Unlock the secrets to effective leadership and personal growth with Marc Majers, a user experience leader with over 25 years of experience. From navigating the challenges of his youth as an Eagle Scout to leading pivotal roles at Hyland and Progressive, Marc shares invaluable insights on servant leadership, continuous learning, and the importance of mentoring. We promise you’ll gain practical strategies for personal and professional development that have been honed over decades of dedication and hard work.
Have you ever wondered how to balance multiple passions and manage a flood of ideas effectively? Marc reveals his unique method of staying open and receptive to new opportunities. Through personal anecdotes, Marc discusses his journey from an aspiring radio DJ to a successful career in user experience, emphasizing the significance of time management and following your passions. Discover how creating goal lists and managing your time can lead to a fulfilling and successful career.
In a world where continuous learning is key, Marc’s stories emphasize the transformative power of mentorship and mutual inspiration. Learn how Marc’s relationships with mentors and colleagues have fueled creativity and innovation, highlighting that mentorship is a two-way street. This episode underscores the importance of humility and openness in learning, reminding us that real growth takes time and a commitment to never stop learning. Tune in for an inspiring conversation encouraging you to embrace your passions, manage your time wisely, and continually seek knowledge for profound personal and professional development.
Marc Majers Bio
Marc Majers is an accomplished Sr. User Experience leader, published author, and adjunct professor with over two decades of expertise in enhancing user experiences across websites, software, and applications. With a profound understanding of cognitive processes and their impact on human-computer interactions, Marc leverages data, research, and testing to inform his design approach. His designs demonstrate results and improved business outcomes that foster innovation. Marc excels in creating strategic, user-friendly designs that align with business goals while considering both user needs and technical requirements. His extensive experience includes collaborating with multidisciplinary teams in Agile and Waterfall environments, emphasizing efficiency and measurable impact. Currently, he serves as a leader of the user research lab at Progressive Insurance.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Marc is an accomplished author with notable works such as “Make Your Customers Dance – The Key to User Experience is Knowing Your Audience” and “Don’t Fear The Forward – The Secret to Building Successful Websites” to his name. His books delve into the key aspects of user experience, emphasizing the importance of building time into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) for gathering user feedback. Marc’s achievements extend beyond literature, as evidenced by his recognition with a MarCom award for the best-redesigned website, NEOSA best interview/application award, and a Marketing Sherpa Email Award for achieving dramatic test results. Marc’s commitment to education is evident through his roles as an instructor in Web Design at Cuyahoga Community College, the University of Akron, and Kent State University, as well as his position as a mentor with UXPA International.
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Todd Bertsch: 0:17
Welcome back to the Bold Podcast. I’m Todd Bertsch, your guide on this exciting journey of personal growth and leadership, where my guests and I will share personal stories from our transformational journeys of how small changes can lead to massive results. You’ll discover tips on overcoming obstacles, setting and achieving goals, building lasting habits, developing confidence, living a happy, healthy and positive life, and so much more. If you’re ready to cultivate a growth mindset and become the best version of yourself, then let’s ignite your growth today. I’m thrilled to welcome today’s Marc, Majers, to the show. With over 25 years of Marc, has made a significant impact as a user experience leader, having held key positions at major Fortune 500 companies like Hyland and Progressive, where he currently serves as the head of user research.
Todd Bertsch: 1:19
Marc’s devotion to education shines through in his roles as a web design instructor at Cuyahoga Community College, the University of Akron and Kent State University. He also contributes to the community as a mentor with UXPA International. Beyond his professional achievements, mark is also an accomplished author, having penned notable works such as “Make your Customers Dance: The Key to User Experience is Knowing your Audience and Don’t Fear the Forward the Secret to Building Successful Websites. Outside of his Marc, enjoys spending quality time with his family and pursuing his passion for music. He’s recorded five albums, co-hosts a music podcast called Tunes Mate and has been DJing special events for over 30 years. Listeners, this is going to be an amazing episode. Please enjoy my conversation Marc Majers. Mark, it is so good to see you, my friend. Welcome to the Bolt Podcast.
Marc Majers: 2:22
Glad to be here, Thank you.
Todd Bertsch: 2:32
That is quite a bio. I am always amazed by how much you’ve accomplished in your career and in so many different areas, and there’s a theme that’s stood out to me that I wanted to dig into, and that’s a lifelong commitment to leading, learning and mentoring. Those are commitments that are really near and dear to me and I just love to dig into those. So your journey in UX has spanned over 25 years. How has your leadership style evolved over time?
Marc Majers: 3:01
Yeah, that’s a good question. Hey, once again, todd, thanks for having me here on the podcast. Yeah, that’s a good question. Hey, once again, Todd, thanks for having me here on the podcast.
Marc Majers: 3:08
What’s interesting is a lot of what I’ve been raised on and if you think about this, it comes from your core when you start and actually I was in scouting early on and if you are familiar with scouting, there’s a lot of core. There’s a scout law. You know scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful. You know you can go down the list. Then you also think about the scout motto. But I think that’s what started.
Marc Majers: 3:33
It all was that I started leading there and you, when you’re a youth, you get the opportunity to be the senior patrol leader and then you get a chance to lead in an outing and when you’re out in the wilderness, it’s you and the wilderness.
Marc Majers: 3:50
So you really have to understand and be prepared for what you have to encounter out there. So I think that was the beginning of it, but then, as evolved, it led into a lot of mistakes. You know, you think about the things you’ve done and you go hmm, I’m not going to do that next time. Or you see a mistake that someone else had made and you go hmm, why did they do that? And there’s a lot of ways to learn and I know we’re going to get into this, but for me it’s just been a constant figuring out how to become better. And I think it came from just that early scouting connection, because you’re earning merit badges, you’re learning about new things, you’re learning how to interact with people, you’re trying to figure out how you can be part of a team and also you have to learn yourself how to improve. So I think there’s a lot of connection there.
Todd Bertsch: 4:45
Yeah, absolutely. Now did you end up being an Eagle Scout?
Marc Majers: 4:50
I did yeah, and that’s a whole other story I can probably get into.
Marc Majers: 4:54
But that was also a challenge because the Eagle Scout at that time and they’ve evolved the requirements over the years. But you had to not only get merit badges and then be in there amount of time with requirements, but then you also had to do a service project. So if you think about that, if you start thinking about service projects and how that gets ingrained in you, you are helping others without expecting anything in return, which, when you’re young and you think about that, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. You’re like well, wait a minute, no, I’m working, I should be earning some money to pay for something. So that started my mindset. And then I think from there you work hard to get your ranks and move forward.
