Being Consistent — Trust is most quickly earned when demonstrated. Be consistent with the above practices and your narrative to become a reliable source.
As part of my series about “authors who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Erik Carlson.
As the Chief Operating Officer of Notified, Erik is responsible for Product Development, Global Operations and Finance. He spearheads the company’s continued innovation and is dedicated to advancing its growth in the communications technology industry. He began his career in M&A, working at both IBM and PwC. Leveraging his extensive background in Strategy, Operations and Finance, Erik transitioned in-house to West Technology Group/Notified (a portfolio company of Apollo Global) in 2018 as Vice President of Finance & Integration Management. Erik earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with honors, from Boston University, specializing in Corporate Finance Accounting and Management.
Thank you so much for joining us. Before we dive in, our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you share with us the “backstory” about how you got started in your career?
I began my career at IBM working in corporate development. I learned early that I loved M&A because it was one of the few functions and events that involved the entire business. I also learned corporate development can be boring if there aren’t any active transactions. With the desire to continue to gain M&A exposure in a more fast-paced environment, I moved to PwC’s growing M&A practice. I joined the firm when there were less than 80 staff world-wide and cut my teeth on challenging, cross-border, mega deals over the next 8 years. When I exited the firm (a difficult decision) our practice was more than 7x the size and I had touched over 100+ deals from diligence stage to post-close strategy & execution. My last project, the take-private of West Corporation by Apollo in 2017, was the catalyst that moved me from M&A to Operator. I was afforded the opportunity to move from advisor to employee, first driving post-close M&A strategy and execution, then later moving into a segment CFO role as the company moved from an operating to a holding company structure. I like to describe myself as the anti-CFO, CFO… someone who completed my accounting degree but never certified as a CPA because I didn’t want to be boxed into Finance. I still love the CFO role because it’s a license to be part of almost every conversation in the business (rewind to why I chose M&A — broad exposure). Over the last 3 years I’ve taken on increasing responsibilities, including global operations and service delivery, and product management.
Do you have a favorite book that made a deep impact on your life? Can you share a story?
I’m more of a podcast fan than avid reader, but I do regularly read business books, and have for years. One that stands out to me as a bible of sorts for common sense is “Uncommon Service” by Francis Frei. There is one chapter in particular, “You Can’t Be Good At Everything” which will always be especially poignant for me in a business context. The gist of the chapter is forcing teams and businesses to choose what they won’t be good at. This is the antithesis of the American capitalist model — and a great thought exercise for management teams that don’t have a strong identity or fully baked strategy.
Can you share the most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career?
We had just closed on a small acquisition in Sweden in 2019 and took the entire management team out for a celebratory dinner. As we sat down, the waiter informed us that there would be no menu, and that dishes would not be described, but rather informed after we tasted. In retrospect, I guess allergies weren’t a concern? As the first appetizer course arrived (oysters), my business partner sarcastically said, “I think I know what this is — an oyster!?” to the server. The server (Actually Chef), in a restaurant so quiet you could hear the chewing of the patron at the table nearby, remarked loudly, “yes that’s a f****** oyster, and I f****** picked it myself this morning!”. Every diner looked up in shock — even those who didn’t fully understand the brutality of the thick English accent he uttered the phrase in, in the middle of a Michelin star restaurant in an otherwise quiet Swedish city. We proceeded to have an amazing dinner and befriend the chef who asked us to stay past close for a surprise. As the restaurant closed, two black Volvo’s arrived and whisked us away to a private speakeasy club that distilled their own gin. It was certainly a dinner to remember and worthy of a ‘most interesting man in the world’ moment.
Can you share the most humorous mistake that you made when you first started? Can you share the lesson or take away, you learned from it?
