There aren’t many people who can boast Mike McHugh’s accomplishment: nine positions within nine years, consistently stepping up the corporate ladder. And you thought you were upwardly mobile! From his start as a Media Analyst back in 1999, he was promoted to Media Buyer. Then he traded into Client Services as an Account Executive and consecutively moved up to Senior Account Executive, Director of New Business Development, Director of Client Services, Director of both Client Services and New Business Development (still with me?), Vice President of Interactive Marketing, and finally Chief Interactive Officer.
McHugh’s a funny guy, the kind of guy who likes watching and playing sports and says his motto for life is, “More beer please.” It’s all very laidback, and it could be deceiving. But when you start talking to him about work, about challenges, about success, then it’s not at all hard to see how he got to his position as CIO in well under 10 years. It’s about drive and focus.
“The biggest thing is to just invest yourself into what you want to accomplish,” McHugh says. “Too many people say they want something but don’t commit themselves to it, and then wonder about why they aren’t successful when it’s their own lack of investment. If you want to grow and be successful in whatever you do, you have to make your actions match your words and really become a part of that thing.”
Which is exactly what he does – and may be why he identified a little bit with Tony Soprano from The Sopranos. Not that anyone over in Interactive is going to be sleepin’ with the fishes (at least not as far as we know), but when the pressure is on and the questions are flying in from every angle, McHugh turns that all into strength and deals with it. Just like Tony.
“We run into challenges every day from direction or the other,” says McHugh. “Sometimes it is partners we work with, systems we have, client concerns or any number of things. It is all about identifying the core problem, deciding on if it is anything we can do anything about, and then what is the best thing to do to overcome or work around the issue.”
A balanced, focused outlook, all the more important to have as the interactive sector of the advertising industry grows exponentially in importance. McHugh keeps PlattForm in the interactive game, coming up with new ways to drive revenue and grow leads and be dynamic in a fast-moving industry.
And at the end of the day, he slows it down and kicks back with a beer.