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Welcome back to another episode of the Your Good News Podcast!
On this week's episode, Katherine is joined by Mark Williams, a seasoned, dynamic, and high-energy government affairs professional.
As we continue on mentorship month, Mark offers up his mantra of "work hard, be nice." He explains how this has been a north star for his career and personal life. We discuss the importance of not being rigid in plans - allowing yourself to explore interests and not get stuck on one exact path. We also discuss motion over momentum - how actions can cause activity but not be pulling you forward.
It's easy to believe the news around us that there's nothing good coming out of Washington. But each Thursday, I'll give you the scoop on the good news coming out of Washington. Both an update on what's happening in Washington and how you can get involved with this thing called democracy.
Katherine Getty 0:04
Hi, and welcome to the yoga news podcast with me, Katherine Getty. It's easy to believe the news around us that the world is dark in the future is the same. But what if we chose something different? What if we chose to find the good news in each day? This podcast is a collection of interviews with friends, mentors, colleagues, on their good news, from business to health, to politics, and everything in between. It's my hope that you leave the booths and find your good news. As mentorship month or so I call it continues. I want to end out this theme with another interview on how to gain mentors, how to accept or challenge their advice, and most importantly, the wisdom of just being nice and working hard. Today, we're joined by Mark Williams and Mark and I met in DC. And I was instantly struck by how dynamic he is. It's pretty easy to hear, as you'll hear shortly, how he seeks to build bridges and our conversation circles around advice he got along the way. We touch not only on not being too rigid in the path you choose, being open to advice from mentors and asking for that help. Without further ado, my interview with Mark welcome back to a another episode of The your good news podcast. I always begin asking the same question. So Mark, what's your good news today?
Mark Williams 1:35
Hey, man, I got tons of it. I guess I you woke up You got breath in your lungs. But I got two healthy kids. I got a fantastic wife. I got a job that I can't believe they let me do. And I'm here in the nation's capitol kind of live in a little bit of a dream that, you know, I started having when I was 19 years old. So things aren't that bad. I wish the Texas Longhorns were a little bit better. It's not good news. They lost the the NCAA tournament, but now March Madness is going and the cherry blossoms are blossoming and happening. And we've got tourists back in DC. So I mean all things considering kind of where we've been the past two years, it seems to be all good news for me right now.
Katherine Getty 2:22
Well, that's good to hear. And as a gator fan who didn't even make March Madness, I think making the tournament making the big dance. That's a great thing for the Longhorns. So you got that on the Gators.
Mark Williams 2:34
Well, and we hadn't I didn't know this, but we hadn't won a tournament game in, let's say a decade. So we had a new coach this year. We won one game in the in the big dance. So it's all gravy.
Katherine Getty 2:44
I mean, that's amazing. Here we go. Yep, national championships next year. All right.
Mark Williams 2:50
As a gator fan, you know that expectations can get out of whack? Real quickly.
Katherine Getty 2:56
We think a coach is going to fix everything. But we could do an entire another podcasts on gators in Texas Longhorns. So well, we'll save that for another day. But I think you kind of eloquently talked about the dream of being in DC. And so I'm gonna set the stage for everyone that mentorship and I think advice on navigating a career. And whatever it may be, or balancing life is always something I think is really interesting. And I feel like listeners have been curious about. So I'd love to set the foundation for you. You shared you'd always dreamed of this since you were 19 to be in DC. So give us a little bit of your background. I did a little in the pre show prep, but when I hear it from from you, yeah, no,
Mark Williams 3:38
it's crazy. I was never super super into politics. I started to you know, see it focus on it a little bit in college, but it wasn't a poli sci major was English and Spanish major. Only because those were the paths of least resistance to get out of college. I wouldn't consider myself a very robust college student. Parents, right, but I got a I got a crazy intern and wasn't even a crazy internship. My first internship in college was my one and only internship in college. I and this was kind of when the I'm dating myself now because it's kind of when the internet was starting to like really take hold. I got a job for a company called gallery watch, where I would sit in on committee hearings at the state capitol. I would annotate them, I would take it back to the office and then we would upload it on our newfangled website, then people would pay pay for that. And that's amazing. Yeah. And I remember being in the statehouse, and there were in I remember, very, very clearly, there was a guy there that everyone kind of knew and he was able to interact with, you know, with staff, and with members and with other people that were that were dressed really, really nicely and I wouldn't. I elbowed like my colleague, I was like, Who's Who's this dude? They're like, Oh, well, he's a oil and gas lobbyist. Then I was like, that's kind of what I want to be. I didn't know what a lobbyist was at the time. At all, I was just like that, that seems like a good, good place for me to try and be and you know, just kind of got it took off from there. I knew I wanted to come to DC. I didn't have any kind of family connections at all. So I walked into my local congressman's office, and it was like, I'm here to help. So my first job out of college wasn't really a job. It was a another internship where I was putting out yard signs and organizing volunteers on a very small congressional race. And, you know, from there, they asked me to come up, and I did that the way I like to phrase it, I did that so well. They're like, hey, come up to DC, answer phones, and give tours, like, Oh, great. And of course, I loved it. I showed up into DC I had, you know, one suit, I had $500. In my pocket, I knew one person in town. And that was really it. It was my, my kind of my only option was to was to give this a go. So I slept on someone's couch. And, you know, just kind of kind of took hold from there.