Marc Majers: 5:46
So that just kind of instilled me. Well, isn’t that just how it is with everything? So then you start applying that. But as you move forward and you start trying to adapt to technology, there’s so many things that you think about when you go to a new school or when you get a new job that you think about when you go to a new school or when you get a new job. You keep learning and you keep moving forward and trying to understand how you can add value.
Todd Bertsch: 6:13
Yeah, yeah, I love it and I think there’s tremendous value in being in Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts and it’s funny scouts or girl scouts. And it’s funny when I recruit and look for employees if I see that they were a scout, or especially an Eagle scout, like absolutely. But I just think the program in general is a great way to train and get kids involved in early leadership and the best part is servant leadership, right.
Marc Majers: 6:48
That’s it.
Todd Bertsch: 6:49
It’s not about what you take, it’s about what you give. And there’s just so we could, we probably should. There probably should be an episode just on scouting and the principles of leadership and how that influences, you know, young people and the adults, you adults, because the adults parents are really involved as well. So I love that you brought that in. I knew that about you, but I forgot about it. So yeah, I would imagine that should be a great influence.
Marc Majers: 7:16
It starts you on the right, makes you start thinking about things and it also allows you to explore a career path, which is always something interesting. You think about it A lot of people. When you get into scouting, they say, well, look at all the merit badges. Did you become one of the things on there? And the strangest thing is I never got the music merit badge. I never got the computing merit badge, and I wondered how I ended up with. Those were my two career passions. Maybe I had to find out what I didn’t like, which also is something that’s important in life.
Todd Bertsch: 7:51
Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, that’s a great segue into just your passion. You’re passionate about so many different things and you’re a very driven person. Where does that drive, where does that passion come from?
Marc Majers: 8:06
Yeah, that’s interesting. So when I was young I talked about scouting. I talked about the friends you surround yourself with. I had a best friend that had a photographic memory. I don’t know if you know anybody with a photographic memory, but you can close your eyes and you can basically get an A-plus on every single test. That wasn’t me. I had to write out note cards, I had to study hard in order to move through that. So that started making me think about what we take for granted.
Marc Majers: 8:35
And then at a young age, I also found out that I was adopted. And when that happens you start realizing wait a minute, I shouldn’t take what I have here of my family for granted. And it makes you look around and go I’m going to work harder. I’m going to work harder because I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring and you actually. It makes you think differently, and I’m involved in a couple of nonprofits locally. One’s called the Adoption Network Cleveland. They’ve allow many that are adopted, try to reconnect and understand who you are. And that’s an interesting thing. If you think about your background generally, family is one of the first things everyone asks you about. What’s your background, what’s your family from? And for many years, I would say I don’t know. So that leaves you to just continually try to prove yourself.
Todd Bertsch: 9:36
I’m a big, big believer in gratitude. In fact, I start every morning with a five to 10 minute meditation. Every morning with a five to 10 minute meditation, and part of that is reflection and going through a gratitude process. There’s nothing better than that that sets the tone for the whole day right. It gets you in a positive mindset, pushes back any negativity and, honestly, if you’re living in that positive mindset and you’re full of gratitude, it makes life a hell of a lot easier.
Marc Majers: 10:15
So, yeah, that’s a great mindset to be in. Yeah, and what’s interesting is, over the years you asked me about how leadership has evolved.
Marc Majers: 10:20
I think, it’s the other leaders you meet, and I had the opportunity to serve with many great leaders. One comes to mind where I would just pop in at the end of the day, when I knew I asked Another thing is many leaders you think they’re busy, so you have to ask them when is a good time? Is it ever a good time to pop in? And you can find different periods. Some say, come around the end of the day, you know I’m wrapping things up, you know I’m getting my. So I found one leader that said, yeah, if you ever just want to pop in and it was a top executive at one of the companies I worked at I would walk past their office and I always be busy.
Marc Majers: 10:54
And I poked my head in and they told me. They said you know, whenever I go into a meeting I’m always going in thinking I want to come out with a resolution, like there’s a. You know I’m going in with an open mind and I want to come out with something. Sure, there’s times where you come out with nothing, but that should only be about 1% of the time. But they also said something interesting to me is that you constantly have to stay humble, positive, and those are very difficult things to do in a daily basis because there’s always something that seems to be detracting from that moment. But as you turned me on to the positive intelligence, it says you acknowledge it and you say okay, that happened and move on. And that is something that I’ve heard. But not until you start practicing that that it really helps you move forward.
Todd Bertsch: 11:49
Yeah, absolutely yeah, you know you’re speaking my language positive intelligence. Shazad Shamim. It’s amazing program, amazing book. I think I talk about it in every episode, so obviously it’s been important to me. It really helped change my life, a big part of my transformation.
Todd Bertsch: 12:06
But, yeah, the key there is really finding the gift and the opportunity. In every situation, every scenario, however bad it may be. There’s a gift there and it’s funny, you know a lot of people. They like yeah, whatever man Like yeah, I just got in a car accident. What’s the gift there, buddy? Yeah, I know it sucks in the moment, but if you really dig deep and think about it, there is a gift. Maybe it’s telling you to slow the hell down and pause in your life and be happy that you’re still alive, and maybe it wasn’t even worse, you know. So you just it’s a different mindset, you know, and when you you make that small shift, it’s amazing what you can do, what you can achieve. So, yeah, I love, love that. I’m glad that you know you, you enjoy the book and you started practicing it and it’s like anything else that.
Todd Bertsch: 12:55
You know it takes time and you need to be consistent and persistent to build that habit, that mental muscle to say, oh, okay, there is a gift here. Let me just pause, think about it, reflect. But I want to go back to a comment you made about leadership, and I love it. You had mentioned about being open, open-minded. I’m reading a book right now by Shannon Lee called Be Water. My Friend that’s Bruce Lee’s daughter Great book, not an autobiography, but she’s really touching on what she’s learned about her dad because she was very young when, unfortunately, he passed.
Todd Bertsch: 13:31
One of the main concepts obviously is water, and we can talk about that all day and it’s wonderful. But one of his major concepts was going into everything with an open mind and he calls it having an empty cup. So it’s all about just being open and receiving Again, finding that gift and opportunity, not being judgmental but being discerning and really just taking it all in and then responding instead of being reactive. So all these things really do play into each other, right? All these things really do play into each other, right. It’s a beautiful thing, but it takes time and somebody really needs to make that part of their life and take action.
