🎊Celebrating 100 Interviews

5 Lessons Learned from writing The Switchboard

I recently published my 100th interview for The Switchboard! What started as a professional development side-project has become much more than I imagined — leading to friendships, mentorships, inspiration and many other meaningful memories.

At this milestone, I’m looking back at five lessons learned:

1. 🚪 Introduce Yourself

2.  🎞️ Embrace the Past

3.  🔍 Follow Curiosity

4.  🍭 Have Fun

5. 📚 Create Your Own Learning Plan

Before beginning, I’d like to express my gratitude. The Switchboard would not be possible without all of you — an incredible community of leaders, readers and champions. Thank you for reading, sharing and encouraging me on this creative adventure to explore the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. 

#1 🚪 Introduce Yourself

96 of the 100 people I’ve interviewed, I didn’t know before I featured them. For the majority of these new connections, I introduced myself. There have been a few incredible people who’ve kindly made introductions, and to them, I’m grateful for their generosity. 

Not everyone I reach out to responds. But it hasn’t stopped me from embracing a mindset based on what the Game Show Host and Actor Milton Berle once said:

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. —Milton Berle

📷  Beautiful doors I discovered in Atlanta. Note the friendly doormat.

#2 🎞️ Embrace the Past

By branding this newsletter after the iconic Switchboard Operators who changed the role of women in the workforce, perhaps it was inevitable that I would embrace the past in my storytelling. But I didn’t plan for it. First, I focused on more recent lessons.

All interviewees are asked to highlight a past project they’re proud of accomplishing. There are 100 of these moments but I’ll spotlight a few here — Tracy Van Grack shared stories of extraordinary female entrepreneurs, Phillip Hales developed executive trust at a time when a company needed it the most and Morgan Baden supported Scholastic’s celebration of its Centennial.  

Along the way, I’ve unexpectedly and joyfully embraced history with a retired Switchboard Operator, The Switchboard Soldiers of World War I in a three-part series (one, two & three) and communications trailblazers for Women’s History Month.

“Study the past if you would define the future.”―Confucius

📷 The Hello Girls from Carolyn Timbie’s Family Archive Photography

#3 🔍 Follow Curiosity

The Switchboard started by following my curiosity — I wanted to learn from communications leaders and industry experts. 

The more interviews I’ve completed, the greater I realize the importance of exploring diverse interests — paths don’t have to be linear — a setback, professional pivot or uncertain moment can take you in unexpected and inspiring directions. You might not know it at the time, but embrace the unknown for its possibilities as these leaders have done: 

• Roberta (Bertie) Thomson left Accounting for Public Relations

• Mansi Goel dropped out of college to live in a monastery

• Philip Hales stepped away from a Ph.D. in Ethnography to work in Communications

• Sean Garrett left a dream job in California to work on Parliamentary elections in Lithuania 

• Dani DiPirro started illustrating words into art on a whim

• Nathan Fisher taught English to middle schoolers and tried management consulting before returning to his communications roots

• Holly Nicola traveled from flight attendant to internal communications at a brand known for its people, culture and customers 

• Chase Warner departed Pharmacy School to pursue Healthcare PR

The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark. ―Barbara Hall

📷 An inspiring road in Chile taken by my photographer friend Eugene.

#4 🍭 Have Fun

I never thought I’d write about Mary Poppins in this newsletter, but she’s taught me a lot about work culture from the iconic lyrics of a “Spoonful of Sugar:” 

In every job that must be done. There is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job's a game. And every task you undertake. Becomes a piece of cake…

I simply have a lot of fun writing this newsletter and taking it in creative directions, including what we can learn from Wednesday, Acapulco and Ted Lasso, communications nourishment from Chefs and Food Storytellers and of course What Sesame Street can teach us about how we communicate at work.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know the leaders I’ve featured and the ways their personal stories inspired their professional paths, in particular the sweet childhood memories, including that piece of cake, well cupcake which led Candace Nelson to pursue her childhood passion for baking professionally. In equally inspiring stories, Wes Kao built upon her backpack volunteer project to launch learning cohorts and Jacob Bank transformed his enthusiasm for planning into a startup. I hope we can all find our fun!

Creativity is intelligence having fun…Having fun is the best way to learn. —Albert Einstein

📷 A delicious slice of cranberry creme cake from Diliara Garifullina.

#5 📚 Create Your Own Learning Plan

There’s no syllabus to guide our careers. It’s up to each of us to identify opportunities for learning. The traditional path of classes, books and lectures are great options, but setting your own course for professional development can send you in fascinating directions as The Switchboard has done for me. 

To create your plan, consider focusing on the top skills needed to succeed in internal communications — here are my summaries from 2021 and 2022. Then, dive deeper to explore these three powerful lessons to guide your growth plan: 

• Don’t Close Your Mind: Julie Inouye gives ideas a chance and Helen Kupp creates a culture of experimentation

• Learn from other disciplines: Rory Adams teaches us about magic for All Hands or Emily Singer Mandel takes a screen-writers approach to learning

• Surround yourself with mentors: Roseli Ilano founded her community of connectors and Ken Shuman created his Challenge Network 

Create your virtual library to learn, inspired by some of the ancient libraries of the world like the one below, which is one of my favorite virtual backgrounds for calls.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. —Xunzi

📷 Prague Library of Science, Geometry & Astronomy | Jonathan Francisca. 

🙏 Thank You

As I wrap up this sentimental post, I conclude with gratitude. Thank you to the 100 leaders who I’ve interviewed so far. I’m grateful for your time, knowledge-sharing and inspiring stories.

To you, The Switchboard’s community, I’m grateful you’ve subscribed, commented, liked, shared and reached out to express your thoughts on articles. Thank you to my family, friends and mentors who’ve encouraged, listened and championed this project.

I conclude with a wish — may we all continue to share kindness, gratitude, emojis and magic at work and in life!

Is there an interview from The Switchboard that's resonated with you? If so, comment below or consider sharing a favorite quote as a Note.

With Gratitude,

-Julia

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