John Mac's Travels

  Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation.  I know the end of the year is coming quick, and this is the time when we rush to get our work completed before the moratoriums start and we all start to disappear for the holidays.  Remember to focus on organization for both your personal and professional lives. It's easy to get overwhelmed and distracted this time of year, speaking from experience. Here are a couple of things I wanted to remind my circles team about this week:  People of DIRECTV: There is a pretty cool summit coming up on November 21st. The first annual "People of DIRECTV" summit will be held. If you are interested in growing your personal brand within the company I recommend attending this either in person or virtually. Registration has been extended through November 8th.  Click HERE for more information. Open enrollment started this week. Make sure you take some time to renew your benefits for next year. For the link to start the process click HER...

Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation.  This week's thought is on personal information. I am a big fan of Matthew McConaughey. I am reading his book Greenlights  and I ran across something he mentions in the book that really made me think. He mentioned that if details of his personal life were not out there for everyone to know about, he would most likely not have as much drama in his life.  Basically, the less people know about you the less drama you are prone to endure. What is perplexing is that Matthew's personal brand is based partially on his craft of acting, but also based upon his life and the example that he is to others. His personal brand is worth millions of dollars. I sure wish MY personal brand was worth millions of dollars, but do I want to sacrifice my privacy to develop that brand? Tough call for me. Privacy is priceless, but without money you can't pay the bills. Working without a personal brand is definitely possible, but with so much turmoil in bu...

  Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation. Thanks to all who attended our monthly meeting last week. It was exciting to hear about all of your progress! Keep it going. For those who missed our meeting I am trying to schedule a guest speaker for next months meeting. It's turning out to be a real chore with all the rules I have to follow. I was trying for an author, but now it looks like any guests have to be internal to DIRECTV. Still working on it.  This weeks motivation is a great article from Jennifer A. Garrett . It's a quick read, but really hits on some of the points I have mentioned the last three weeks. I hope you enjoy it.  To read the article simply click HERE. IMPORTANT NOTE ON PAST TRAINING! If you are interested in completing the training below you have until 10/15/2024 before the links break as we migrate to the new DIRECTV Academy.  Take advantage if you have not already. Past Training Recommendations Communication Foundations through DIRECTV Academy A...

  Today marks the one year anniversary of my first column on Blogspot. It's a special day for me because When I started this blog I had no idea it would take off the way it did, or that I would still be posting today. Unfortunately, this is also the last weekly blog post I will be submitting to Blogspot. Before I explain why I am sunsetting the blog, let's go back and look at the evolution of how the blog came to be. HOW IT ALL STARTED I am a career traveler for DIRECTV . 48 weeks a year, 3-4 nights a week. I was traveling before the Covid-19 pandemic, I traveled through the pandemic, and in early 2022 as America was "Re-opening" I noticed that most of the hotel, restaurant and Bar staff that I had come to know pre-pandemic were no longer employed at my favorite establishments. Hospitality businesses across the country were hiring anyone willing to work, experienced or not. This new team of service workers were doing their best to learn a job that many had never perfo...

  Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation. This week's thought is about Ethics and Integrity. For Months I have been talking about how to "Push out" personal branding as a way to increase our identity and grow our brands. I believe that if you do not have integrity or follow the established rules of ethics at your work or in your personal life your brand will undoubtedly suffer.  Sometimes building our personal brand can come from the things we do when we think no one is watching.  In this day and age, everyone is watching, one way or another. In lieu of a formatted training course this week, please take 3min. to click the link below from Workplace on Ethics and Integrity featuring one of our Circles cohort member Kristy McMillon. Please feel free to show her some love by a "Like and comment" on the video. Thank you Kristy for sharing this message with our Team at DIRECTV. My Ethical Moment with Kristy McMillon IMPORTANT NOTE ON PAST TRAINING! If you are in...

  Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation. I have been thinking about communication. I recently had to deal with a situation in my personal life where someone was trying hard to share an idea and a process that they had developed to make my life better. Unfortunately, this person was completely unable to convey their thoughts in a cogent way, and therefore their idea was lost to everyone. The speaker and the the listeners were both frustrated. We eventually figured out the thought process, but it was awkward and difficult.  Because so many of us work remotely now, communication is more important than ever. Because we can't be seen, some feel that they need to try harder to be heard. My thought is that communicating better fills in that gap. This weeks training opportunity is on Communication,  I originally took this class in 2020, and took it again this week. I hope you find it relevant to your personal brand journey. Training opportunity Communication Foundations throug...

