Mastering the Art of Professional Growth with Wunmi Bamiduro

In this episode of the Career Wanderlust podcast, join us for an insightful conversation with Wunmi Bamiduro, a seasoned Communications professional with a wealth of experience in technology, finance, and advisory services. Discover the key to building powerful networks by being authentic and learning from every interaction. Tune in to unlock the secrets of forming meaningful connections and advancing your career.

Guest Bio: 
Wunmi Bamiduro is a respected figure in the world of corporate communications, currently serving as the VP of Corporate Communications for Corporate Finance at Wells Fargo. With a background that includes roles at Gartner, Fannie Mae, and more, Wunmi has honed his skills in media relations and executive communications. His superpower? Reading a room and understanding people's motivations.

Key Takeaways :

• Authenticity is the foundation of building powerful professional networks.

• Embracing failure and course-correcting are crucial for personal and career growth.

• Understanding the motivations of others can help in forming meaningful connections.

• Personal development, including therapy, can enhance emotional intelligence and connection.

For more from Wunmi, you can find him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wunmibamiduro/

If you enjoy learning from others, please give us a like, subscribe, and share with a friend. If you are looking to add talent to your public relations, marketing, communications, sales, or business development team with the best talent, and quickly, check us out at paradigmstaffing.com. 

Transcript

Wunmi Bamiduro2024-01-24--18-58-12-54g3z1dkggg--final-mix

Marker

[00:00:00] Jolie Downs: Welcome to the Career Wanderlust podcast, your compass for new career horizons. Today, we are talking with Wunmi Bamidoro, an accomplished Communications professional with strengths and information technology, finance and advisory services. He excels at partnering with senior leaders, becoming a trusted advisor to tell their story in impactful ways.

[00:00:22] He has worked with agencies such as Broder and Lewis PR before moving into the corporate world and working with the likes of Gartner and Fannie Mae. Woodley is currently the VP of Corporate Communications for Corporate Finance with Wells Fargo, and I'm excited to learn more. When we thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust podcast, 

[00:00:41] Wunmi Bamiduro: it's my pleasure.

[00:00:42] It's good to see you. It's good to 

[00:00:43] Jolie Downs: see you too. Could you share with us when we, what you feel has been some of your favorite career advice and why?

[00:00:52] Wunmi Bamiduro: Oh, gosh, I feel like it sounds like old and trite, but the best career advice I've ever gotten was to know what you do and do it well. And that comes from an area of being a communicator and being able to raise your hand and saying, I don't know this, I need your help.

[00:01:17] But also being confident enough to say this is my power alley, or this is where I think I really excel. This is the thing that I want to do in order to, like, propel my career or really hone in and focus on where I want to go and the skills that I want to build. So I would say knowing what you know and doing that well and knowing what you don't know and being able to raise your hand.

[00:01:40] Some of the best career advice I've ever gotten and something that I think will stick with me well after like my professional life into my personal life as well. 

[00:01:49] Jolie Downs: Yeah, you know, I really love this. It makes me think of really great advice I got in life in general, too, which is, it's the same advice, it's to know your story, to know your story, like know yourself, what your strengths are, your weaknesses, get really comfortable with it so you can be comfortable in all situations, right?

[00:02:06] Which means being, knowing your strengths and being comfortable saying, no, this is what I'm really good at, let me run with this, and knowing where you might need to ask some questions and get a little bit of help, which is Incredibly valuable advice all across the board. , how has that served you, would you say?

[00:02:24] Wunmi Bamiduro: I mean, as you said, I've, I've had a number of in house or corporate communications jobs. And part of me being able to get some of those roles is being able to say, like, this is what I excel at. In my early careers, it was really being able to excel at media relations. I loved talking to the press. I loved forming those relationships.

[00:02:47] And so that was my strong suit, and that's Kind of what propelled me to the next opportunity that I had, which was, okay, how do you tell the business story of a company to the media? And that's how I ended up at Gartner. And so I spent 10 years there and, you know, in that life, I, you know, learned how to make really strong relationships with members of the press.

[00:03:08] But I also began to get into executive support and events and, you know, more on the strategic and the leadership side. And that's when I realized, okay, I'm really good at media relations. Now I really want to be good at executive communications and executive support and writing in that voice. So that is, that's kind of how I progressed in my career to say, this is what I'm good at, but also understanding.

[00:03:35] I'm good at media relations, whereas the next piece I want to add to my career to make myself kind of a well rounded communicator and it was executive communications was my next was the next place I wanted to go. 

[00:03:46] Jolie Downs: I love it. Continuing to add those stepping stones each step of the way. So you're just stacking your professional expertise.

[00:03:52] Yeah, it's wonderful. You know, and that's really such a successful way to go through life, right? Just finding that thing, getting really good at what you're doing. And then what's that next thing? Where do we go once you get that? And that's why we were always growing to. you don't become complacent as well.

[00:04:08] Wunmi Bamiduro: Yes. Yes. And I think along the, along the ways you, you have to fail. Like you have to, you have to try new things and then realize. This is a thing that I thought I wanted to, I've explored it, and I realized that either it's not a skill set I want to develop, or I might need to have a little more growth in a couple of other opportunities before I come back and I try to tackle this thing later on in life, but I mean, I think failure is also a good way to understand what you're good at, as well as what you need to grow.

[00:04:38] Jolie Downs: I like to change the whole conversation on failure in that way. Just, just what you're saying. Failure is, can be a really amazing, wonderful thing in life. It teaches you so much that's how, you know, we, we kind of get to our success through. Growing on our consistent failures.

[00:04:54] So that's what gets us there. So to not be scared of it, like you're saying, and to be able to, to be okay and embrace it, that's how we keep growing. So yeah, that's really important. And you know, you mentioned we both talked about, you have had really great corporate careers. I mean, , Fannie Mae.

[00:05:12] Gardner, Wells Fargo, these are all big name companies. , you mentioned one thing that helped you get those positions. Is there anything else that you feel has helped you land some of these roles? 

[00:05:24] Wunmi Bamiduro: I think in this day and age, the network that you are able to create as you go through your career is something that has been beyond valuable to me in my career.

[00:05:37] , not only people that, not only like the business partners that I served and I worked with, but other people in other parts of the organization that I've met along the way. It, it pays, people say it and they say it and I think that it's really true, especially now being nice and making friends with everybody will serve you so much more as you progress through your career.

[00:06:01] And it may not, and they're not inauthentic relationships that you're creating. You're creating these relationships because you like the people you want to learn from them. But, you know, so often I've been able to reach out to somebody that I used to work with because we had a familiar relationship and they generally understood that I cared about them and their profession and their careers and their personal lives as well.

[00:06:22] And those types of connections, when you need them, just come in handy to open doors that otherwise may not become as open to you as quickly. Like, those are, those are the ways that I've felt, , that a network has served me well as I've, as I've grown in my professional career. 

[00:06:39] Jolie Downs: Right. And, and, and network.

[00:06:40] I mean, a lot of times when people hear network, they think networking, but your network is everyone around you. And just like you're saying, it's about, it's about being kind and getting to know all the people around you, you know, not just like the one person who you're directly involved with. So I think that's very valuable advice that not everyone's really paying attention to, to be honest with you.

[00:07:00] Wunmi Bamiduro: Yeah. And I also think that it's one of those things that people also take for granted is that it. The title of the individual that you are engaged with is paramount, and I would argue or say, not necessarily, you know, everybody has their own cohort of individuals, which they communicate with, and they are like, that is our circle being able to tap any one of those circles, like.

[00:07:24] Executive assistants. One might not think about them as, you know, one of the most powerful people within an organization, but they are, you can give you or deny you access to an individual being able to ask that person for help and all of those individuals within that cohort. They all talk. So having a good reputation amongst various cohorts of people, I think, is just as important as seeking out someone who has the title that you may think is important at the end of the day.

[00:07:53] Jolie Downs: That's perfect. I'm just out of curiosity. , is there something that you proactively do? Or you just, do you just go through life being kind and good to everybody? Or is there, is there something that you kind of bring forth that other people could use as 

[00:08:04] Wunmi Bamiduro: well? I would say it's not, our jobs are, our jobs are our jobs.

[00:08:11] We spend a large amount of time doing our professional. But I think the way that you can add value and create a strong relationship with somebody is truly understanding the whole individual that you're speaking with. Do these people have kids? Do these, like, what do they enjoy outside of? working. What is this individual truly like as a person and not as the executive you're trying to serve or the person you're trying to get a story out of?

