{"id":20866,"date":"2016-11-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smps.org\/scottjohnston_parttwo\/"},"modified":"2023-06-20T16:47:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T16:47:19","slug":"scottjohnston_parttwo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smps.org\/2016\/11\/17\/scottjohnston_parttwo\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Scott Johnston (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Discussion With Scott Johnston, Principal, Strategist & Facilitator <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Learn more about this introspective copywriter-turned-principal
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the final part of our interview with Scott Johnston, SMPS learns more about this introspective copywriter-turned-principal. Johnston shares what he\u2019s thankful for, just in time for Thanksgiving, and the advice he\u2019d give to his teenage self.<\/p>\n

Have you had a mentor and, if so, who is it? How has that person changed your life?<\/strong>
\n<\/em>My mom, Karen, has been a great inspiration. Watching Karen build her business and now joining together and starting to carry what she built forward has really changed my life. She is often approached on the street by someone she coached 1\/ or 20 years ago. They tell her how much of a difference the training made and how they were able to take their career to the next level. How cool is that?<\/p>\n

Separately, my dad was also a tremendous inspiration (he and my mom divorced when I was 8). He passed away from Alzheimer\u2019s in 2005. As the primary caregiver, I saw how devastating the disease can be. He was a true gentleman and taught me perseverance in the face of adversity.<\/p>\n

Kelly, my wife of 13 years, has been my biggest supporter and 100% behind me through it all\u2014my dad\u2019s decline and death, starting our family, and my recent career change. She\u2019s also an amazing painter who I am pretty sure will be famous someday.<\/p>\n

What qualities do you think a person should have to be a great leader?<\/strong>
\n<\/em>A big part of all our training is looking at the situation from the client\u2019s perspective. The ability to truly step into someone else\u2019s shoes and understand not just what they want but why they want it is something I believe any great leader needs.Even if we disagree, understanding where someone is coming from enables me to make decisions that are fair for both of us, not just me.<\/p>\n

What skills do you think are needed to be a successful marketer or business developer?<\/strong>
\n<\/em>As Seth Godin puts it, the ability to be a lynchpin. In this world of fake buzz, click-bait, and cookie-cutter core values, the people who are valued are not the box checkers but the boat rockers. As we say in our coaching, \u201cAll the architects\/engineers\/contractors going to this interview are qualified. What\u2019s your special sauce?\u201d<\/p>\n

What advice would you give your teenage self?<\/strong>
\n<\/em>I wish I had taken more risks. Not climbing cliffs or racing cars but trying new things and experiences. I did a year-long student exchange in Belgium during college and it really opened my eyes to the world. I came back much more open to trying new things and wish it had happened sooner.<\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re close to Thanksgiving, can you tell us something you\u2019re grateful for?<\/strong>
\n<\/em>Family is clich\u00e9, but I really would not be where I am today without them.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Scott Johnston, principal|strategist & facilitator at Johnston Training Group, can be reached at<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>scott@jtgroup.com<\/em><\/a>. If you\u2019d like to be part of An SMPS Conversation, reach out to<\/em> Linda Smolkin,<\/em> content specialist, at <\/em>linda@smps.org<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An SMPS Conversation with Scott Johnston (Part 2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-20866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-membership","tag-member-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43046,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20866\/revisions\/43046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}