Marc Majers: 14:12
Yeah, and something you just said struck me, because what’s interesting is and I know we’ve talked about this in the past, but it’s about you being open but you’re being open to new ideas and that’s hard, you know. Sometimes you want to go and you’re being open to new ideas, and that’s hard. Sometimes you want to go and you want to try a new idea and maybe the timing isn’t right. So this gets into the draft box idea. We all have ideas. We probably think of them constantly, all the time. But can you do them? Is the timing right? Maybe you still need to do some more research on it. Maybe, if I tell you right now, you’re going to say, no, maybe I need to build an argument why that’s a good idea. So put in your draft box, write it up, put it in your email draft box and come back to it later.
Marc Majers: 15:00
And sometimes, sure, your draft box may have hundreds, in your case, of ideas. But then when you’re in a conversation with someone and someone says, hey, you know, I’m thinking about doing that. You already have the idea in your draft box and within about 10 minutes, when they get back to their desk or whatever they’re going, all of a sudden they have something. Hey, I’m just following up. You were talking about this, but have you thought about? And they’re like, how did they do that? Because I already thought about it, probably a year ago or maybe it was yesterday.
Marc Majers: 15:31
I think timing with ideas is key because we all have them and I’ve been told my whole life you’re an idea guy. You come up with a lot of ideas, but you only can execute so many of them, so you have to be selective with the ideas you’re going to come across with someone that also comes. That helps in that being open moment, because if you’re listening and listening is part of that too you’re being a good listener. And being a good listener is even harder to just sit and listen and not want to respond, and actually I’m not trying to answer your question immediately, I’m actually listening for a second before I do that. And that also helps with the draft box idea, because then you’re like well, I already got an idea in the draft box.
Marc Majers: 16:10
I don’t, I can, I can listen easier. My attention doesn’t have to be like oh, I got to get my idea.
Todd Bertsch: 16:15
I already got it, yeah, and I think that all ties back to being able to pause and really coming into a conversation whether you’re a leader or you’re an employee, a student or whatever coming in with an open mind, pausing, but with the mindset of being a coach, right, so you’re there to ask good questions and to be an active listener and to guide, not to answer, just. You know, most people just want to talk, they want to get their ideas out, they want to be heard and that’s a win, right. And then you go from there and when I come back to, yeah and I would say too, you know, I would coin you as the idea guy you are just constantly coming up with tons of great ideas. How do you manage those ideas? Is it frustrating to have all of these ideas and only execute on a few of them? So, if you’re using this draft box strategy and, as I said, I’ve seen your draft box at times, a hundred drafts in there and not all of those are ideas, some of those are just you need to vent, right, and just get it out on paper, which we talked about.
Todd Bertsch: 17:21
What’s your process for determining what you do and what you don’t do, because you have so many different passions, as we went through in your bio. You’re an author, you love writing. You’re an educator, you love teaching. You love mentoring. You have a huge passion for music. You write your own music, you record your music, you record your music, you edit your music. You’re a dj. You also have your own podcast for many years. How do you manage? So? You have a lot of passions and a lot of drive and a lot of ideas. How do you manage all those things?
Marc Majers: 18:01
really that’s a loaded sorry that’s a loaded one, but well, there’s a lot to unpack there, but I think there’s a couple of key things. One is at an early age I was told and I believe it was one of my high school teachers that told me that and it’s a cliche, but it really sank in my brain that you have to do something that you love, and if you love what you do, everything else will follow. I always thought about that. I said is that true? It takes a lot of energy to think about that in itself. So if I just do what I love, then everything’s going to work out. I don’t know if that’s true. I said, okay, well, at an early age I got a computer and I did computer programming and I really liked that.Marc Majers: 18:46
So I started learning how to develop. Then at one point I went to college and I said well, no, I’m going to let that go away. I think I’m going to become a lawyer. Yeah, that sounds good. So I was convinced by this professor that you’d be a really good lawyer. So I got accepted into law school. I was going to be a lawyer. And I came home from the summer and I told my mom I go, you know, do I have to go to law school, can I? I always wanted to be a radio DJ. Do you think I can try that? And my mom was so angry with me. She said, after all, that you’re going to go be a radio DJ. She’s like fine, take the summer off, go be a radio DJ.
Marc Majers: 19:29
So in college I worked at this AAM station. So I just put together this like demo tape they would call it quote unquote demo tape and I send it off to some local Cleveland stations. And I remember I was like two months went by, I got nothing and I was walking to the Cleveland Marshall law school and I was like okay, I’m just going to no one. And my phone rang and it was this radio station that said we’ll give you a shot, why don’t you come on down? And I was like, what for my demo tape? So I went there and then from there I ended up getting an internship over at Q104, even though because I was kind of in the middle of college. And then while I was there there was an ad that said no experience necessary, web designer. And I said, well, since I’m here already doing this radio gig, I might as well apply. Two weeks later I get a call that says I want you to come down, show us what you have. So I went into the interview. I didn’t hear from this web company for a while, so I called up the one day and I said do I got the gig? And they said well, look at your resume, I see you have an Eagle Scout. Why don’t you come on down? So I ended up, I got the radio gig and then I got this internship at this web company.
Marc Majers: 20:47
The next thing, you know, started doing the things that I love. Now it took me many, many years to actually become able to move out of my parents’ home with those two jobs. But if you think about it, I did what I was told. I did go down the things that I love, and I think that’s what drives the idea bank. It’s the things that are going in. There are the things that I feel as though I can have the highest contribution in and that I really, really am passionate about, and I tell people.
Marc Majers: 21:22
It’s like I’m not putting ideas in there how to become the next best plumber. I’m putting in things that are either music, web-related, tech-related I mean they’re ideas that are still related to each other. So it’s just trying to figure out which one. Can you a couple of things. One can you get something that can get done? Kind of put them in a bucket. It’s like can I get this one done within the next couple of weeks? Probably Is this something that is going to take me longer, probably years.
Marc Majers: 21:54
So you start creating goal lists based upon how much time these things probably will take, and then you have to also set up at the end of the year what am I going to try to do this year?
Marc Majers: 22:07
And we always joke about what’s your mantra this year, and you come up kind of with a mantra.
Marc Majers: 22:12
Sometimes it takes me a couple months like it could even be like February, and I come up with it, but then I pretty much put everything underneath that mantra. It’s kind of like my life mantra for that year, and then everything trickles down from the goals from that mantra. So it’s constantly creating lists, it’s constantly creating ideas, it’s trying to figure out how much time is available, being very strict on your time management. For example, I try to monitor how much time I spend online, and sometimes it may only be an hour a week I spend online, and sometimes it may only be an hour a week. How is that possible? Think about how much time you can get sucked into Instagram, tik, tok, all these things. I’m not saying I’m not an angel for, for, for getting sucked into these things, but you need to set up time limits. Why? So you can get to your list of things. You need to do the other list because you can instantly get pulled away by distractions.
Marc Majers: 23:05
Yeah, oh yeah, and that takes discipline.
Todd Bertsch: 23:08
It does. Yeah, everything takes discipline and time management. Absolutely, I’m a big fan, I’m a geek nerd and all of that. You know my outlook. I use one calendar. My outlook has everything in my life. My outlook has everything in my life all the different meetings associated with my business evolved marketing but I also have all my personal stuff.
Marc Majers: 23:30
One calendar. So I see it, it’s visible and my wife makes fun of me. But yeah, I have go play with Presley, my daughter. I want to make sure that I have time. It’s easy to get caught up, especially when you’re a leader, when you have big responsibilities as an owner or a leader in a company, so time management is absolutely key and, yeah, I’m going to have an episode just devoted to that, because I think there’s a lot of there’s a whole process to it.
Marc Majers: 23:56
There is, and everybody’s different. There’s books, but just to hear what those?
Todd Bertsch: 23:59
yeah, there’s some really great books on time management as well, but I want to go back to fulfillment piece. You know, in the passions and I love how you phrase it it’s all about a journey, right? It’s embrace the journey. It takes time and I think for young folks that might be listening, don’t be afraid to try different things and fail. Right, Mistakes are only lessons and that’s how we grow. And then you find what you really love and what you’re passionate about and then maybe you have an idea when you’re young. But oftentimes that changes and that’s okay, it really is. But if you find it, very few people are able to do what they do every single day. That is their gift. Why everyone?
Todd Bertsch: 24:43
If you can really tap into why you’re supposed to be here and what you’re supposed to contribute to the community. That’s a beautiful thing and I think that’s where kind of that passion, fulfillment comes in. And then if you have these other hobbies, like music or writing or poetry or sports, you have to carve that in. You have to make time for yourself. The best investment you can make is on yourself and that investment is not selfish. That is going to trickle out to everyone. You serve everybody in your community. That’s beautiful man.
Marc Majers: 25:20
Yeah, sometimes it means giving up things that you also love. But that’s where you we always joke about this. You make that pros and cons list. You sleep on it. There’s theories, there’s many books. I wrote a couple books, some of the things that I’ve read in other books. There’s one by Daniel Pink called when. That talks about knowing your chronotype, and a lot of people don’t think about that, but to me, I’m a big fan of understanding how you function. So that way, then you understand your strengths and weaknesses and you know when there’s a time of the day you don’t want to make a big decision, and that book talks about that specifically. But there are things like that where, sure, you have to know yourself, but then that passion that we talk about, that’s something that you can’t make up. So if you’re going to be doing something, if you’re working towards something, that passion helps you get over the top, sometimes when you’re low, and you know that this is something that I love to do, so I’m going to keep going.
Todd Bertsch: 26:27
Right, that’s the energy bus. Yeah, the passion. Yeah, and that’s just said. When things are tough, when you’re doing what you love, it doesn’t seem like work. Yeah, and that’s what I’m sure you it’s a cliche again, but it’s true. It is, and I think you know this is what I try to teach my kids.
Marc Majers: 26:51
you know find something you really love to do, because you’re going to do it the rest of your life and you’re going to spend a lot of time at work, unfortunately, so just find something that doesn’t feel like work, but also is meaningful, that has an impact, and that’s where the goal is. That’s the gold. Yeah, and you brought up one of my passions, which is DJing, and I’ve done that for a long time, and one day I had to sit back where someone asked me why do you do it? Is it about the music? And I started thinking about it. I’m a person that I’m listening more about the beat. I don’t really listen to the lyrics of the songs.
Marc Majers: 27:21
Of course I do when I’m playing an event where I have to make sure it’s the clean edit and things like that. But my point, though, is it’s all about the reaction of the crowd trying to make a memorable event for them, Because you think about it. You think about the events you go to weddings, funerals, family parties. There aren’t a lot of events where you bring a lot of people together, unless you have some annual outing you do with your family right so this event is going to be very memorable for them.
Marc Majers: 27:51
You have to pay attention to making it the best you can. So to me that kind of translates across everything. It’s just making the best experience possible and and so you joke about the user experience. But that’s what it comes down to is making it memorable, making it a positive, memorable experience, and then that also kind of translate across everything too. So there’s kind of an umbrella there.
Todd Bertsch: 28:16
If you think about it. Let’s talk about the education piece for a minute. Sure, as someone deeply committed to education, I know you’ve always been committed to this. What inspired you to start teaching and what do you find most rewarding about it?
Marc Majers: 28:32
Well, I mean, it’s interesting. I’m going to make another scouting reference again. But if you think about this, if from an early age, your goal is to constantly learn and try to learn new skills, there’s a scene I always think about this from the Matrix and think about Neo. But he gets into a helicopter and he’s like learn how to fly a helicopter. And it downloads into his brain and then a couple of minutes later he’s able to fly a helicopter. And it always makes me think about when you’re earning merit badges and when you’re learning you’re like oh, now I know how to canoe. Now I’m a certified, I know how to swim and do CPR. And you start gaining all these skills and all of a sudden you feel empowered that you now have this knowledge and you remember the old knowledge is power was at schoolhouse, rocks from back in the day.
Todd Bertsch: 29:25
Yeah, I love those yeah.
Marc Majers: 29:27
It just it empowers you. So it started me thinking okay, so I’m learning. And then part of scouting they call it the edge method. Whereas you are able to really show someone how it’s done, you guide them how to do it and then you enable them to do it on their own. So you’re taught from an early age in scouting to guide someone how to do something themselves. So you’re already teaching at an early age already. The thing that I think did it for me was when I was in high school. I was voted in grade school and then early in my high school career as the I guess class clown I would be the guy that would be joking around.
Todd Bertsch: 30:13
And I had a. His name was Dennis and I was his lab partner. Is that Dennis the Menace? His name was Dennis Densler and he turned to me. He’s like so why do you act so silly when actually you seem like you’re smart? And all of a sudden the whole world started spinning around me that I was like am I not applying myself? I learned so much in scouting and I always was there.
Marc Majers: 30:50
But since I was always kind of had that entertainment bug in me, all of a sudden it’s just something snapped in me that said, I’ve got to take this more seriously, I’ve got to really be able to learn more. So from that moment I started figuring out that I have to focus better on what I have in front of me. But it wasn’t until college. So in college something happened where I went to Bowling Green and the computer system put me in the honors dorm, even though I wasn’t an honor student. And all of a sudden I started absorbing all these honor students’ habits, like, for example, my roommate Ray would stay up really late and be constantly typing on his computer, like writing these essays, while I would look around and most of the other dorms had their lights off. But he was determined I’m going to get my PhD, I’m going to be a professor one day, and so, all of a sudden, I started saying I’m going to turn my light on.
