When I worked for for a software company, I was fortunate to have on my team a woman, Kristi Lee-John who was an outstanding public relations professional. Today Kristi owns and operates a successful PR firm in Raleigh called Crossroads. I learned quite a lot from Kristie but the biggest gift she gave me was an introduction to her former boss Grace Ueng. Grace was a mentor to Kristie and admired her intellect and the inspirational way that she built her personal brand and lived her life. So Kristie introduced Grace and me and I have learned much from our acquaintance and many conversations about marketing.

Grace has a passion for success and carries this desire to her clients. Her 25 years of work experience spans from consulting at Bain & Company to working inside Fortune 500 brand leaders General Mills, Clorox, and Time Inc. to contributing to five b2c and b2b technology ventures that had exits through public offering or acquisition. She has served on management teams that delivered to investors a return of over $1 billion. Prior to founding her marketing firm, Savvy Marketing Group in 2003, Grace was vice president of marketing for SmartPath, the visionary leader in marketing resource management, sold to DoubleClick. Grace also served as vice president of worldwide marketing for TogetherSoft, an emerging growth player in software application development tools, which was acquired by Borland.

Grace earned her undergraduate degree in management science from MIT and her MBA from Harvard Business School. She has served on the adjunct faculty at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School as well as the international MBA program at Fudan in Shanghai, a joint venture with MIT Sloan School and is involved in numerous non-profits too.

But Grace has has experienced some difficult bumps in the road that are the real mile markers of her career.  Several years ago she experienced serious injury on a bike trek in California with a long and difficult path to recovery. I admire her perseverance and how she use that experience to motivate others in business and her non-profit work too.

Recently Grace gave a Ted X talk in Raleigh at St. David’s School.  During the speech she offers 10 important pieces of advice to the budding entrepreneurs who want to climb their own mountain. In her talk to high school students, you can hear the wisdom from life’s experience.

1. Vision – You need a dream to help get others to join the journey
2. Choosing Teammates – Fit matters more than skillset. Chose colleagues wisely.
3. Committing to Goals and Strategies – You must sign up for the endless possibilities with clear goals in mind.
4. Understand the True Goal – Enjoying the journey together is more important than getting to that finish line. Find people who also relish the hike.
5. Developing The Action Plan – Be clear with what route, what camps and when will you turn back if you reach bumps along the way?
6. Getting The Right Resources– Have seasoned Sherpas and guides to lead you to the top.
7. Getting the Right Sponsors and Advocates – Don’t underestimate the resources needed?
8. Avoid Danger – Be wary of the bad apples who can create internal strife in a business.
9. Understand the Media – Build a clear message for each audience.
10. Choosing the Time to Ascend – Is this the right time to move your vision forward?

At the end of her talk, she offers three specific pieces of advice to the audience of high school students considering a path as an entrepreneur.

• What are you most fearful of?
• What long term goal or mountain do you want to climb?
• What will you do this week to move this forward?

Watch Grace’s talk if you are thinking of getting into an entrepreneurial journey or if you are running a business and need some sage advice.  Learn from a wonderful marketing sherpa and her inspiring talk about facing your fears.

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