We were lucky to catch up with Joanna Horton Mcpherson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Joanna, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Once we’ve come a certain distance, our expertise goes a long way, but it’s not enough. We tend to have lots of answers and don’t always remember to ask questions. We can fall into this know-it-all thing were we’re looking back into the past for new ideas, and that doesn’t work. Also, we can lose our sense of fulfillment once we master the game, when what we need is to reinvent the game we’re playing.
I remember training in a conservatory as an actor in New York after having some success already in the field. I came in with this idea that I would be skipped to the advanced section, but my teacher was far more keen than I knew. She pulled me aside on day 1 and said, “why don’t you try putting everything you know aside and see if you can try a new approach?” I did it to humor her at first, but it ended up being the best advice I’ve ever gotten. Not only did I end up learning a whole new toolbox of skills, I became certified in this technique 3 years later, and opened my own studio to teach it myself. Indeed, this shift in my career path may never have happened had I dismissed it all on day one. I believe my whole destiny hinged on setting my perceived expertise aside. I’m now a believer in this approach as a whole.
I think of it as “beginner’s mindset.” This mindset is actually more essential the further down the road we go. Being a beginner means showing up an empty vessel. A full cup, for example, cannot contain more. Leaving room for new perspectives isn’t something experts typically specialize in. Beginners, however, possess a willingness to learn. I like to think of learning as expanding our definition of what inspires, fulfills and gives meaning to our lives. That way, life just gets better as we go, instead of the other direction.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I help high-performing professionals with their transformative message. What we have come through ends up down the road fueling our professional success. We can’t see it until we’ve reached a certain point in our careers where our accomplishments are really due to our personal growth. That’s when we start being asked to share our story – on panels, as speakers, in interviews, etc. The audience can tell from the moment we open our mouths if we did the work to get clear on our message and why it matters, or not. If you’re not feeling inspired by your own story, as you tell it, they won’t be either.
My job is to extract the inspiring talk from you so you’re radiant, confident and clear on stage. We don’t typically take time to do that work, but it makes all the difference. Even the process of working together can be truly transformational. We first identify what you transformed in yourself that, were your audience to make that transformation, would change their life. It’s not enough to say, “I used to think X and now I think Y.” That’s not inspiring. We miss an opportunity to move our audience if we skip those defining moments and the learnings you got in the past. Looking back helps us extract the meaning and purpose, really of everything that happened to get to present day. It’s like we’re taking account and justifying the data. We make meaning and find the story.
It matters that there’s a safe, closed container with my clients. I go 100% of the distance. We get messy together so you don’t do it on stage and get surprised about things you hadn’t realized. We do the work beforehand so you expand your limits and overcome the blocks that come up and would normally have stopped you from fully serving up what you have to deliver.
I am constantly inspired by my clients because they have high standards, which excites me. They want to make big impacts in the world and I want them for them and love being part of that journey.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best tool is always people who know and love your work. I get the most traction from referrals. Think about the way we all buy into a service – someone we respect and trust glows and gushes about how it went. We want that too. I get bookings in my calendar by friends of my clients usually and lots of times they have the same or similar needs so they’re automatically a good fit.
There’s also no substitute for meeting in person. I think it helps that I like people. I like meeting them, hearing their story, and knowing what makes them tick. I’m curious about what they seek and love being a connector when I can to help their journey. I find myself giving my card to everyone. I was chatting with the former COO of WestJet at Starbucks a few weeks ago and he was really peering at my card. It dawned on my as I’d handed it to him, “you never know.” And really, you don’t. Making your life about simply planting seeds wherever you go guarantees more growth than if you don’t.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I’ve had to unlearn blaming others for stuff going wrong in my life. It turns out revenge is balm to the ego and poison to the soul.
Lots of my struggles in my path were self-created. I remember a time in 2008, I was writing a web series called “Big Break” (now called “Exposure”). I’d started writing the show with another woman, but by 6 months into production, she and the director had taken over scriptwriting by default so I could focus on production.
One night, the three of us were going over the shoot coming in a few days. There were holes and major jumps in the story. so I was making edits. That’s when the room got funny. They told me I was out as a writer. They wanted full control. I was livid, self-righteous. I had started the show and funded it myself. How could they? This is where it gets embarrassing.
In the following weeks, I got revenge. I withdrew from the show, and as one of the main characters, I made it so they couldn’t go on without me. I ruined it for everyone and in doing so, damaged so many relationships I had built with people I respected. I was like a child destroying the whole fort I created so no one could enjoy it, just because my feelings were hurt.
The last time I saw the other two writers was at a bank across town one autumn day. We met to sign a legal agreement in which I turned over my executive/writer credits and gave up my rights to the show. Talk about cutting off my nose to spite my face. Several years later, tragedy struck. I learned one winter day that the director had killed himself. He had carried disappointed hopes before working with us and things turned out that way with our project too. They never launched in the way we envisioned, and I guess that had been my revenge.
Over the years with this dramatic period as fuel, I invested a lot of time and energy in growing emotionally. If I kept going through life with the same anger that got me here, I’d never really solve things. I needed to heal the lack of value in myself. I meditated, attended endless retreats, got counseling, grew spiritually and came to the point of facing the conflicts within myself. That is when things changed.
I determined to value myself, and become someone who didn’t require validation. I didn’t graduate from being angry or caring what others think of me, I just catch it sooner and find my way back to what matters before I lose control. That’s my version of growing up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joannahortonmcpherson.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannahortonmcpherson
- Facebook: joannahortonmcpherson
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-horton-mcpherson/
Image Credits
Veronika Richardson of Arabella Media, Sedona