Katherine Getty 6:05
It's funny, like, as I'm hearing you tell your story. It's funny how those little things of just taking like I would go, one of my first internships when I moved to DC was annotating for a firm all the hearings, and like getting all the key takeaways and sending it back or, you know, you saw someone who was doing a job he thought was really cool. And you asked another question, or you took an internship, another leap on an internship, I think it's funny how those little moments or those little decisions can pay dividends down the road. Have you felt like, oh, it makes sense now how how I've gotten to where I've gotten.
Mark Williams 6:42
Yeah, I wasn't one of those people that had anything figured out at all. It
Katherine Getty 6:48
was do you see as they do, right? Question.
Mark Williams 6:51
And I've had interns now that have worked for me, and I see some of these folks that have it really figured out and I'm hugely jealous of them. But my advice to them is like, you don't have to be so rigid in your planning. I was like the best things that have ever come to me. I've been because I've I've worked hard at it, but that I've kept an open mind. And you know, with the with the people in the places that I've the people, the people that I've met, and the places that I that I've gone,
Katherine Getty 7:18
when you're kind of seeking, you're like, Okay, I want to be a lobbyists, not sure the definition of that is eye to I watch West swing, and I was like, oh, I want to go to DC and do that. I had no idea what any of them did. But I knew I wanted to do it. So I was similar. But I asked questions and started to get to know them. How did you kind of make these people an official mentor or unofficial and just kind of follow along in their careers?
Mark Williams 7:44
No, it wasn't even a lobbyist though I think was my my first mentor is my first Chief of Staff. And, you know, to this date, I don't even think he knew that he was a mentor of mine. And so I tell people, like at least have the conversation. So people know. But I used kind of his, his template as as mine. Right. And I would ask him questions and kind of follow his lead on what he had done. And I mean, like, there, we had a lot of similarities. We had very similar personalities, we both had gone to the same university. So and we were cut from from the same cloth. But you know, now that I look back on, I was like, I've mirrored a lot of kind of what I've done after what he's done. And he I mean, he's a great dude with so it makes sense that I would try and emulate a lot of what he had done previously.
Katherine Getty 8:33
And I think you bring up a really interesting point on actually having the conversation of like, Hey, I think of you as a mentor. Do you have any, like tips or tricks that people could utilize? Because I think that sometimes people are afraid to have that conversation. And I've, in my experience, people are more than willing to help you if you just ask them. Any any tips or tricks on that area?
Mark Williams 8:55
No, I tell everyone to always try to be as open as possible in in those conversations. I go, but it's DC. And everyone likes to offer their opinion. I was like so if you ask for someone's opinion, especially in a mentorship role, I'm pretty sure that person is gonna say yes, yeah, I posted they said, No, you don't want them as a mentor anyway. Yeah.