[00:08:43] Like, those are the things that I think at the end of the day have helped me and will help other individuals as they move along in their career is to really understand the person that you're sitting across from or talking to or helping serve as a true person and not just a a job that that can help you so much in in understanding what drives a person what a person fears what a person is anxious about and all of those things help.

[00:09:12] You as professional kind of do your job and know when to pull what levers but help you also give you helps give you a good bearing of the individual as a, as a person, not just as a, as I said, not just as a 

[00:09:23] Jolie Downs: job. Absolutely. I love it. I just want to yes, I would give a little applause for that. The authentic connection, right?

[00:09:30] Yeah, I love that. That's fantastic. It's really good advice all around. Okay. So now what about a story? I love when people share a story. Is there something that was impactful that happened to you in your work career at some point that ended up being a lesson for you? What happened and what did you learn?

[00:09:50] Wunmi Bamiduro: I guess I, the, I would say it's a more recent, learning it is to be humble and to know how to apologize, but also course correct for the future. , I had. A like a large event that I was helping plan and given the age in which we live in, which a lot of people are now virtual. This event was bringing broadcast to probably 700 people, almost 1000 people virtually, , and technically on my end when I was presenting the materials, everything looked perfect.

[00:10:27] But on the viewing end, the slides and the transitions were a little They're a little off. And so it didn't make for a clean presentation. Now, did I think that it went well overall? Yes, but it's those little details that somehow kind of stick with people about what went well or how well an event went.

[00:10:49] And at the end of the day. I, I sent the executive an email just saying, Hey, like I realized after the fact, though, I kind of picked up on the cues that things weren't necessarily going well from a, from a technology standpoint, I thought that we were able to address it, but it seems like it persisted here are the things that I've learned coming out of it here are the things that we're going to be moving forward to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

[00:11:13] And yes, you can have the best laid plans, but the best laid plans go to waste sometimes. And you need to learn how to pivot and adjust and. Course correct in the in the aftermath and so, yeah, I put procedures in place and, you know, we're going to double and triple check the audio and the video quality to make sure that the network or the system that we're using can handle.

[00:11:33] a large number of people and the slide transitions are very easy and seamless. So again, it's one of those areas where saying sorry or admitting that like you've learned something out of something not going well is one of those lessons I think are just ever valuable to people as they progress with their career because it helps you be a authentic, but be know that when things don't go well, you're able to say.

[00:11:59] You know, my bad. 

[00:12:00] Jolie Downs: Absolutely. No, this is very powerful. It's incredibly important. And it makes all the difference, both in your career and in life, to be honest with you. This is, this is a big thing because these things are going to happen. I mean, you can't, you're not going to get through life without something like this happening multiple times in different ways, right?

[00:12:17] But exactly what you did is I feel like. The exact lesson that I would hope people would take and do upon themselves if they experience something being humble a I mean, and let's just really quick on being humble separately, like being humble is just a beautiful thing and, and really psychologically speaking, people who are humble, the people around them want to build them up, right?

[00:12:41] I mean, that's what I find is when people who have that humbleness to them, it attracts the desire to want that person to do well, if you will, as opposed to if you come in really cocky and like, oh, no, I mean, like with your presentation as an example, other people might have had this experience and then and said, you know what, it really wasn't that bad.

[00:13:03] You know, I feel like the message came across just fine, you know, next time, you know, we'll try to do something a little different, but there's, there's, there's a way that you come about things and by coming about things like, you know what, that didn't go very well. It could have been better. Let me evaluate this.

[00:13:17] Let's look at this and see what could we have done differently that could have made this. even better or gone more smoothly. And then I'm going to learn from that. I'm going to take that information, apply it moving forward and make sure that I don't do the same thing. This is incredibly valuable. This is how you have success in life.

[00:13:35] And this is another way that you have strong connections, authentic connections, and people are able to trust you and respect you and know that you're going to take care of things moving forward. 

[00:13:45] Wunmi Bamiduro: Yeah. And sometimes quite frankly, it doesn't, it doesn't the. Sometimes it doesn't go well. Sometimes the response to you taking accountability for something doesn't go well from the executive standpoint.

[00:13:57] But at the end of the day, you have to try. You have to put that fig leaf forward. Because for your own personal professional growth, you kind of have to make sure you check that box every time when things, when things don't go well. Well, 

[00:14:10] Jolie Downs: again, and that's how you grow. That's how you get better. That's how you make sure it doesn't happen again, is by understanding that this is a part of life and taking the time to learn from it rather than shutting it down or moving forward or ignoring it.

[00:14:20] There's so many different ways that people do not grow from these situations. There's so many ways. So when, you actually pay attention to and look at life in these ways and when these things happen, you do grow and learn. That is how these people keep expanding higher and higher in life.

[00:14:38] If you ask me. Yeah. So, thank you. And now what about. Something that you've read. I always like to ask people if there's anything that has impacted you in a positive way. Something that you read, something you listened to or watched. Is there anything that you would have to share that you feel others could benefit from as well?

[00:14:58] Wunmi Bamiduro: I would say, I mean, I, I, I swear by HBR. I know lots of executives do. HBR just has, like, the content that they have. Is just great, just in terms of business acumen, they cover a wide variety of things and all of those topics that they cover are all interconnected, whether it's technology or talent or leadership or, you know, business operations, anything that they talk about.

[00:15:31] is usually top of mind for most leaders and executives. So for me, like, HBR is a fantastic source for new, relevant content, for anybody looking to understand what is driving corporate performance or what is driving businesses to make certain changes. , on the personal side, I love books about, , cognitive science and psychology and the, the, The interactions of people.

[00:15:58] So if you haven't, there's a book called. The Power of Habit, it is good just because you learn so much about what you do on a consistent basis that makes you good. You also learn about what other people do and how those, the things that they do kind of have helped them become the person that they are.

[00:16:20] So any book that I said that anyone can consume about understanding the interactions of People and individuals. I think it's just this day and age where we are as a country and where we are in business is just something that will be invaluable as you kind of move throughout your life in terms of forming those relationships that I think are critical and important.

[00:16:40] Jolie Downs: Completely agree. And I, you know, the power of the habit. I actually, someone had suggested that to me. I just picked it up recently. I was looking to see if I had it by my desk. So that's on my list. I'm really glad. Now, before you go, I'd love to ask you this kind of, it kind of goes along. I'm curious, what would you, what do you feel is your personal superpower that you've developed over the years and, and how, how does it help you?

[00:17:04] Wunmi Bamiduro: Personal superpower. Yeah. That's a good question.

[00:17:10] Being able to read a room, being able to get, being able to get into inside somebody's head. Mm-Hmm. , I may not be. 100 percent accurate all of the time, but I would say within several interactions with somebody, my brain is beginning to think about what drives this person, what keeps this person up at night?

[00:17:34] How do I help this person? How do I make this person look good? Like what is, what can be my role in helping this person succeed? And that's helping myself succeed at the end of the day. I really enjoy sitting down with people and talking with them because for me that helps me create like an instant connection and instant bond that I can then go back to and learn from and help kind of mature in the way that I need it to at the end of the day to either just understand the person as a person or their business directives and their kind of goals.

[00:18:04] So I would say. That is probably my superpower. 

[00:18:09] Jolie Downs: That is an amazing superpower, too. You clearly have a high EQ, which it makes a big difference in life. Is there any, I'm just curious, is there anything that you've done that has helped you develop that? Is there anything, you know, that, that you could suggest that could help other people develop that?

[00:18:23] Wunmi Bamiduro: Man, that's a, that's a, it's a loaded one. I would, I would say, I would, I am not ashamed to say that I've had therapy, like, as a, like, as a person, I've, I love 

[00:18:36] Jolie Downs: therapy, 

[00:18:37] Wunmi Bamiduro: me too, I've had therapy and I think having therapy or being able to just understand yourself, your desires, what makes you great, what doesn't.

[00:18:50] Like having that sense of internal understanding of who you are as a person can only aid you when you talk to people or want to connect with them because at the end of the day, like you are confident enough to talk about yourself in an open way that puts other people at ease and And makes them understand that, okay, this person knows enough about themselves and feels comfortable enough sharing it with other people.

[00:19:13] How does that then translate to them kind of putting down their guard and sharing a little bit about themselves or something that you may not, on the face of it, know and learn about them that helps you build a more holistic profile , of the individual that you're working with. I would say, like, that's, if you can do it, do it.

[00:19:33] Jolie Downs: Thank you so much. This has been a wonderful conversation. I really appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us on The Queer Wanderlust. 

[00:19:41] Wunmi Bamiduro: It sounds fantastic. My pleasure. Thank you.