creatures who have prejudices and are motivated by pride and vanity.

* The only way to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.

* If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s perspective as well as from your own.

Excellent advice to become successful for sure. By following this path I think it creates a strong culture and sets me up for success. The formula is simple: happy team, happy clients, less churn, no drama, bigger profits.

What was the moment or series of events that made you decide that you wanted to take a specific course of action based on the inspiration from the book? Can you share a story about that?

It’s so important to know the difference between people you want relationships with and those not worth the investment. Getting rid of bad clients and weak team members is critical but tough to do. I fired a client in my first year of business and it was absolutely the right decision! On a personal level the guy was a jerk who never paid on time and was rude to my team who was doing great work for him. He was mean, unappreciative and had terrible manners. I am from the South and expect people to behave with common decency. He hired us to do PR for his firm and I realized if we could get great press for a guy like him then people who knew him & knew how difficult he was might want to hire us too to help them thinking “hey these PR people must be really good and I’m not as nasty as this guy so imagine what they could do for me!” I did not want to attract other bad clients so even though he signed a 1 year contract I ended it after 3 months. It sent a signal to my team that the money was not worth an unappreciative client who was a jerk and treated us poorly. We replaced the income and more within a month with much better clients. I have never looked back. It is so important to attract the right people as clients and colleagues for the ecosystem I am trying to build. As a leader you need the best talent and getting the right people on the team is key to being successful It is hard to admit that the people you start with are not always the ones who grow with you.

The hardest lesson when I started my company was not getting rid of weak people earlier than I did in the first few years of my business. I spent more time managing them than finding new customers. I knew in my gut they were not up to snuff but out of loyalty to them I let them hang around much longer than they should have. It would have been better for everyone to let them go as soon as the signs were there. They became more insecure and threatened as we grew which was not productive for the team. As soon as I let them go the culture got stronger and the bar higher. “A” team people like to be surrounded by other stars. It is true that you should hire slowly and fire quickly. I did not make that mistake again later on so learned it well the first time. I wish I had known it even earlier though but lesson learned for sure!

Can you articulate why you think books in particular have the power to create movements, revolutions, and true change?

Books are a great way to share knowledge/educate, tell stories, inform, entertain, and inspire across time and geography. They are cost efficient and easily portable, you can read them at your own pace so they have withstood the test of time and are as important today as ever whether you are 2 or 92.

A book has many aspects, of course. For example, you have the writing style, the narrative tense, the topic, the genre, the design, the cover, the size, etc. In your opinion, what are the main, essential ingredients needed to create a book that can change lives?

It ultimately comes down to the power of the story, finding compelling ways to bring the right words and pictures together to create interest. In early days of mankind, stories were a great way to communicate around the campfire, they are critical to the Bible and they are still effective today. People do not remember facts and figures but if you tell them a story that touches them emotionally you get their attention and they want to hear more. People need to be educated, informed and/or entertained so you have to figure out how best to tell your story in a way that makes them pay attention and breaks through the noise so it can have impact and change lives. When you share what you know — your passion, your war stories, the good, bad and ugly — the content will flow and pour out of you. The stories will be interesting and the lessons will be real, people will remember you and come back for more. Great stories never go out of style.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started My Career” and why?

If I have learned anything in my career as an entrepreneur here are the lessons that have really stuck with me:

* Not getting what you want can lead you to magical outcomes and you learn a lot more from failure than success in life.

When things work well you never really know why but when there are problems, mistakes or failure you have a real learning opportunity to see which assumptions were incorrect and that is knowledge you will never forget again. The hard fought lessons that comes from age and experience are gold. Being in the trenches together is where I have met some of my best friends and colleagues though, those relationships are deep.

• Be patient

It really is a marathon not a sprint so do not set arbitrary goals like being named 30 under 30 or 40 under 40 because it may take you longer than Mark Zuckerberg to hit your stride and that’s ok. Most people take many detours on their career path before finding their true calling. Don’t be disappointed if you get to 40 and are still exploring because the journey really is a great adventure so enjoy it!

• Fail fast

Don’t be scared to fail, just learn from every bump in the road so you make better mistakes next time, that is where you learn the most! You learn to do by doing. Course correct and pivot along the way, it makes for a fun career path. Looking back at what you once thought was a failure can make you realize it was in fact a blessing in disguise. Whether you were laid off, overlooked for the job or did not get the full bonus you expected as Winston Churchill said failure is not fatal and being resilient is really what matters in life, you have to keep trying again.

* Keep learning

Finishing school is not the end of your education, you will be a student for the rest of your life so never stop learning new things. Your education is just starting to get really interesting and the grades don’t matter anymore. Be a sponge for knowledge & enjoy the learning process.

• Define what success means to you

Success is personal and your definition will change over time. That is normal and shows maturity, find what matters to you and don’t worry about anyone else. My definition of success changed once I left corporate life to become an entrepreneur. I realized I did not need to run a Fortune 500 company to be happy, I love building a small business and growing it successfully. Entrepreneurship is scary but you can’t wait for the perfect time to act; you just have to course correct as you get more feedback along the way. Learn to get comfortable making decisions without perfect information. Entrepreneurs never give up on what they believe, dreams can become reality when you pursue them with intention and courage. When you learn from every setback you make better mistakes over time, and in my experience that is where you learn the most!

The world, of course, needs progress in many areas. What movement do you hope someone (or you!) starts next? Can you explain why that is so important?

I would love to see someone in DC start a movement or create change through a new (domestic) Peace Corps (2022 version) and enlist people of all stages and ages so we are all in it no application required. We have so many opportunities now across every state. With the new infrastructure bill passing we need our roads and bridges fixed, clean water in our communities, tutors, day care, senior care, teachers, healthcare workers, there is no need to pay people to stay home or send them abroad to build infrastructure overseas we need it here right now across all 50 states! We also need peace to prevail and I think if we work together side by side to fix these problems in our communities we will all be on the same team.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

www.MavensAndMoguls.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/paigearnoffenn

Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us and our readers. We know that it will make a tremendous difference and impact thousands of lives. We are excited to connect further and we wish you so much joy in your next success.

Thanks so much it’s been my pleasure! I hope it helps make a positive difference in the world in some small way, I always try to leave things better than I find them!