Katherine Getty 9:19
It's so interesting, though, like, as I think navigating and this is obviously a very DC centric conversation. But I think a lot of the lessons can be applied of seeing someone in a similar career that you've interested in asking questions or not being rigid with kind of those plans that you make for yourself and letting I think life kind of has other other plans along the way. Do you have you had moments where you're like, I really appreciate that piece of advice. It just doesn't feel right in my gut and how have you kind of handled that?
Mark Williams 9:51
Yeah, it wasn't from that mentor specifically. It was from someone else and I was having kind of, I don't want to say huge profession. Little issues, but I was in a, I was in a job that I wasn't wholly happy at. And so I sought out a lot of people to, you know, bounce the conversation or have the conversation with, you know, what is my next step look like? Like how do I kind of pull the pull the parachute out of here, because I am, I'm really, I'm really miserable. And, you know, of course, being DC, everyone, everyone had an opinion. And there was one person that I, you know, really respect and they were like, you've got to just hang in there and not leave, you've got these two young kids at home. I was like, but this job is making me physically ill, like, I can't be here anymore. And they're like, Oh, it doesn't matter. Like it's going to go to look bad on your on your resume. And so that piece of advice I did not take? Yeah, no, I didn't tell them that I wasn't gonna take it. I was just like, Okay, thank you. I obviously appreciate that very, very, very much. And, you know, ended up going and quitting that job, you know, a couple days, a couple days later, against against some people's advice. And look, that ended up being the best way for me to handle that that situation.
Katherine Getty 11:07
Yeah. And I think sometimes it feels like a little bit of her rejection. But it's always helpful, I think, to have a number of people advise you and it sounds like you have always kind of cultivated a group of people to kind of be like, in DC, we call it a kitchen cabinet. Do you have your own kitchen cabinet?
Mark Williams 11:25
I do. And it's part of the network that you kind of kind of pulled together over the years. But it's also folks that I trust have been through some some things, right? Because I know that I don't have nearly all the answers at all. And so I like to lean heavily on on folks, I've you know, I've done it. When I was dissatisfied in jobs. I've done it when I've been transitioning jobs. Because quite frankly, I hadn't dealt with either of those. So a whole lot in my life. And so I wanted to, I really wanted to lean on folks who had that that experience. And you know, it's great now that I've been through some of that I can kind of be a sounding board for for people who are going through similar experiences. Like I had a friend of mine who was recently on unhappy in his job. And I was like, Look, this is how I handled it. And I tried to preface it to him, I was like, I'm not saying that there's a one size fit all for for all of it. But this is how I handled it. And this is how I felt afterwards, take take this advice for what you will, I was like, I am not going to be mad if you go in the exact opposite direction, because I went in the exact opposite direction of what some people told me to do.
Katherine Getty 12:31
Well, and I think it's a really good way that you caveat as like, this isn't this is not a one size fits all idea. But this is how I've handled it. I appreciate that. And I think I wish more people would kind of do that in DC. But maybe that's for another another podcast. I don't know.
Mark Williams 12:46
We're up to three. Now.
Katherine Getty 12:47
We're up to three. But Mark, I think you've kind of touched on an interesting point is, you know, dissatisfaction at work and how to kind of navigate it. I know you have an amazing job right now. But at times, how have you kind of navigated working through kind of jobs that in DC sometimes are pretty nasty, with lots of personalities?
Mark Williams 13:10
Yeah, it's it's tough. And I've only really had one that just really was dissatisfied, right. And to the point where it was physically affecting me, obviously, it was emotionally affecting me. And it's, it's tough to navigate, especially if you hadn't been in a place of work where you didn't really enjoy it, you didn't enjoy your coworkers, right, like I had always, I don't know, kind of been under a lucky star that since my time in DC I been I worked for really great bosses. And I had really great coworkers. And oddly enough, I would get promoted from time to time, I still don't know how that ever happened. And look, there were some cases where, you know, I thought that I was probably reaching some ceilings in some positions and, you know, you, you start to get a little bit dissatisfied. But then you have to, I think the thing that carries it carries me in those situations is I always thought to myself, I will not always be here. Like, I know it feels that way right now. But this isn't my end, there's going to be a next step. And next evolution for me, I just have to put into motion and work hard enough to get to that next step. So that that was helpful when I did find myself in a, you know, really wholly dissatisfied, dissatisfied in place. I had to just I had to finally just exit because I wasn't gonna be able to find whatever that next step was, for me while still existing kind of in in this space and being run around in circles, not being able to focus on what the next step was, was going to be. I was like, Look, I'm I'm, I know that I'm changing one stressor for for another, but at least that structure is on my terms, not someone else's.
Katherine Getty 14:51
Like Mike drop my. I mean, I think that's like, it's a powerful mindset to be like, I'm not always going to be here. And it also sounds like you have found lessons and apply them like moving forward of like, okay, if I'm at this point, this is kind of how I could move through it. And then I'm not always going to be in this place where someone is going to be causing me stress. So I think that those are really valuable lessons. May you be in DC, may you be in a job that you don't like, or a relationship or a friendship, whatever it may be.
Mark Williams 15:22
It was and I remember going through it. And some advice that I got from folks during that time was, well, you're gonna learn from this experience. And I was like, man, screw y'all. I was like, Yeah, you go through this, like this is this is awful. But now in retrospect, it was a very meaningful and educational experience right. Now. Would I want to go through that again? Absolutely not. But I learned a ton of stuff kind of going through those difficult situations, right. And I think we can all admit that the greatest amount of personal growth comes from uncomfortable situations, right. And that's one. One thing I try to tell folks all the time, like, when you're in a job and you feel really comfortable in it, then it's probably time to move on to the to the next phase of phase of your life, because you're not going to keep kind of pushing and striving for what's next. If you're if you're super comfortable. And I've been comfortable and phases. Yeah, career,
Katherine Getty 16:16
well that comfortability point I think is a really interesting point. Because I think there's sometimes this idea, and I'd be curious, your thoughts on it that you need to get to that point where you're comfortable to be on like this autopilot. I don't know if this is maybe I think somewhere along the line, we were sold this idea that it everything needed to be easy. So I think it's a very interesting counterpoint of like, you don't grow when you're comfortable. I mean, everyone knows that,
Mark Williams 16:42
like, it's professionally. I mean, it's physically right, like when I think about so I've done a couple of Ironman triathlons. And the greatest kind of gains that you get is when you're, you're pushing yourself kind of beyond the barriers that you can use, or the parameters you put for yourself, right? That's, that's when you gain that much more endurance, that's when you gain that much more head strength is when you push kind of past the point that you think you can actually actually do it.
Katherine Getty 17:12
I think it's as you talk about this, I'm kind of flashing back to when you said I think I was a longer lucky star. But it sounds like there's been a ton of hard work. So I feel like you're you're selling yourself short by saying you were under a lucky star. In a world that feels like feeds on the easy and the fast and the being comfy. How do you kind of navigate like continuing to like, show up authentically use yourself and working hard and being proud of it? Do you find it hard sometimes, or you don't know another way?
Mark Williams 17:46
I don't really know another way to look, I've always carried a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I was never the biggest guy. I was never the fastest one. I was never the smartest one. And it took me a while to really embrace hard work. Right? Like I think growing up, everyone says, Hey, I worked hard. Sure. Maybe Maybe I did. Maybe I maybe I didn't. But it's definitely something that I that I strive for now because I'm quite frankly afraid that someone else is going to be out there working harder than me. Yeah. Right. And I thought that way in sports growing up to like I was caught, they probably hated having me on sport teams, because such a trihard I was I wasn't very talented at all. They're like, why is Mark still running all these sprints? Like, we want to be done. And that was just the only way that I knew to ever get better. Like that. That was the only way I could be better than anyone else. Because I definitely did not have the natural ability at all.
Katherine Getty 18:44
Well, I think that I think all of us in DC, if I'm being really honest, have some chip on their shoulder of like, I didn't have this right internship or I didn't go to this school that had a feeder or whatever it may be. And I really can empathize with the idea of like working harder because you never want someone to outwork you. But I think it's hard sometimes in navigating like, am I working hard? Or am I spinning my wheels? That's never ever have those moments where you're like, which? Where am I at?
Mark Williams 19:18
Yeah, I definitely feel myself spinning wheels. We call it motion not momentum. Right. And so you're just you're you're doing a lot of a lot of spinning around in circles. But you're not making a whole lot of lot of headway and you have to you have to capture yourself kind of during during those moments, right and course correct if you if you can, but don't stop. I mean look, there's time to stop and you've got it right you definitely need to kind of those those mental health checks where you don't want to grind yourself into the into the ground and kind of hate your teacher life right like I do so I can provide a better I live for my for my family, right? I can progress along this this lucky path that I'm on. I don't like I feel so fortunate to be doing doing what I'm doing. I don't want to screw it up.
Katherine Getty 20:14
I think like, as I'm kind of trying to bring this puppy home, I feel like you've given us a lot of along the way kind of hinted at like life lessons or values that are really important to you, as you think about what it may be mentorship, or navigating a career that's uncomfortable, or trying to figure out kind of what that next step is, and not being in motion versus momentum. What for you kind of helped me that out? Well, you keep using the star analogy, that North Star for you, as you kind of work along the way. I mean,
Mark Williams 20:49
what's, what's amazing about DC and what I've been fortunate about is there are some hugely motivated people here in town. And some of them were my friends. And I've been hugely fortunate to have friends that are very, very motivated professionally. And I think if I hadn't been here, and been alongside them, and see them really strive in their careers, and it's not me so much like being a little brother trying to trying to keep up, but kind of it it it kind of is right and it's a if I don't continue to strive, I'm going to get it, I feel like left behind, somewhat. And that's that's a little bit of that chip that still remains on my on my shoulder.
Katherine Getty 21:30
I feel that deeply. But I think Mark, I feel like you've given us so many great little nuggets along the way of not being rigid or working hard or embracing that hard work and finding the mentors and actually asking them along the way and, and ensuring that you're just kind of always striving for something new. And I think that this may you be in DC, may You not be in DC you can use these lessons. But before we close it up, Mark, anything you want to leave the listeners with?
Mark Williams 22:02
No, I mean, it's everyone's got unique opportunity in front of them. Right. And I think it's it's everyone's kind of own path to figure out what that is, you know, I just got ahead of I had a lunch with a whole bunch of new interns here in town, like, like 10 of them and, you know, they asked me well do you need to go to law school you need to do this do you need to do that it was like there's, it's not a one size fits all for everyone I was like, you've got to find, you know, the, the right suit that fits you, you got to find the right path for yourself remain open to it all remain open to all the people and all the conversations. Because at the end of the day, you're going to end up probably where you should be as long as you work hard to is like, look, the the equation is not tough. It's work hard, and be nice to people. Or like if you do those two things, I was like, you're gonna you're gonna go a long way. Because look, there are people that work hard in this town, but are huge jerks, right?
Katherine Getty 22:58
And then going next is going
Mark Williams 23:01
and then there are people in this town that are super nice, but not super hard. Workers love them. But they're gonna stagnate. Some it was like just just do those two things and look at the crowd and eventually finds it finds its way to the top. At some point. I don't necessarily consider myself cream at all. But if you do those two things, you're going to you're going to be able to rise rise up further than I think you probably thought that you could write and you're going to surprise yourself along the way.
Katherine Getty 23:29
Work hard, be nice. That's our mantra for the day. I hope everyone has enjoyed this conversation as much as I have. Mark, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
Mark Williams 23:40
Oh, love being here. I look forward to Texas joining the SEC and then we have that podcast.
Katherine Getty 23:47
Well, we can talk about that one. I don't know if I want to be nice on that episode.
Mark Williams 23:52
That's gonna be the bad news. But
Katherine Getty 23:55
Go Gators. What a fun way to bring these few episodes home. Mark had some tangible advice for navigating your career, finding mentors finding your way. And just that amazing reminder to work hard and be nice. Thank you. Thank you, Mark for joining and thank you for listening to another episode of the Oregon news podcast. If you liked the episode, please subscribe. Leave a Review share with someone you know posts on social media. These seemingly little actions can really help this little engine that could what I referred to as the orchid news podcast grow. also reach out to me. I'm on Instagram handle is at Katherine Getty I'd love I'd love to hear your feedback. I'd love to know what you like to listen to what you want to hear in the future. And I always share more about myself in the podcast there. As always tune in next week to another episode of The your good news podcast.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai