James Perry – a mentors perspective:
Why did you put your hand up to be an IAB Australia mentor?
Throughout my career, I’ve been very fortunate to have mentors who significantly impacted my career and personal development. I’ve wanted to give back to the industry and help others develop. Also, I believe our market needs to focus on nurturing our local talent, and I hope to contribute to the next generation. As someone originally from the UK, I recognize the irony in my saying this!
Is there a danger of taking mentoring too far?
I think it depends. Mentoring should provide an objective judgment free opinion and share the benefits of your experience. When mentoring, it’s best to outline balanced options so the mentee can make informed decisions. If you steer a mentee in only one direction, you cross a line, as the person needs to have agency.
What are the requirements to be a mentor?
Honesty, experience, willingness to share both successes and failures, an open mind, and the ability to listen + invest the time and make yourself available.
How long does the mentorship run for?
Six months, we caught up virtually every 2 weeks and a couple of times IRL
What are the benefits of the IAB mentorship program?
The ability to learn from experienced individuals in the industry, gain insights from their successes and mistakes, and receive objective perspectives on career opportunities and workplace challenges.
What are you hoping to take away from participating in the program?
It feels good to help people in their careers, assist them in their development, and share the benefits of my experience.
What advice have you given Josh so far?
A mixture of:
- Career advice
- How to deal with change
- Experience in managing internal and external challenges
- Stakeholder management, Presentation skills and Message Delivery
- The power of networking
- When not to be hard on yourself—something I struggled with early in my career and was addressed by one of my mentors
- Strategy and staying true to yourself
Have you learned anything from your mentee? If so, what?
The future is in good hands, and everyone is now more competent than I was earlier in my career. It’s also valuable to hear how Josh perceives the market, work, and his career, which informs my day-to-day work.
What are some of the big industry issues you think the program can help address and why?
I believe it can increase the sense of belonging and help people grow in their careers. In a world dominated by influencers and social media, people may feel like they are not succeeding. An external perspective can validate their efforts and advise them on developing their careers. These topics can be challenging to discuss in the workplace or with managers.
How can the industry better support rising talent?
Invest in training and programs like this one, and provide forums like the IAB for people to connect, feel part of the industry, and learn from each other. A lot of this feels lost in a post-COVID world.
Joshua Tanner: a mentee’s perspective
Why did you sign up as a mentee?
I signed up for this mentor program to connect with industry leaders and gain insights from professionals outside my organisation. While internal mentor programs offer many benefits, learning from external experts provides a fresh perspective and a unique opportunity for growth.
What are the requirements of you as a mentee?
My role as a mentee is to come prepared with clear goals and key topics to explore throughout the mentor program. Mentors give up a lot of their personal time in their already busy calendars, so it’s important to be organised and make the most out of each session.
What are you hoping to learn through the program?
Through this mentorship program, the aim was to develop a structured plan for both my short and long term career goals. I also wanted to gain a deeper understanding of leadership, how to manage my time and to learn more about industry trends.
How has being paired with James helped you? What have you learned?
Being paired with James was a great experience, he has a wealth of valuable knowledge and experience in the industry. James was always very attentive and generous with his time, he never pushed back any sessions. One of James best attributes was the way he could challenge my thinking and to help me think outside of the box.
I’ve gained practical learnings for networking, personal branding and making meaningful industry connections. James also provided guidance on leadership and feedback, helping me understand how to motivate teams and give constructive feedback.
What are the benefits to the IAB Mentorship Program?
There are heaps of benefits from the IAB mentorship program, it’s all about what you want to achieve out of the program. A few of the benefits that I was excited about were learning from industry leaders and I was lucky enough to be paired with James, he was able to help me with career and leadership development, networking and discussing future industry trends.
What are some of the big industry issues you think the program can help address and why?
The IAB Mentorship Program can help tackle key challenges in the industry, a topic that we covered during the sessions was about audience addressability, covering a range about personalised customer experiences and emphasising the need for clear consent strategies for targeting both known and unknown audiences. This program also offers an opportunity in retaining top talent, which is one of the major challenges in the industry. It provides mentees the ability to gain additional skills and move up the career ladder.
When you started out your career in the digital ad and technology industry, what support do you think was missing?
I’ve seen a significant change in the industry from the way we work, grow and develop our careers. One of the biggest gaps early in my career was the way we structured learning and development that wasn’t tailored to a fast-paced environment. The shift to remote and hybrid work helped speed up different ways for learning and development, as well as how we build relationships and our careers through a constantly evolving digital landscape. Mentorships like the IAB are a great example of how mentorship programs can work in person or all across the world from virtually anywhere. For example, I was sitting on a beach in the Greek Islands when I signed up for the IAB mentorship program!
How can the industry better support rising talent?
To help foster the next generation of talent, the industry needs to provide structured support and clear growth pathways for high performers. This program is a great way to make meaningful connections, more opportunities like this in the industry where we can learn from other organisations and leaders are great initiatives.
Anything else you want to add?
Nothing else from me, thank you for making this a fun opportunity. To anyone thinking about doing a mentorship program, I highly recommend the IAB mentorship program. I got a lot out of it and I’m sure others in the industry will as well!