Hey everyone, Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation. I am excited for this week's Circle meeting.  I will be coming to the meeting from Evansville, Indiana. I can't wait to hear about your personal brand journeys. Please be prepared to offer up a 3-5 min. update on your progress.  This weeks training opportunity is on how to accelerate your personal brand.  See y'all Thursday. Training opportunity Accelerate your Career: Personal Brand on DIRECTV Academy Past Training recommendations Transform your Personal Brand on DIRECTV Academy Article on Staying Relevant in the workplace Marketing for personal and brand pages through DIRECTV Academy LinkedIn Analytics for Creators through DIRECTV Academy LinkedIn Creator Mode through DIRECTV Academy Learning LinkedIn Course through DIRECTV Academy Developing Your Personal Brand through DIRECTV Academy Feel free to forward this week's update to anyone who might want to work on their Personal brand.  To learn more abo...

For this week's Monday Motivation I would like to talk about Sammy Hagar. Along with Michael Anthony (Original bass player for Van Halen) Joe Satriani, and Jason Bonham (Son of Led Zeppelin Drummer John Bonham) Sammy is touring the world paying tribute to the music of Van Halen. There are basically two eras of Van Halen. The First era of the band was fronted by David Lee Roth.  The second era of the band was fronted by Sammy Hagar. The guitar player for Van Halen was always Eddie Van Halen, who changed the way millions of music enthusiasts play the instrument. Eddie was an icon to legions of fans and propelled Van Halen to the level of one of the greatest rock bands in history. Eddie passed away in 2020 from cancer.  For three years the remaining band members tried to produce a "Tribute" concert to remember Eddie. Unfortunately a show never materialized because the different factions of the band could never come together to make it work. They did try, but the obstacles tu...

  Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation. Thanks for allowing me to blabber on last week on LinkedIn.   I really like that platform, and am excited to share the successes of your personal brand journey.  Make sure you connect with me on LinkedIn so So I can follow you. I am excited to learn about each of your personal brand development journeys.  Please keep in touch. Training opportunities Here is this week's recommended training is probably the BEST training I have received on LinkedIn. Kelli Schutrop is a great leader and personal branding expert. Enjoy... Transform your Personal Brand on DIRECTV Academy Past Training recommendations Article on Staying Relevant in the workplace Marketing for personal and brand pages through DIRECTV Academy LinkedIn Analytics for Creators through DIRECTV Academy LinkedIn Creator Mode through DIRECTV Academy Learning LinkedIn Course through DIRECTV Academy Developing Your Personal Brand through DIRECTV Academy Feel ...

  I was first introduced to the Women of Leadership at DIRECTV in March of this year. I received an email like everyone else, and since I was trekking to Burbank to attend the Commercial All Hands Meeting I thought that I better do some research in case I meet anyone from or am asked about What "Wild" is. To say that I was impressed is an understatement. Allow me to introduce you to W.I.L.D! Their mission is self evident: " Supporting and uplifting women at all stages of their careers; encouraging opportunities and a vision for what is WILDLY possible!" The W.I.L.D. group has a Vision that encompasses four principal goals: Supporting women to achieve their full potential in their professional and personal lives Supporting active involvement in professional growth Raising funds and using that philanthropy to better the lives of women in our communities supporting and hosting connected conversations to help aid Women to find success W.I.L.D. has a group on @Workplace....

Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation. This week's topic is Video. I have always said that I have a face for radio, and don't really dabble in video, but that does not mean you shouldn't.  If you have the confidence I totally recommend adding videos to your LinkedIn profile.  I am excited to learn about each of your personal brand development journeys.  Please keep in touch. Training opportunities Here is this week's recommended training opportunity for anyone wanting to expand their personal brand. I am also sharing a link to a great article on staying relevant in the workplace, thanks to my circle group on "Resilience". Enjoy... Article on Staying Relevant in the workplace Marketing for personal and brand pages through DIRECTV Academy Past Training recommendations LinkedIn Analytics for Creators through DIRECTV Academy LinkedIn Creator Mode through DIRECTV Academy Learning LinkedIn Course through DIRECTV Academy Developing Your Personal Brand through ...

This week I celebrated my 8th Anniversary with DIRECTV . This is my 2nd stint with the company, but my first as an internal employee. I have been traveling 4-5 days a week, 48-50 weeks a year since I returned to the team in 2016. Because 99% of my travel is over the road I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles and stayed in well over a thousand hotel rooms.   The nature of the work I do to support my team at DIRECTV requires me to keep a truck full of equipment in order to fix just about any issue we might find in the field. I sure wish I could fly, but driving is the most productive way I can travel. To learn more about my work with DIRECTV please click HERE. I have had many interesting experiences while on the road. I have responded to Hurricanes, a tornado and numerous natural disasters. I have visited or supported almost half of our 200 local receive sites in the US. I once responded to fully engulfed car fire on the side of the freeway in rural Texas, and even got r...