Ian Colwell

What is the most useful piece of career advice you got as a student, and who gave it to you?

"Your actions not only impact you, your family, but our families business as a whole." My father gave me this piece of advise on my first day of kindergarten [so still as a student ; ) ], and it has been the defining piece of advice in my life. I encourage everyone to think of themselves as a brand. Everything you do, especially with the heavy influence of social media, builds on that brand. If you post an angry post to FaceBook, people notice and your brand might change in their minds. If you cut someone off in traffic and have your schools sticker on the back, people's perception of that schools brand might change. On the positive, if you go out of your way to do something positive for someone, and people notice, your brand changes as well. All these things are incredibly important to consider in life. The advice rings even more true as more and more people have cell phones and every moment could be recorded. I like to think that this idea is incredibly empowering because if you take the time to recognize that your actions impact not just you but others and other organizations, you can often find the motivation to go above and beyond what you might do just for ones self.