4 things to do if you’re questioning yourself
**Bio: Ian Sager is an editorial leader with a background in digital, social and broadcast media with 16 years of experience at brands like NBC News, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News. Ian is currently Vice President of Audience Development at digital health company, Sharecare.**
“What do you do for work?”
It’s a question I’m asked often – but not one I often answer well.
Working in Audience Development is like trying to solve an ever-shifting puzzle without the use of your hands and eyes…while death metal is played at full volume.
That’s my colorful way of saying my days are cacophonous, sometimes confusing, and conducted at a rapid pace. My team is bombarded with dozens of data streams, all pulsing, buzzing and alerting at their own rate – the news cycle, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, newsletters, internal data, third party data, partner data, and so on and so forth.
We sit atop a mountain of information and every weekday is a puzzle we need to solve. On most days, the puzzle requires us to ask the same questions. What does our audience want? Where do they want us to publish it? When do they want it?
We know the answer is somewhere within our grasp…but we don’t know where it is, how to get to it, or how long it will take to figure it out.
Some days it takes a few minutes. “Aha – let’s tweet this.”
Other days our search drags on. “Why is no one clicking on this?!”
No two days are the same.
And that’s how I like it.
In case you’re wondering how one trains for what sounds like the Ironman of journalism, let me explain…because I didn’t take a straight path to this job, but couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.
NBC News, the TODAY Show, Meet the Press, NBC Nightly News, Sharecare – I’ve worked for, and alongside, some of the brightest in the business.
But I am incredibly lucky to be doing what I’m doing because I didn’t set out to do this.
I graduated college in 2006 and began graduate studies in Sociology. Within a year I was a disillusioned graduate student. My program was too theory orientated and I craved a real world peg. I needed something tangible I could hold on to and long dead German philosophers would not scratch that itch.
I began looking for my left turn before my first year of grad school ended. I applied for an internship at NBC News Digital – then MSNBC.com, a partnership between Microsoft and NBC News – and amazingly, was hired. I say amazingly because I had little to no experience in journalism, aside from a few freelance pieces.
Over three and a half years my internship turned into a part-time gig, then a full-time role.
I’m condensing those years not because the details aren’t important, but because it’s more important to focus on a handful of themes.
NBC News took a chance on me and I found a home to grow because my managers at the time cared about my development.
They trusted me, so I trusted them.
They supported me at all times – good and bad – so I went all in on their lessons. I read everything I could, subscribed to every RSS feed I could, read every inch of the New York Times, picked up magazines big and small, and most importantly I wrote as much as I could.
In time, I improved. I learned to see the good work from the bad, and found I had a knack for combining the data side of journalism with producing. Over time I rose up the ranks at NBC News, and in the end spent 11 years in the news division.
So why does this matter?
For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’m not the loudest person in the room. I may not speak much in meetings – I think there’s value in listening – and I find the quiet restorative.
But not everyone agrees with me. As an introvert in an industry full of extroverts I have, on more than one occasion, been urged to be more “unlike myself.”
Whenever I’ve had my personality questioned, I think back to my early days in the industry.
The news industry, by design, is chaotic. Ask yourself, could we do what we do if someone isn’t listening and following the track of the storm as the winds pick up?
Introversion makes me able to do my job in Audience Development – I think of it as my superpower.
My advice, for anyone who is questioning themselves at this very moment:
Don't speed up when everyone around you is speeding up; there's value in standing still.
Surround yourself with people you trust and listen to them. Believe that they’ll do the job you've asked them to do.
The fragmentation of digital publishing is such that you cannot read everything. Don't open more tabs; build bridges. Broaden your horizons and forge new relationships. Put up a big tent and make it warm and cozy. People will join you.
Follow the path that makes sense for you. Backdoors into careers are still doors. The direct path isn’t necessarily the right path. Study French then go into journalism. Pursue a Master’s degree in Sociology if it’ll sharpen your intellect. Learn about the world around you. Curiosity is key to your success as a journalist.
What does this look like in daily practice?
“Know yourself to improve yourself,” wrote the French sociologist Auguste Comte.
(I said I was a disillusioned graduate student. I never said I didn’t pay attention.)
I return to this quote often because it’s simple, but also because it’s true.
Professional growth can’t come without a shared understanding – between employee and manager – of who you are, who you work with, and what you hope to accomplish.
If you can settle that, then count your lucky stars, because you, potentially, have a pathway to growth. Nurture it if you have it.