Marc Majers: 31:53
So then I started typing and working really late and you start emulating those around you. So that’s the other thing with leadership is look around you and see, you know, are there qualities that you want to emulate from others, that are positive, that can empower you. And then that led me to well, if they want to be a teacher, then maybe I should be a teacher and maybe I can try this. So when I started my web design career, I thought, well, I went and purchased a few web design books. Remember Kelly Goto? Remember I bought her book but it was written in all this like jargon. So I went and I purchased it for my Cuyahoga Community College students and they all read it and went wait, I don’t, professor, I don’t understand what this means and that’s what made me write my first book. I’m going to write a book that’s in common language that other people understand. So I think that’s what drives it.
Marc Majers: 32:47
I think teaching is you start at a young age you are really molded by others around you, but then you also want to teach someone what you know, but you want to put it in your own words so that it can resonate with them, and sure you might be able to refer to someone else’s. But I think part of the idea process also is trying to find analogies that people understand. That hasn’t been done before and I think that also helps. So that’s where some of the ideas come in. It’s where you’re trying to merge in two different ideas into one to try to create an analogy. I know there’s a lot there to unpack.
Todd Bertsch: 33:23
Yeah, no, there is, but I think it comes back to two themes that have been the central theme of this conversation, which is mentorship. You love mentoring, so giving back, and being a servant leader or just living a servant life. So that’s giving back, mentoring, coaching, sharing your wealth of experience in a way that somebody can understand it, and that is the challenge. And students can be challenging and I, you know, I taught for many years. You got me into Cuyahoga Community College and that was great. I love teaching there. You know, way different than a typical university those kids well, adults were, they were ready Right Non-traditional students.
Todd Bertsch: 34:03
Non-traditional, mainly evenings, and they were really focused and determined and open to your ideas and I, you know like you would bring tons of references and really pour into it, hoping if you can inspire one student, and I’ll just share a story of that.
Todd Bertsch: 34:19
Most recently, there was a student I had when I was teaching at the University of Akron in corporate identity class, my favorite class, and she was a great, great student. I knew she was going to do well and we’ve stayed in touch over the years and she was a creative director at several ad agencies. And then that agency got acquired and she went out and she just said you know, I’m going to do my own thing, I’m going to freelance, that I’m going to do my own thing, I’m going to freelance. And then she started her own business creating thank you cards and personal cards and stickers and all these fun little items that you can buy. It’s really great stuff.
Todd Bertsch: 34:54
But all that to say that I purchased one of her thank you card sets as a gift to one of my friends this past holiday and then I let her know. I said, hey, I just wanted you know. She saw my name on it in the purchase and then she emailed me and said thank you, sent me a nice thank you, one of her thank you cards in the mail. But thank you, you know, so great. I never thought I’d have, you know, one of my mentors or a professor like purchase one of my things.Todd Bertsch: 35:22
So it was a full circle moment and it kind of got teary-eyed. It was like this is very cool, that’s why we do it right. It’s those moments of inspiration when you can inspire somebody to do something or be better, to grow, and that’s really all we’re trying to do right, and that’s what leadership’s all about. I agree with you. So, looking back on your numerous accomplishments, what are you most proud of? I know this is going to be a tough one for you, but if you could pick one, what would that be and why?
Marc Majers: 35:56
You kind of think of this thing recently where it’s like Taylor Swift eras where you look back. So I would probably have to look back at pinpoints. I don’t know if I can nail it down to one thing in my career. I would say that starting out just randomly answering an ad out of the back and getting starting as an intern and working there for 90 days at no pay and then get hired on to me that was one of the first amazing things was that I just I decided not to follow this career path that I thought I was going to do because someone some professor told me I should try it and then follow my own passion, and then ends up that, you know, 20 something plus years later, I’m still in the industry.
Todd Bertsch: 36:47
Right. So that’s the radio station.
Marc Majers: 36:50
Yeah, that was. So I think that moment you even go back before that, you know you talk about Eagle Scout. That was a really challenging thing to get. I was the only one in my whole class that got it because our troop had disbanded and I had to find another troop to get it. That took extra effort, but I was determined I’m going to get this thing. So I think, now that I’m talking about this and thinking about this, I think the one thing and it may come across as maybe cliche, it may come across as maybe not an honest answer, but I really think it’s just having the opportunity to learn, which is weird if you think about that. So think about my background. I was adopted but I ended up going to. I was able to go to college. I was able to then go for a master’s degree. When I went for the master’s degree, when I was at Highland, I was part of their tuition assistance program where they paid for my entire degree because I worked there, and so how lucky is that to get part of a company that supports your education. I just think it’s that opportunity.
Marc Majers: 37:57
And you look back. I’m sure I’ve written books, I’ve done albums, I’ve done all that stuff. But to me it’s just been how I can artistically express myself and get the thoughts out of my head onto something that someone can digest. If you think about it, you look back at books people have written, songs that people have written. Sometimes it could take someone 12 albums before they’re hit. I mean there’s a you look at like REO Speedwagon that I think it took them 12 albums. If you wanna go back in the 80s, or some artists that gets a little clip on TikTok that they were. Now they’re working a fast food restaurant. Next thing you know they’ve got a million views and they’re going back out on tour.Marc Majers: 38:42
Yeah, you never know Right. So I think it’s hard for me to pinpoint one, because I could say one today and then tomorrow it could be something different. So to me, I think it’s going back to that gratitude thing of just having the opportunity to work on the passions that you love and be able to share them with people. Maybe it’s because we were born in the internet era where you could just release whatever online. Think about that. People never had that opportunity in the past, so it’s really hard. I don’t think I can give you a particular answer.
Todd Bertsch: 39:17
Yeah, that’s fair. You have so many. I thought it would be tough. I thought you would say books, because I know you really really wanted to publish a book and you published two, yeah, but you also published five albums. So you’ve done so many things. But I love your answer and I do think that is really honest. To me, it’s about you’re really embracing the journey. Every journey is different. You’re just embracing all of these moments, but you’re also being selective and you’re being intentional about where you spend your time, and you’re spending time on the things you love to do. That’s what life’s all about, man, like you’re living out, you know your dreams Something interesting.
Marc Majers: 40:01
I was thinking about this. So the last book, so the last book I released was a few years ago. That book took me 10 years to create. People go 10 years. Well, so I had the idea and In the draft box. Well, it actually was a phone call, so I was in it. The book starts out with this story. So, spoiler alert, if you’re going to purchase the book, I’ll give you a little tidbit. But I was driving and my friend my other friend, todd called me and he said hey Mark do you realize you’re doing the same two things?
Marc Majers: 40:30
I said what are you talking about? He’s like pull over. I go no, he’s like pull over. I got to tell you. So I pulled over. And basically, djing and user experience design. He told me on a phone call they’re the same two things. And I go oh my gosh, I got to write about this. How am I going to figure this out? You plan about it, you start writing it down and I never thought that book was ever going to get completed. It wasn’t until being at home and you think about COVID times. Was COVID a gift or was it a bad thing? That happened? A lot of people were able to create music. They were able to do a lot of things they couldn’t do before, so they changed it into something positive. So you think about that. If that wouldn’t have happened, I would have never been able to create that book, because I had the time to go and do that. So you don’t know I mean tomorrow, for all we know, aliens could land and say hello.
Marc Majers: 41:21
Welcome. And then, all of a sudden, the world is different again and now we have to adjust to that. You think right now, ai everyone’s talking about oh, ai can do writing and that’s taken over the world. Well, sure, it is, but how are you going to figure out how to dance with AI or use it in your day to day?
Todd Bertsch: 41:39
Start usingday Right. Start using it Right.
Marc Majers: 41:43
We could go on and on about that Right.
Todd Bertsch: 41:45
There’s always something, yeah, technology.
Marc Majers: 41:48
You just have to shift right.
Todd Bertsch: 41:50
It’s just all about shifting and adjusting, evolving. I mean. That’s essentially all we’re doing, and change is good. Change is good.
Marc Majers: 41:58
It’s hard.
Todd Bertsch: 41:59
Our brains love change. It fires off those neutrons right, Gets the dopamine pumping Like we love. We really do love change, as much as we may not think it.
Marc Majers: 42:10
It is really it’s small increments, right yeah, it’s small.
Todd Bertsch: 42:12
Yeah, small doses, absolutely. I want to circle back to failure for a moment.
Todd Bertsch: 42:20
F word, and I really do hate that word. I’m doing an episode solely on failure and I talk about, you know, can we call it just what it is, which is growth. Let’s quit saying fail forward failure, da, da da da Just call it what it is growth.
Todd Bertsch: 42:37
You know, without failure, without those mistakes, we can’t grow. That is the best way to learn and for those of us that have been perfectionists most of our lives, that can be a tough thing and it took me a while to get there, but I guess I just, you know I love to share with the audience because I feel like people are afraid to take risks.
Todd Bertsch: 42:59
You, know, and you’ve taken so many risks because you have so many different passions and you’ve. You know, on the outset it looks like man. This guy is super successful Five albums, two books, master’s degree, going for his doctorate, very successful, 25 years in the career that he loves. But I’m sure there were some bumps along the road and we don’t have to dig into the actual bumps, but tell us about how have you handled those bumps and those failures and you know any advice you could give to listeners.
Marc Majers: 43:33
Sure, so I was thinking about this, and you mentioned earlier that I also have a podcast called Tunes Mate, and we interview artists and we talk about music, but one of the common threads that I found interviewing musicians and this is something that I then I started realizing.
Marc Majers: 43:50
Well, wait a minute I think this just relates to life period is that they have many different ways that they keep active. For example, I can go on tour, I can teach music lessons, I can sell albums. I can teach, I can go play on a soundtrack to a movie. I can do all these things. One of them is probably going to be the majority of the breadwinner that you’re going to be focusing on, but you see, it’s still with underneath the music umbrella.
Marc Majers: 44:20
So, if something, if, for example, right now, music artists aren’t making any more money on selling music anymore that was the thing that was like in the 80s and 90s probably died around 2000. So they’re making money touring. Now you have to figure out how do I tour, how do we get out there and do that? Some of the aging musicians can’t. They then have to pick up a residency or they have to do something different. But I think that’s the key.
Marc Majers: 44:42
I think if you can keep yourself, obviously you want to try to keep yourself in one genre, like I said earlier. I made about the plumbing example. I’m a professional plumber and also I own a digital marketing company. That may be challenging, but with underneath a very specific spectrum, you may be able to branch out and then maybe at different points as the market shifts, you then focus more on one thing and then another and you’re going to fail. I mean, you’re going to go oh yeah, right now I’m going to go on tour, and then you realize that you can’t succeed just playing acoustic guitar. I’m probably going to have to bring in some other band members, or I’m going to have to make some adjustments, or maybe I have to figure out how to get more into the studio and start recording some soundtracks for some podcast series or something.
Marc Majers: 45:39
I think that’s what I’ve learned is part of the journey is you’re going to try something. It’s not going to work out, but it’s okay because you got four other things you can fall back on. I think a lot of us put you putting everything into one thing, which is good, but you still should. Keeping those other plates spinning so if something does go wrong, you can shift it over to something else. Keeping those other plates spinning so if something does go wrong, you can shift over to something else. And I think that’s a hard thing for people to do because, once again, with time management, well, how do I do that? Well, I got to go spend time doing this other thing. Now I’m not saying that you can’t go out and you can’t enjoy yourself or do other things. You have to figure out how to put limitations around that so that you can keep those other plates spinning.
Todd Bertsch: 46:17
It is, and I think I think it’s also about just if you’re doing what you love, going back to fulfilling your passion, so what? You’re happy, so what if it fails? At least you tried it right, you have no regrets, and you did or are doing what you enjoy doing. I worked.
Marc Majers: 46:38
I worked, uh, that first web company I worked at. I was there for five years and we were five different names. In five years we moved four different places. If you remember that early turbulent era, I’ll never forget.
Marc Majers: 46:50
I was sitting at my desk the one day and they came to me. This was on a Thursday. They said what are you working on right now? I said I just concluded all my projects. They said great. They came in on a Friday. They handed me a slip that said you’re gone. Since you’re not working anything, we’re doing a little simplification here.
Marc Majers: 47:05
So I walked out the front door with my box and my manager pulled up in front of me with this convertible that came down and he said by the way, I want to let you know I got fired too. We’re moving across the street. We’re forming a new company. You’re a director now. So within a moment of calling my mom, thinking like what just happened, in a matter of moments now I’ve got to build a website and have a team and have to do all this stuff. So, once again, that living in the moment it’s difficult, but, like we said, is those are the things that I’ve learned. Like when that happened to me, I thought I failed. I was here. You know it’s my first job. I guess I’m not valuable. They let me go. And you? You really start doubting yourself and then within five minutes you’re like no, I’m good, you got to be able to rebound quickly.
Todd Bertsch: 47:52
Get back on that horse.
Marc Majers: 47:54
Don’t give up.
Todd Bertsch: 47:55
Don’t give up, that’s right, and all the different things you’ve done, all your accomplishments over the years. Is there anybody that’s been?
Todd Bertsch: 48:08
Yeah Well, that’s probably a tough one. There’s probably many, but anybody?
Marc Majers: 48:11
That’s a tough one that sticks out. I think it goes back to the beginning. It’s you know your family, your mom, your dad. They instill in you. They always gave me the freedom to explore, for example, when Howie started playing piano. One day I went over my aunt’s house and they had an old organ down in their basement. You know one of those old church organs you flip it on and I flipped it on and I started playing.
Marc Majers: 48:45
And I looked up on the stairs and there was like 50 of my family members and they’re like you could play. I’m like I didn’t know, I just made up a song. So within a week I walk in my house. My mom bought me a piano and put it in the basement and said start learning.
Marc Majers: 49:05
Start playing. So you think about it. It’s one of those things where you, if you’re supported and you’re able to just keep trying to make yourself better, that really leaves. So my parents helped me and I try to instill that it’s. You know it’s hard because you come away with a lot of examples in your life, but I think a lot of everything I referenced here started early and I think that resonates and I think that’s why I think it’s important not to go on a tangent. But if you think about with mentoring generally, most people are earlier in their careers. Some may be coming in, but that’s why it helps at the beginning to give them the roots so they can explore. And I think it’s important when it’s early in that development process. That’s why it’s so key to be part of it, because you can go many different directions and you may not be able to rebound as fast because you didn’t have a strong beginning.
Todd Bertsch: 50:14
Yeah, I think we’ve all had mentors in our life and different people that have inspired us. I did want to share one of mine as well, please. So this was gosh. This has been about 20. Some years ago, you and I were working together, shared a cube here. I had been at this company for a decent amount of time. I was really in a rut. My marriage was failing. It was not healthy, career-wise again, I had done everything. There wasn’t a whole lot to do at the company and I was very proactive in trying to find things. And I just, I don’t know, I wasn’t in a great place. And here comes this guy walking in, mark Majors, sits right next to me, shares a cube, and I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, but I had a little bit of imposter syndrome, a little bit of envy, because I’m like this guy’s got it together. Man, I was so impressed by you. You were using the latest technology and we were web designers.
Todd Bertsch: 51:19
You were taking advantage of CSS, one of the newest technologies at the time, and I don’t know, I just felt like you were all about learning and growth and for me, I was very stagnant and complacent where I was at. I needed a boost and, whether you recognize it or not, you gave me that boost. You were a huge inspiration for me at a time when I really needed it most. And it’s funny how the world works and when people come in and out of your life right. I am a true believer in everything happens for a reason. It was really cool and you know I’m grateful for you coming into my life at that moment. And then you and I became very close friends and, in fact, you DJed my wedding. Now I don’t know if you know this, but you are the only person that has seen me breakdance twice, Because you’re the DJ and you play the right tunes and you call me out, so I got to go out.
Marc Majers: 52:17
I mean Nucleus, come on.
Todd Bertsch: 52:18
Nucleus jam on it. So yeah, so I guess I just want to say thank you for inspiring me, and you didn’t even have to do anything, I was just watching. I was just watching and learning.
Marc Majers: 52:30
I’m going to throw it back at you, so I probably never told you this either. So when I started, we were cube to know, cube to cube, and I knew I was coming in. There was another designer and I was like I really need to step up my game. And you know, I, you know this is a, because I came from, you know, just a lot of kind of like mom and pop kind of shops and stuff. You inspired me because we ended up going to that web conference together and then on the flight, you know, you came up with your idea for the, you know your whole agency, I came up with the first book idea and support. You know we’re going to do this.
Marc Majers: 53:08
So to me, I never, I always thought of. It was like instant chemistry. It was like boom, let’s just, let’s just do this. You know, we kind of fed off each other and there were times where you would go here and I would go there and we just keep raising it up and raising it up, and raising it up and we go okay, let’s step away, let’s step away.
Marc Majers: 53:28
I think we’ve inspired each other too much at this point, but we’ve pushed each other as well. And I think that’s another key point of the discussion here that I’m thinking about is that with mentorship, it’s a two-way street. I always tell all the people I mentor I’m learning from you just as much as you’re learning from me.
Todd Bertsch: 53:47
And it can be from a peer.
Marc Majers: 53:49
It can be from a peer. When I was teaching I remember my first class I told everybody that this is the one way I know how to use Photoshop, because we were talking about, like clipping around an image and I knew there was another way, like putting a path.
Marc Majers: 54:01
There’s a million different ways and I said I’m going to show you I can do this in five minutes quickly. And I imagined that probably another way. And I had people. Well, you know, I said let’s just try this way. And then I came over to another student that eventually wanted to become, eventually became a creative director down the road too, and they said, well, here’s the clipping path. I said, well, that’s great, let’s show everybody that. Put their screen on there. And all of a sudden I learned clipping path the same day. I could still do it the original way faster though, just so you know. But I did learn clipping path.
Marc Majers: 54:29
But still you learn things being open, learning, because that’s the thing when you’re learning, you’re always humble. Think about that Right, if you constantly are open to learn, you always know that they’re probably you know. Think about the Fosbury flop. I rate this. I write this diagram down a lot when I go into a room. We just had the the Olympics happen. But the Fosbury flop is long hurdle, you know you jump over and since 1963, it’s been. You go backwards over. The pole Hasn’t changed. But there were four other, I think three other methods before that, and there’s always a better way. How do you figure out what?
Marc Majers: 55:07
the better way is you have to constantly learn. So if that’s not happening, you’re not open, you’re not humble. You can always admit that I don’t know that, and that’s the other thing I tell a lot of people that are starting out is it’s okay to say you don’t know, and you don’t have to instantly go to AI or Google to say what is it In the moment, say I don’t know.
Todd Bertsch: 55:26
Right, I’ll get back to you.
Marc Majers: 55:27
I had one senior leader tell me the one time when I told him I knew something, he’s like I know, you don’t know. You can just go ahead and tell me you don’t know, Because if you tell me you don’t know, then I’m going to share with you what I do know and you instantly know more. I was like boom, Something goes off in your brain. So once I go, it just always goes back to the same thing. And I know we keep talking about that. No, that’s okay.
Todd Bertsch: 55:49
I think that’s the central theme of being open.
Marc Majers: 55:51
That’s why it was so hard for me to pinpoint something, because I just think that freedom to allow yourself to always learn, like today. I’ve already written down three things that I’ve learned. I’ll challenge all your listeners out there Today, when you’re going throughout the day, write down little things that you’ve learned and you’d be amazed. By the end of the day, you may have 10 things. It could be even simple, as I learned that Joe doesn’t like popcorn because he used to work in a movie theater and he doesn’t want to smell popcorn anymore. It could be even something simple like that.
