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May 21, 2024
Okay “hated” is probably a strong word – but it sure felt that way.
I’ve shared that after college I was selected from a group of 325 applicants to join Ruder Finn’s prestigious, industry-leading internship program. There were 12 slots and I managed to be included. As a recent grad from a fairly obscure (but demanding) college in Mississippi, it could have felt like a jackpot.
It wasn’t.
Undeterred, my naïve, positive, happy self made my way to New York City to start this internship. The woman who ran the program was a long-tenured veteran of the firm and the industry. I’ll call her Susan (not her real name). Every day we had “classes”, taught by firm leadership, on every aspect of client work, firm work, writing, creative – you name it. We were tested every week too.
The second half of the day, we worked our assigned jobs inside client groups - like a Junior Assistant Account Executive. My group served an LBO called First Brands, comprising Glad Bags, STP, Simoniz, Prestone and a few others. As a car lover since childhood, working on stuff close to automobiles was a big bonus for me. Including working with the legendary Richard Petty!
I have many memories:
Where we all sat (an under-ventilated bullpen on a lower floor with no windows)
Tasks we performed (lots of phone work, organization, taking meeting notes and lower-level stuff)
My first event (West Point football game for clients – was all mine. The AAE was not interested in activations like this – I even mixed the Bloody Mary's!
My ‘Eeyore’ of a boss – nice, but if Eeyore were a person, this was the guy.
The way Susan smelled of smoke, booze and too much perfume. How she typed faster than computer keyboards of the time could keep up (hence the IBM Selectric in her office.
Some interns were offered full-time roles at the agency post-internship; Provided the need was there and the req was in place, it was an easy funnel. Smart move, really.
I vividly recall one lunch with some of the former interns-turned-employees. My fellow newbies shared some of the downright awful things Susan* said to me, assigned me to do, etc.
One of the newly minted account execs remarked, “Oh, you’re the one…”
Me: Excuse me?
Her: Oh, there’s always one intern Susan picks on – she’s hellish to them. The last one left before the program ended.
Me: Oh. Umm…. Why? I mean is there any pattern to who she chooses?
Her: Nope. Girls, boys, black, white, pedigree or trailer park – she just picks one and makes their life hell.
In that moment, all the nasty behavior; being set up to fail (spectacularly and in front of firm leadership), being berated in front of my fellow interns, etc., coalesced in my mind. So did my resolve to NOT let this beat me. I would not give Susan that satisfaction. I didn’t know it at the time, but I called on my owngrit to survive and thrive.
When the going gets tough….
For the next few months, I worked tirelessly, volunteered for more and tried hard to impress those around me (note: never ‘try’ to impress!).
Organization? My colleagues delivered folders with loose paper. I three-hole punched the pages, placed them in a labeled binder and used tab dividers to walk the user through. Above and beyond.
Handed one of these gems to Eeyore and as he held it in his hand he softly said “wow.” #winning before there were hashtags!
That event at West Point? The VP over the First Brands business congratulated every member of the team in an all-hands meeting. He walked though their list of accomplishments for the event (p.s., they did exactly nothing). My name was not mentioned (and I was in the room). I wasn’t sure how to take the omission: was I humiliated; did I care? (yes); did I do all that work to be patted on the back or because I wanted to do a good job (mama always said “if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”) Ultimately, I realized it was not about me – in fact, she had totally forgotten I was there.
Gotcha!
As the internship wrapped up, I decided to run a play that would validate my suspicions – that Susan actively did not want me there:
Some roles were opening up for interns to fill. I fed into that narrative that the First Brands team was looking for a junior-level entrant and I was excited to be considered. Susan ran back to her office, called the Account lead citing a number of interns she felt would be right for the role (e.g., anyone but me). The Account lead didn’t know what she was talking about – but I did and it not only fully validated my suspicions, but it showed her that I knew….
One of my gifts is that I remember everything (just ask any of my friends). I recalled Susan mentioned daisies were her favorite flower. The last day of my internship, I bought a bunch of daisies and placed them on her chair with a hand-written note: “Susan, I’ve learned so much from you these past few months about client work, but more than that, about people. Thank you for lessons I’ll never forget.”
The Hardest of Steel is Forged in the Hottest of Fires:
As a first job experience, I am grateful to Susan – she made my thick skin thicker. I thank her for my baptism by fire. I went on to handle tough bosses, clients, celebrities in part because she had been so hard on me. And I did not cave.
I’ve weathered much since then. And a few recent clients engaged LOCC because they needed “a grown a** adult in the room” – if you find yourself needing that, look no further.
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