Human on the Inside with Entrepreneur Magazine’s Editor in Chief, Jason Feifer
Human on the Inside. We’re big believers in the power of human skills. But don’t just take our word for it - the evidence for excellence powered by human (‘soft’) skills is everywhere! In this engaging, ever-enlightening series, we speak with industry leaders, innovators and game-changers to learn a little about their personal career journeys, and how human-led strategies, philosophies and cultures are proving a force for good in their working worlds …
Maxme: Welcome Jason, and thanks for stepping into the #SuccessIsHuman Spotlight!
You’re the Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Media, a Keynote Speaker, Author & host of podcast Help Wanted. Through this you’re passionate about helping others build careers or companies they love.
In 1 sentence (ok, we’ll give you 3), what do these roles entail?
Jason Feifer: I have one skill: I can understand how people think, and then translate their thoughts into lessons for others. I used to think that skill was only useful in journalism, but I’ve come to discover that, like most skills, it’s very flexible and broadly applicable — including in the business world!
M: Whilst you joined Entrepreneur in 2015, you’ve had an impressive career in media, spanning a variety of senior editorial roles across notable publications including Men’s Health, Fast Company & Maxim. Most recently you published your first book: Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career.
How does all this work speak to your personal purpose and what drives you as an individual?
JF: I always wanted to do work that mattered to people. When I began my career, I thought that meant reaching massive audiences — the larger the publication, the more people I reached. But over time, I’ve come to realise that although mass media can be powerful and exciting, truly personal impact happens at smaller scales.
When I write for a more targeted audience, reply directly to my newsletter subscribers, get to speak in a room full of people and then talk with many of them after, have 1:1 conversations and build real relationships and communities — that’s where ideas turn into magic. So in the past few years, I’ve devoted an increasingly large amount of time to that.
M: Tell us a little about your personal education pathway/s - what led you to where you are now? How closely do your formal qualifications match your current career?
JF: At every job I’ve ever had, I asked myself two questions: “What do I need to learn? And have I learned it?” This drove me to change jobs frequently — starting in local newspapers, moving to regional magazines, then national magazines, then expanding into new media and business.
The way I see it, everything in your past can inform your future. It isn’t just about formal qualifications; it’s about skill sets you developed, relationships you made, and ways you stretched yourself.
In my work now, I’m calling on all the skills I developed over the course of my career. At Men’s Health, for example, I learned to write in a casual but instructional way — something I do all the time now, but marrying it to a subject matter I first learned at Fast Company.
Podcasting taught me how to engage in lively but probing conversations, and I now use that skill when consulting with entrepreneurs. And on it goes!
M: If you could share one piece of career advice to your 21 year old self it would be ...
JF: Collect everything. For years, I didn’t think about collecting the contacts I made, or finding ways to accrue an audience as I worked and switched jobs. Now I think about how to absorb everything — to maintain as many relationships as possible, to always be engaging audiences and capturing email addresses, and more. Life is about addition, and careers are in many ways built upon the resources you accrue.
M: Maximising the potential of individuals, communities and businesses through the power of human skills is the reason Maxme exists. Can you tell us a little about the role and / or value of human skills in your workplace right now?
JF: Entrepreneur magazine, and the entire Entrepreneur Media ecosystem, is built to drive a kind of feedback loop of human potential. Our writers and editors meet incredible entrepreneurs, learn about their journeys and strategies, and then turn those stories into tangible lessons that help fuel other entrepreneurs — whose stories we might tell later.
Entrepreneurship is the very embodiment of human potential. It is what happens when individuals create and pursue ideas bigger than themselves. At Entrepreneur, we put our own human skills to use by amplifying and encouraging that!
M: Self Awareness sets the critical foundation for all Maxme learning experiences. With that said … what’s your strongest trait / personal super power?
JF: I believe that every human being has the exact same super power: it’s pattern recognition. But we differ in the patterns that we’re great at recognising. This is why some people can study movies, and then make movies. Others can study business turnarounds, and then save failing businesses.
My patterns are about thinking and communication. I can recognise patterns in how people think through problems, recognise patterns in how different forms of media are built. That’s the central skill behind my work: it’s how I can talk to people, then process what I’ve learned into books, podcasts, keynote talks, magazine stories, and so on.
Like I said: everyone has this skill. It’s just a question of what pattern you’re great at recognising, and how you choose to put it to use.
M: And on the flip side, what’s one human / ‘soft’ skill you’ve had to really work on improving over the course of your career?
JF: Staying with the group. As an editor, I’m also a leader — which means I have the privilege of assembling and working with a group of very talented people. But I’ll be honest - my instincts are often to be a lone wolf, chasing and executing ideas on my own. So I’ve needed to balance that out.
M: If you could share one piece of career advice with recent Uni graduates or candidates keen to work as an entrepreneur, what would it be?
JF: Test your ideas in the real world. You cannot perfect a plan without launching it. The best you can do is start something imperfect, and start learning.
M: You’ve been granted approval to add one University graduate to your team, but have 100 applicants, all with outstanding academic results. How do you find your perfect candidate - what are you looking for?
JF: In magazines, we give job candidates an “edit test.” It’s a combination of actual editing (here’s a 500-word story to edit), idea generation (give us 10 story ideas for this page), and critique (tell us what you think about this section, issue, magazine, whatever).
I am always most interested in the critique. I prefer hiring people with a distinct point of view — people who are unafraid to tell me that something’s not working, or that they have a better idea. Skills can be learned. Sensibility is harder. I hire for both, but weigh sensibility more.
M: In the words of John Dewey, “education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.”
What’s next on your #learning agenda?
JF: I launched a newsletter last year called One Thing Better. The idea is this: each week, one way to be more successful and satisfied, and build a career or company you love. I spent the year learning about the newsletter industry, and figuring out how to grow the newsletter and understand my audience better. Then, at the end of the year, I launched a paid community so that subscribers could connect.
This year, I’m diving even deeper — understanding how to build and operate a community, getting to know my paid subscribers individually, and going further into newsletter growth. It’s fun, it’s overwhelming at times, but it’s also very satisfying!
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