Todd Bertsch: 56:27
Yeah, that’s a great way to kind of cap things off, mark. It’s all about having an empty cup and just being open-minded. Leading learning, growth, continuous growth, mentoring.
Marc Majers: 56:42
Yeah, and I will tell you, as we said earlier, it isn’t automatic. I mean, every day you’re going to wake up and you may not be willing to learn something new. You may not be willing to do that. That’s why I think it’s important to put reminders. You’ve got your calendar. But one other thing I would say is, if you’re sitting in front of your computer monitor, your laptop, if it’s a post-it note, if it’s whatever you want to do, a digital one, write yourself things to remind yourself that you know what was the one thing you learned.
Marc Majers: 57:13
Or write yourself something that says maybe I need to limit how much time I’m spending today on blank and focus on something else. And those little reminders, those will help you, and I know a lot of these help books tell you that. But how often do you do that? That’s the reality.
Todd Bertsch: 57:29
Oh yeah, I do all the time. I have a daily journal, literally five minutes I spend.
Todd Bertsch: 57:36
I track 20 different habits, and a couple of things that I do are I write down the things that I learned and where my wins were, how things were going through the day, what was my mood, what was my sleep. So it comes back to just repetition habit. But yeah, a daily journal highly highly recommended. It’s a great way to document not only ideas but also things that have happened throughout the day, just to have that mental record of it. And it’s a good practice to write to old school like literally write. I love it, I highly highly recommend it and what’s interesting is.
Marc Majers: 58:11
So I try the Daily Journal. I have a lot of friends that do that. It’s been challenging for me for the Daily Journal, so what I figured out is for those that aren’t able to do that. What I figured out is maybe it’s the idea draft box, maybe it’s just getting an idea into your draft box a day, maybe it’s for me. There’s some days where, cause I play piano every day, so that’s kind of my way that I reflect, and there’s some times where I just rest my hand on the keyboard and it’s a chord I never heard of before and I go, hmm, and all of a sudden I’m writing a song. Maybe it’s just some way for you to express something. Maybe that’s writing down an idea, putting an idea in the draft box, writing a song, writing a poem, something, if you are unable to get into that rhythm and I know it takes discipline. So I feel like I’m on the wagon and I’m off the wagon on that, but I do know that I’m definitely generating something every day.
Todd Bertsch: 59:06
Yeah, I love that and that is a great. I never thought of it like that. But the draft box strategy is kind of a method of journaling. It’s just really getting the thoughts down, getting thoughts down. You know, and I’ll admit, my practice that took a couple of years.
Marc Majers: 59:22
So that didn’t happen overnight to be able to journal, you know so, um, everything just takes time.
Todd Bertsch: 59:28
and it’s about those small shifts, um and and not beating yourself up because you tried it, it didn’t work. Everything just takes time. It’s repetition. It’s all about being consistent. Just practice, get the reps in, you know, eventually you’ll get there. And it takes about 21 days for a new habit to form. So they’re tough, but habits are the key to life.
Marc Majers: 59:51
Power of habits. Whether you know it or not, it’s a good book. I would definitely recommend that one too.
Todd Bertsch: 59:55
Yeah, yeah, yeah, atomic habits.
Marc Majers: 59:58
That’s another one that was built inspired by that one too. Yeah, I’ve read that one as well.
Todd Bertsch: 1:00:01
Well, speaking of books and we’re at the end of the show here what are some of your favorite leadership books or anything that you would recommend to our listeners, and what are you reading right now?
Marc Majers: 1:00:12
Yeah, there’s so many. The one that I just completed was Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s called Be Useful and you think, well, what is he going to share with the world? I thought it was interesting. It’s seven rules that he follows, but he tells stories about how he failed and how in and out, and he’s like, yeah, go Google what happened with my marriage. That’s fine, let’s get that out of the way. But let’s focus on these principles that inspired me, I think, all these books we read.
Marc Majers: 1:00:43
You try to pull out what the nugget is and try to see how you can bring that into your life. Probably not going to do all seven of them, but there may be something. To me that’s hard because I used to listen to a lot of audio books prior to the pandemic and it’s been harder, but I’ve been getting back to audio books. So to me is, sometimes I get halfway through the audio book and then I finished it in print or some. I’ve been all over the place, but to me that’s been the most recent one. Just complete that one. But there’s so many out there. I mean you can go back. There’s the classics that are out there.
Todd Bertsch: 1:01:18
Marcus, it’s been wonderful reconnecting with you. Any time that I get to spend with you is time well spent. Obviously, we always inspire each other, we push each other. There’s always great ideas that come out of it, lots of just great energy, which is what it’s all about. Having wonderful relationships in your life that are meaningful, positive that’s what it’s all about and that’s what you and I have, and I hope that this episode inspires others as well. Really appreciate you being here today. How can people connect with you and learn all about you know, purchase the book or find out about some of the music that you’ve published, or find out?
Marc Majers: 1:02:00
Sure, I mean, I could probably tell you hundreds of places to go, but probably the easiest place would just be my website, just M-A-R-C-M. So Mark M and I had somebody say like, wow, you must have got that a long time ago. Well, yeah, I’ve been in the web industry for a while. Smart, so just by my first name and then my last initial com MarcMcom.
Todd Bertsch: 1:02:20
Excellent We’ll have that in the show notes as well. Thanks, my friend, appreciate you being on the Bolt.
Marc Majers: 1:02:25
No problem, I’ll say one last thing. We both shared a manager back in the day, krista, and I’ll never forget that on their monitor they had a little thing taped Remember those big CRT monitors that had the green screen on them old school and the one day I walked in there I saw I was like that is the most amazing quote I’ve ever seen in my life. It said if you stop learning, you stop leading. And I was like what it’s not attributed to anyone. Really. Yeah, it says it’s pretty broad. It says unknown, and I was like what it’s not attributed to anyone really yeah, it says it’s pretty broad.
Todd Bertsch: 1:03:05
It says unknown and I was like unknown that’s. I love that even more. Right, that’s how we end. If you stop learning, you stop growing and, honestly, you stop living.
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EPISODE SUMMARY
Unlock the secrets to effective leadership with Marc Majers, a user experience leader with 25 years of experience. In this episode, Marc shares practical strategies for personal and professional growth, emphasizing servant leadership, continuous learning, and the power of mentorship. From his journey as an Eagle Scout to pivotal roles at Hyland and Progressive, Marc offers valuable insights on time management, balancing passions, and following your dreams.
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