Creating Forward Momentum: Interview with Julie McQueen, President of CarbonTV and Unwind
I recently went one on one with Julie McQueen. Julie is the President of CarbonTV, the world's leading outdoor, online OTT streaming content site, and Unwind, a new sleep and wellness app.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Julie: As the President of CarbonTV and the Founder of Carbon Unwind, I run the largest OTT platform for online distribution of outdoor content, and I also run Unwind, which is a sleep story and guided meditation app focused on mental health and wellness. I’ve always believed that we have the ability to manifest our future. My life has been full of exciting careers, dynamic people, and a few failures here and there. Overall, I live by my mantra of “work hard and be nice to people”, and so far it seems to be working for me. My growth as a person, and as a professional, has been the result of taking a series of small steps in the right direction, and then repeating that every day.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Julie: I believe the key steps are to surround yourself with the right people, trust your instincts, and ask the right questions. Not necessarily in that order! Part of the reason why my company is successful is the people. I have high trust in the people I work with, and I’ve learned to ask a lot of questions instead of doing all of the talking. As I’ve gotten older I’ve also recognized the importance of listening to my gut and taking how I feel into consideration when I am making decisions. Scaling the business is a result of calculated risk and understanding precisely how to achieve the desired outcome. To scale you have to make moves and focus on the big picture. I surround myself with brilliant people who are incredible at what they do so that I can stay focused on the vision of the company and our growth instead of being distracted.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?
Julie: I believe that an effective leader should have a deep understanding of the people they are leading, and what goals they are leading them towards. Having very specific desired outcomes and communicating that to your team is essential for forward progression in any business. And by understanding the people around you, you are more likely to work well as a team. Also, most effective leaders that I know are able to remain open minded and unbiased when they face challenges. If we allow our personal beliefs or prejudices get in the way it can distract from our ability to make decisions for the betterment of the company.
Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Julie: Self-education is a tool that is often overlooked. With technology today we have access to books, publications, audiobooks, online classes, and other valuable resources for learning new skillsets. Taking advantage of these opportunities to learn and grow is what, I believe, sets leaders apart. Even a great leader can deepen their understanding or better their business by investing into their education regularly.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Julie:
Learn about your Peak Activity Window. This is the short window of time during the day when you are naturally most productive. Mine, for example, is between 11am – 1pm. During this time, I schedule very few phone calls, I attempt to work uninterrupted by turning the ringer off on my phone, and I focus on tasks that require my full attention. These tasks are typically the ones that will help scale the business or create high-level momentum.
Take deep breaths. As simple as that sounds, we often need to be reminded! It has been proven that deep breathing can reduce stress and help us think more clearly. When I have a difficult decision to make, or a stressful moment at work, I go to a place where I won’t be interrupted, and I take deep breaths, or I meditate. Even a few minutes of mindful breathing makes a big difference.
Take it easy on yourself. We all make mistakes and we all have moments where we feel like we could have done better. Work towards rapidly moving away from the moments of failure or disappointment and focusing on your successes and achievements as a team.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
Julie: Building, leading and managing teams comes down to communication and transparency. Communicate with your existing team about their needs and what types of people they feel will fit best in the team with them as you are growing and expanding. By working as a team to build the team, you are creating a culture of trust. Transparency is crucial because without it the message is lost and confusion sets in. Setting clear guidelines and company structure, without any gray area, leaves little room for misinterpretation of the overall goals for the company. I like to encourage open communication and a non-judgmental work environment to ensure the team is all-in and working towards common goals. This strategy also leads to high accountability within the group, as all people on the team have a vested interest in meeting goals and working together.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding?
Julie: I surround myself with people who know more than I do about what they are working on, especially when it comes to sales, marketing and branding. When I communicate with my team in these departments, I try to use very clear language so that it makes their work more efficient. Creative agendas can be loosely interpreted, but by having a clear vision of what the marketing and branding should look like, and communicating that well, I can trust the person in that job to do what they do best. I know that my role in the company is not to micromanage the sales or marketing departments, but to work with them to create success in their department and to trust that they know what they are doing.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sleep, meditation and general wellness?
Julie: As the Founder of a successful sleep story and guided meditation app (Carbon Unwind), I have researched restorative sleep and mental health and wellness for quite some time. My best advice is to allow your brain some time to unwind before bed, and also take into consideration your quality of sleep, not just the amount of time you are resting. Meditation has been shown to have many health benefits, so even just taking a few minutes out of your day and listening to a guided meditation can be a step in the right direction. Dedicating anywhere from 3 minutes to however long you feel like it, might make a big difference in your life. Restful sleep and remembering to breathe might be the answer to many people’s problems in life, and I am proud to be a part of a team that is creating a product specifically for that purpose.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Julie: I am a natural risk taker in life. When I accepted my current position as the President of CarbonTV a few years ago our Founder gave me this advice, and it has always resonated with me:
“You’re going to mess some things up, and you’ll also do some things successfully. All I care about is that you’re doing things, making moves and creating forward momentum with the company. The failures I can accept, just don’t let the company sit idle and do nothing.”
His encouragement and acceptance of potential mistakes gave me the freedom to take risks and disrupt the current structure of the company in a healthy environment, which in turn made our business more successful than ever before within the next two years.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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