We managed to grab Joe soon after our webinar to find out a bit more about what makes him tick.
If you’ve not met him yet Joe leads Twitter’s Data & Enterprise Solutions group based in London. His team helps organizations gain actionable insight from Twitter data and supports the ecosystem of partners that serve brands. Joe has been in the social world for eight years working with several social media related start-ups prior to joining Twitter. Past experiences include many years at Cisco and several years as a consultant, including a stint in international development where he tried to make the world a slightly better place. Joe mainly tweets about economics, politics and
What was your first-ever job?
Bagging groceries at a supermarket. I’d also help people to their car and can remember the thrill of getting a $1 or $2 tip. As a 15 year old that was big money. Everyone should experience a service job at some point in their formative years.
Who would you most love to share a coffee with / go for a drink with?
Definitely, my grandfather whom I never met
Highlight of your career (so far?)
There have been several professional highlights but I’m most proud of taking a few years off from the traditional career path to do humanitarian work. Those years certainly helped me put things in perspective.
Nature or nurture?
A bit of both. Something like ⅔ nature and ⅓ nurture seems about right. There are clearly people born with innate talent, but it needs to be supported and nurtured to reach its potential. For the rest of us, like me, we must be nurtured that much more!
Best advice you ever heard or received?
Careers are marathons, not sprints, and sometimes you have to go sideways or even backwards to go forward. Also, commit to life-long learning.
What talent do you yearn for?
Not sure if it’s a yearning, but for several years now I’ve been interested in doing a coding course (“Coding for Dummies” if you will). I need a better appreciation for how software gets built and the logic behind it.
What is your favourite brand and why?
I’m not particularly enthralled with specific brands, to be honest, at least the big, well-established ones. If anything I’m more prone to giving small, challenger products and services a try that I haven’t heard of. I’m probably a marketers nightmare.
What book do you most recommend to others?
A few I have recommended over the years include Sapiens (who hasn’t), Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, Weapons of math destruction and most recently Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America.