Leader in the Field

 Meeting Mr. Williams was a bit of a chance. I was at my sister homecoming picture “ photo shoot” and he was standing next to him. We started with some small talk and I told him how I am currently of journalism major but I have no idea what I really want to do. He instantly began telling me how he runs an ad agency that specializes in radio advertisement. Of course I slowly worked my “Leader in the Field” paper into the conversation, and he said he would love to be interviewed.

  Mr. Williams utilizes live endorsement radio ads in which the on air personality does the ad live and in the context of their daily broadcast. The ads are designed to be a live and personal endorsement of each product they represent.  Ad Results Inc. is the largest company of this type in North America. And to put it in perspective on any given day they have ads running on over 1200 radio stations in all 50 states and also Canada. A majority of the work at Ad Results Inc. is group work. Each person has to know his or her role and execute it well. Each person has their strengths and Mr. Williams said “there are some things that I do personally better than anyone else here and so I tend to concentrate on those items.  I am not above having someone else give me their input however.” It’s important to know what your good at, but also know when to step back and listen. Mr. Williams continued to go on and say, “You need to leave the ego at the door in this business as there are just too many ways to have one of your ideas go bad and not work.  If that happens, you just move on and try something else.”

Mr. Williams said the key to his leadership is LEADING BY EXAMPLE. He believes “leadership is causing other people to achieve things they didn't believe they could achieve before.  Hopefully at that point they will take the lead and become leaders themselves.” As for leadership in projects these three items are needed to be successful:

1.   1. A clear goal, set an obtainable goal and make it clear to all involved what the goal is.

2.   2. A time line, make sure the deadline is clear and map out a step-by-step process.

3.  3.  A clear division of tasks, with specific responsibilities for each person including the team leader.

  Mr. Williams said he has two favorite parts of his job. His “number one would be delivering results for his clients; “When a client calls me and says that our ads are causing the phones to ring off the hook or the website traffic is through the roof, that really lights me up.” His second favorite would be interacting with the radio personalities he works with, since they are interesting people and enjoyable to talk to.

  When asked Mr. Williams what it took for him to get where he is today he summed it up in two words: HARD WORK. He went on to tell a story of when he asked a very wealthy friend of his dad’s what this secret of his success was. The friend said “thirty years”. He ended by saying “The other thing is to build a good team who buys into the idea and has the same smarts and work ethic that you have.”