This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast more what You Hear weekday afternoons on the Drive.
She was once the CEO of one of the more influential sports, lifestyle and entertainment media brands on the Internet to Barstool Sports, Erica ayers Badan has written many other books, You're a Badass, Atomic Habits, and her latest, Nobody Cares About Your Career, Why Failure Is Good, The Great Ones, Play Hurt, and other hard truths. Erica, I hope you're not playing hurt today.
I'm not, are you?
No? No, not emotionally nor physically. But what was the purpose of this?
Yeah? You know, I wrote the book on the train to New York City every day when I was running Barstool Sports. I really Barstool was a crazy workplace. It was a funny farm, It was a pirate ship. We had one of the most out there were cultures known to man. And what I really saw was a lot of lessons and a lot of experiences that I thought everyone could take into their work life. I think work is tuition and you get out of it what you
put into it. And I don't think there's anyone who's in the middle of their own career, who's giving perspective and opinion about what it takes to be successful in a way that can appeal to most anyone. So you work at Google, you work in a gift shop, you work in a nursing home, you work, you're a teacher. I think it doesn't matter where you work, if you bring yourself to work, if you work hard, if you're willing to fail, if you're willing to learn, you can use work to give yourself a better life.
Your's play in my song Erica. I had the advantage, and some would say disadvantage, of falling in love with a business. I'm in at a very tender age, maybe eight or ten, and started my journey in this career when I was fourteen or fifteen, and have loved every day that i've that I've been in it, and and I'm one of the few of my fellow students and fellow friends who had that advantage to like what they do. I can't imagine going into a job each day on a job that you.
Hate one hundred percent. I mean, life is short. I think everyone can love what they do. I think when you're starting in your career sometimes you're lucky and you fall into your dream job right away, or you've got to you know, more like me, you've got to slog through a couple of dumb jobs to get there. But you know, I think you've got to make the most of where you work and also how you work, and if you love what you do, work will never feel
like work. And that's, you know, the greatest thing about We spend more time at work than we spend doing anything else in our lives. So this book is really about, you know, how do you unlock that, how do you be your best at it? How do you figure it out? How do you get up courage to go for something you didn't think you were ready for or capable of. So this book is really full of that kind of message.
The name of the book is Nobody cares about your career, Why failure is good? The great ones play hurt, and other hard truths. That was one thing I too learned early on. Nobody does care about my career. They're not here to help me. They're here to make me perform tasks that will make them successful.
Exactly. Yeah, you know, it's so funny. Somebody sent me a direct DM over the internet. Was like, Oh, the title of your book is so depressing, And I was like, the title of the book is so great, Like how liberating that no one cares about your career. You can do exactly what makes you happy. You can do exactly what you want. Stop doing things that you think are the right thing to do because somebody else likes them
and you don't. So I also think every you know, a lot of times at work, people just sit around and expect that, you know, someone's going to come trotting up on some white horse and save them or do it for them, or figure it out for them, or make it better for them, And the reality is it's just not going to happen, and you have to move
forward for yourself, by yourself, because of yourself. And this, you know, this is really like a real time message from things I've screwed up and done wrong and done right and learned from in the last twenty years of my career.
And we're talking to Erica ayers Bedan. The book is nobody cares about your career. She's a former CEO of Barstool Sports and many many others. Also voted one of Forbes's most Powerful Women in the US we're living and work. I learned this in the pandemic Erica. We're living and working in a time where things are in overdrive. We are moving forward so fast it is often difficult for
your employer even to keep up, let alone you. And oftentimes you will find that things are moving so fast that what was important to your com copy or maybe to a goal that you've been provided with may not be as soon as the end of the week. And you feel like you've spent your wheels, spend spun your wheels on a project that at the end of the week is no longer important. Is there a way to deal with that?
Yeah? It super frustrating right where you're like, like, I spent all this time, I put in all this effort, I had to deal with all these stupid people to get whatever the thing is done, and then you find out the thing doesn't matter. And you know, for me, it's all about how you look at it. If you choose,
you know, I think your environment is relentless. So if you choose to just be consumed by all of the stupid things that happen at work, and it doesn't matter where you work, stupid things happen, then you're going to feel negative about it, versus saying, hey, I'm going to take this experience. I'm going to learn how I don't want to be when I'm a boss, or what I do want to do the next time I'm given the
ball on this project. And you know, it's also hard where a lot of people now work from their homes, so it's hard to it is hard to keep up, so you've got to go the extra mile to ask. I think a lot of times people don't do really basic things like just ask the question and if something's bothering you at work or something seems you know, like it's not making sense at work, or it's a waste of time at work, just that there's no harm in ever asking the question. And I wish people did that more.
We're talking to the former CEO of Oarstool Sports. Erica ayers, but Dan, nobody cares about your career is the book and you give a Well, I've started out this conversation saying that I was lucky enough to fall in love with what I do and have ever since. But that doesn't mean, like all good lovers, it hasn't broken my heart once in a while, all jobs break your Yeah, so is there is there a way to avoid that or is there another way to think about it?
No? I mean I think that's exactly the point, which is, you know, I think all of us are striving to be happy and to be fulfilled and to feel a sense of purpose, and that you're on a mission to be whatever it is you want to be. And my point in the book is really your mission should just be for you. It shouldn't be because it's what your mom wants you to do, or what you know, the fancy guy you know at the country club wants to do.
Like it should be for you. And it's good to have your heart broken because it means you put yourself out there and you loved. And I think the same is true of work.
And finally you talk about not being a bleephole at work.
Yes, I do. Everyone is a jerk at work at one point or another, and it's easy to fall into being a jerk. Right, I'm a CEO. Now, I have someone yesterday in my office and I was like, you're just being a complete jerk. And this chapter is really about, hey, how do you avoid that? So when someone makes you super mad? How do you not send the email right away, You're like, oh, I wish I didn't say that.
There are times when I've written that email and given it a good thirty minute cooling period where I came back and said, ooh, I'm glad I didn't hit send. Just the writing of the email was therapeutic enough.
Exactly, I have failed more and I've actually sent the email, and then I spend four days being like, why did I say that?
Erica ayers, but Dan, nobody cares about your career. Why failure is good? The great Ones, Play Hurt and other hard truths out everywhere you get books, And thank you for joining us today, Thank you for having me, Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation