John Mac's Travels

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...

  Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation.  The topic this week is Analytics. The ability to track your presence on LinkedIn. I don't go crazy on analytics, but I use them. In my experience, analytics has been able to show me which posts and articles are working, and which are not. What analytics has taught me is that my audience wants to learn. They want information. posting about my travels gets a reaction, but posting about processes and new innovations garners a much larger response. This won't be the same for everyone though. Each individual's analytics will be different.   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 on  LinkedIn . Last week I recommended training on developing "Creator Mode".  This week I am recommending some analytics training for LinkedIn so you c...

Welcome to this week's Monday Motivation.  Hopefully you have chosen your personal brand path. If you haven't, keep pondering. Don't rush it. For those who have chosen the cornerstone of their personal brand, this is the week to start pondering guidelines you will follow when developing that brand.  Think of them as "Rules".  Rules you set and rules you follow. I believe it's important to set and follow guidelines, so when the going gets' tough, You don't veer from your predetermined path. I have a couple of guidelines that I follow.  First, Be honest. Second, do your best not to offend anyone.  Third, be courageous. I will talk more about these guidelines in my leadership circles meetings this fall. I also have three hard stop rules.  No religion, no politics, and nothing about the family without their consent.  I am excited to learn about each of your personal brand development journeys.  Please keep in touch. Training opportunities Here is this...

  Welcome to my weekly "Monday Motivation" newsletter. This correspondence is for anyone at DIRECTV who might want to work on developing their personal brand.  This weekly newsletter is intendented to work in conjunction with my monthly Mentoring Circles meetings.  Anyone wishing to develop their personal brand is welcome to follow along and join in the conversation. This is the week in which you get to decide what your personal brand is going to be.  Pick a title, pick a discipline, choose a path. Think about it.  Ponder. Take your time to decide how you plan to define yourself.  I am still developing my own personal brand. I have decided to hitch my personal brand to my work as a Product Ambassador for all things DIRECTV.  I primarily use Workplace and LinkedIn as my vehicles to build my brand. Because I have a great face for radio, I have chosen to promote my personal brand through a weekly column where I write about my travels and experiences as I ...

  The original DIRECTV Logo from 1993-2004 When DIRECTV launched in 1994 our plan was to offer the best Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) service to all of America.  Thirty years ago  cable infrastructures were prevalent in some major markets but not in the suburbs. Most Americans were getting their television service from an aerial antenna attached to the roof of their home. In the Rural Midwest, cable was basically not an option.   It was aerial antenna or no television at all. DIRECTV’s service was a revelation to those whom at the time had no other option for TV service. Shortly after launching, DIRECTV began offering a local channels option to our subscribers. If you lived west of the Mississippi, you got Los Angeles Locals.   If you lived east of the Mississippi you qualified to receive Local Channels from New York City. Early on DIRECTV knew that to provide timely news, weather, and local programming in each city in the US they would have to expand th...

  The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada In the mid 90’s I directed IT Services for a small software development firm based in Seattle. I was always on the road, traveling to support our servers and sites nationwide. I also traveled for the tradeshows.  If there was a software convention happening in the US between 1995 and 1997, I was probably there. ComDex was a big one, CES (of course) and Microsoft sponsored events were among just a few of many show I attended when I was on the “Tradeshow Circuit”. It seemed like I was always headed to Las Vegas for one reason or another, and anytime I was in town I always made it a point to stay at or visit  The Mirage  hotel and casino. After opening in 1989 The Mirage was marvel on the strip.  No other hotel compared to it. This place was nothing short of Amazing. One of the first “Mega Hotels” on the strip hosting more than 3000 rooms, it was the new standard that all other hotels in Las Vegas looked up to. Complete with...

 For those who follow my weekly articles, ya'll know that I am a CRAZY fan of the  UFL and more importantly the St. Louis Battlehawks!  I have season tickets and make the 8-hour round trip to St. Louis five times a year to see all of our home games. I usually stay at the  Hotel St. Louis when I am in town because as #3 son most eloquently put it, "its bougie" with 5-star dining and a rooftop pool overlooking the St. Louis Cardinal's Busch Stadium and the cityscape. Last Friday #3 son drew the short straw and got to travel with Dad to Good 'ol St. Louie to see our beloved Battlehawks take on the San Antonio Brahmas in the final game of the regular season and fight for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. (Note - WE WON and the Playoff game is this weekend at The " Battle Dome ". The winner will advance to the UFL Championship game, which will also be hosted in St Louis. After arriving in St. Louis friday night and enjoying dinner we headed up...

There has been a lot of change in the industry that I work in.  A lot of change at the company I work for. For many, change is hard. I am a creature of habit. I don't like change. I have struggled with some of the recent changes in my life, both personally and professionally. I decided to put the changes in my life into perspective and ask myself a few simple questions. "How does this change affect my goals? Is the change hurting me, or helping me? Is the change hurting my team at work, or helping them?" Same question for my family. I took some time to sit down in a quiet place with a pencil and paper and write down my goals. With no direction or organization at all, I just wrote down every goal in my consciousness. Then decided to prioritize by professional goals and personal goals. I realized that my personal list needed to be separated by family and personal(me) goals. As I ran out of paper, lead in the pencil and patience, I then went digital with my list. Going digit...