I was an eager associate consultant, probably 2 years out of undergraduate, and like most competitive entry-level employees, too eager to willingly say ‘yes, I can do that!’ without truly having the skill or capability required for the task. I had just wrapped up a whirlwind trip to Switzerland, with a partner and a few senior clients, to restructure a multi-national tax model. The partner, of course, had rented a car and driven from a weekend skiing with his family, while I had arrived via 3 train transfers and broken German / French from Zurich. I was elated to get a ride back to the airport with the partner at the end of our trip instead of renavigating local trains. When we arrived at the airport, he turns, looks at me and says ‘I’m late for my flight — you can return the car right? You drive stick?” I, in my best confident, eager to impress a senior partner voice said, “of course — you go ahead.” Knowing (A) I did not know how to drive stick, but (B) I watched plenty of Top Gear and surely could figure out how to mesh long enough to get to 2nd gear. 1st Gear, 2nd Gear, great! I’d done it! As I turned the corner, I ran into the worst possible issue… airport construction with stop and go traffic merging for ~500 meters… Queue utter confusion and burnt clutch. I muscled through, much to the dismay of the hurried Swiss drivers I was certainly delaying from their timely arrival, to pull into the rental car return wreaking of burnt metal and ozone. In the end, if I had to glean more from this story than a laugh, it would be being confident about what you know, not misrepresenting capabilities, and if you have to… muscling through a tough situation to a reasonable outcome.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
As an individual, I get personally excited by solving people’s challenges. It’s very fun to be responsible for building a product where you clearly understand the ICP’s (Ideal Customer Profile) day to day challenges. As a CFO, I directly understand what our IR buyer is looking for… I’m also married to a professional in PR and hear too often (joking if my wife reads this) about her challenges. One challenge we discuss often is the proliferation of content and ability to validate source — this was the impetus behind launching Notified’s exclusive partnership with CLEAR Secure.
What advice would you give to your colleagues in the industry, to thrive and not “burnout”?
My advice, with full disclosure I should be better at listening to myself:
- Chase mentors and managers, not money — success will follow.
- Don’t compare yourself to others, every career journey is different.
- Celebrate successes and milestones.
- Learn to shut off, and proactively communicate about it to avoid ‘Guilt’.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the main parts of our interview. According to this Gallup poll, only 36% of Americans trust the mass media. This is disheartening. As an insider, are there 5 things that editors and newsrooms can do to increase the levels of trust? Can you give some examples?
While disheartening, I’m not surprised. We live in a world of hyperpolarization perpetuated by AI bot technology. By many accounts (https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2024/04/16/yes-the-bots-really-are-taking-over-the-internet/), 30–50% of all internet traffic and content is generated by bots. Cutting through this noise is challenging to say the least. Here are some ways Editors, Newsrooms and PR professionals can invest in building a Trusted Brand:
- Citing Sources with Transparency & Validity — Disclose sources, information gathering practices and potential conflicts of interest. Where possible, lean on verification / validation to affix a “Watermark” or brand of “Trust”.
- Prioritizing Accuracy — Complete robust fact-checking and accuracy reviews prior to publishing.
- Differentiating between Opinion & Fact — Provide a clear distinction between factual news and opinion.
- Featuring Diverse Perspectives — Address both sides of the story / aisle with alternative viewpoints.
- Being Consistent — Trust is most quickly earned when demonstrated. Be consistent with the above practices and your narrative to become a reliable source.
What are a few things that ordinary news consumers can do to identify disinformation, and help to prevent its dissemination?
For corporate news, we believe the CLEAR Verified Press Release on GlobeNewswire will be the new gold standard for validated company news. While the press release has long been a trusted and reliable source, we’ve seen increasing attempts to defraud wire services with false stories and information for gain in the public markets. Where available, corporate news consumers should look for trust watermarks, like Notified’s ‘CLEAR Verified Badge’ to validate the fidelity of information being disclosed. In other scenarios, it’s back to basics — learning how to check first and secondary sources and differentiate between derivative media and core journalism. It’s tough, and it’s bound to get even tougher with advancements in AI.
Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started” and why? Please share a story or an example for each.
- It’s OK to say ‘No’ Sometimes.
- Asking yourself ‘How do I make my boss’s job easier?’, and then actioning on your answer is a quick way to get ahead.
- Most learning happens in the office.
- The best relationships are built after enduring the worst situations together.
- The ‘Delay Send’ feature in Outlook is your friend!
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Be kind at work — we’re all people. I’ll tell my team that we practice PR & IR, not ER. Nothing is life and death.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I’m most active on Linkedin (www.linkedin.com/in/carlsonerikj) and keep Instagram to a small circle of friends and family.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Authors: How & Why Author Erik Carlson of Notified Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.