IAM183- Communication Professional Helps Clients Tell Complex Stories

Calvin Dark has built his reputation as a creative branding, media, and communications professional for a diverse group of clients & partners. In 2014, Calvin co-founded RC Communications to help clients find their voices to tell complex stories. 
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Throughout his career, Calvin held several leadership roles where he advised embassies, international organizations, foundations & multinational corporations on their strategic communications, public affairs & media outreach. 

Calvin appears regularly in US and international media as a commentator and analyst on foreign affairs, US politics, current events.
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Calvin is a graduate of Duke University, a Fulbright Scholar to Morocco, and speaks English, French, Spanish & Arabic.

Website: https://www.rccommsdc.com/

• CEO Hack: (1) Having a routine, (2) Not losing sight of the goals and vision (3) Not getting discouraged or distracted
• CEO Nugget: Don't be overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment
• CEO Defined: Doing what you love and being accountable

Personal website: www.calvindark.com 
Twitter: @TalesDarkSide
Instagram: @TalesDarkSide

Full Interview

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello! This is Gresham from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Calvin Dark of RC Communications. Calvin, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Calvin Dark 0:35

Glad to be here!

Gresham Harkless 0:36

What I wanted to do, is read a little bit more about Calvin so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Calvin Dark has built his reputation as a creative branding, media, and communications professional for a diverse group of clients and partners. In 2014, Calvin co-founded RC Communications to help clients find their voices to tell complex stories. Throughout his career, Calvin held several leadership roles where he advised embassies, international organizations, foundations, and multinational corporations on their strategic communication, public affairs, and media outreach.

Calvin appears regularly in US and international media as a commentator and analyst on foreign affairs, US politics, and current events. Calvin is a graduate of Duke University, a Fulbright Scholar to Morocco, and speaks English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. The first question I had was to hear a little bit more about your CEO story, what led you to start your business?

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Calvin Dark 1:28

Well, I think I always envision having my own business. Simply because I learned a lot from my father, who was an entrepreneur. And one of the things that my father taught me from a very early age is that when you do something that you love, and you want to put yourself into it, you got to be your own boss. That's what he always told me. And growing up, he had two service stations and a restaurant and did a tourism agency.

So, he lived what he had said. Now, with my story, I think I always had that in the back of my mind as that would be a goal down the road. But I was more focused on the substance of what I wanted to do, which is international communications, commentary, and strategic communications.

What ended up happening, which, like always throws that in there better than I would have planned is that I had an opportunity, you know, five years ago, where I could do what I've had the amazing privilege to do my whole career, but on my own. So I found myself, you know, now an entrepreneur and doing what I love. And I don't think it's any irony that in the rush when I was, doing the paperwork and everything, getting started ordering business cards, doing all that when I registered the company, it was within a week of when my father had registered his company name 40 years ago. So, yeah!

Gresham Harkless 2:49

That's pretty awesome. Yeah, that definitely probably is not as probably by design, so to speak.

Calvin Dark 2:54

Right, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 2:55

Awesome. Well, um, as you said, you know, oftentimes, you know, we make plans, and things just sometimes kind of happen. But usually, they happen for the better. And then the grand scheme of things and what we look like what it looks like and saying, it sounds like that happened for you. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about like what you're doing with RC Communications. Can you tell us how you're supporting our clients?

Calvin Dark 3:12

Yes, well, RC Communications, we have a really, really interesting story. Because we're a small team, my co-founder, had a background in fundraising and media relations with donors for some very big national channels. I had an international background and I did communications for several foreign governments. And so we've been able to combine those skills and serve our clients. We have represented Heads of State and an Opioid Treatment Center, just around the corner.

We've represented police departments on the east coast and on the west coast. And we've also helped very prominent Civil Society and nongovernmental organizations with their projects. What I think is really interesting about what we provide is that we have amazing flexibility and just a breadth of skills because as you can tell from my accent, I'm from North Carolina, we can do things that are very, completely American, like please crisis communications, but then the very same day, we'll be doing a media training for West African country conducting an all in French.

So what our clients get from us is that you can't pigeonhole us into what we can do, and I think that found that useful and interesting.

Gresham Harkless 4:31

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I was actually going to ask that, because it kind of seems like it doesn't matter what type of organization or business you have, you could definitely you know, benefit from your services. Would that be accurate to say?

Calvin Dark 4:41

Yes, and I will say one of the challenges with that though, and I wouldn't even I'm not even complaining about it being a challenge, but it's something you learn around the CEO journey is that when you do things that are very outwardly one thing and I mean, like say international so when we represented one of the foreign government in West Africa. People began to think about, oh, when I need something that fits in that box, let's call RC Communications. But as I said, we also work in police departments.

We also work with Washington, DC, various government agencies with the district government. And so one of the challenges, is that when people would see the work that we do, they would automatically think, Oh, well, they are representing a foreign government, they can't do our work, or vice versa, that we're doing something very domestic, like working with the Opioid Treatment Center.

So we can represent a country when it comes to the UN, we've done a good job of balancing that, and how we describe what we do to our clients, but also in our social media, because we want to make sure that people see we have a very broad breadth of what we can provide. So that's been a challenge. But if that's the kind of challenge you're dealing with, I can't complain.

Gresham Harkless 5:47

Yeah, there you go. That makes perfect sense. But yeah, like you said, you know, being able to kind of, it seems like we're always kind of educating our clients and our potential clients on what we do and can do and not pigeonholing ourselves and what we're capable of doing.

So, it's great to hear that you guys were able to leverage. No social media or other platforms would be able to do that. And you might have touched on this a little bit, but I was going to ask you for what I like to call your secret sauce. And this is your differentiator, what would you feel kind of sets you and or your organization apart?

Calvin Dark 6:12

I think that one of the things that separates us is our passion. And that we actually love what we do. As a person, I have a really hard time unplugging. Because, you know, it's very important that I balance in your life. But the reason is, is because I don't consider what I do work, even when it comes to going on vacations, I love to travel internationally, and my last few vacations have been tied into work trips.

Now, because I don't have an imagination of where I want to go when I'm not working. But it's like, that's the cool part. Just going to another country being a tourist? No, it doesn't really appeal to me. Going because we represent the head of state, and I can tag on another few days to go to their beaches. That's my idea of a vacation.

So, I think the secret, I would say that we have passion for what we do. And that because of our size, we're very particular and what we take on, and I know that every company says you know, you can get the tailored approach. Everybody here is passionate, I know all that. It really comes through with us. And I really stress to our clients that yes, we want your check to clear that is a high priority.

But that's not why we're doing it that, of course, enables us to have a business. But when we come into your organization say here's our ideas, here's what we want to do. They need to understand that we get up every morning really excited that we have a really cool client, and we take it personally, whether it's getting them out on social media, or getting them prepped for an interview. I don't have children, I think the closest I've come to that is helping somebody who is difficult to interview and just like sitting behind just being so incredibly proud and be like, yes!

So, I think that's something that we can offer. And being small. I'll say two things about that. Being small, we can offer that in ways that a bigger firm can't because a bigger firm can't laser-focus all the resources on this one client no matter how great it is. The second part is, what I mentioned about there's the entrepreneurial side of starting a business, but then there's a substance of what you actually like to do. I now realize that while I had great employment situations before, where I got to learn how to do the great things I'm doing now, even when I held leadership positions, it wasn't mine, it wasn't my baby, I was a babysitter of it. Now, when it's mine, that passion goes into it. And that's something that we can offer. So that's what I was trying to tell clients.

Gresham Harkless 8:30

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have. But it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Calvin Dark 8:40

Well, I think that having a routine is very, very important, and not losing sight of what the vision and the goals are. And the third point of that is not being so discouraged or distracted when there's something that you know you want to do that you need to do, but you can't directly connect it to a check or a client payment or something tangible that progresses the business side.

So like, for example, because we work with such diverse clients in several languages, I get up very early in the morning. And what I must do is I have to have an hour of my coffee, and on social media, Facebook, Twitter, and the different news sources that I'm subscribed to. Because that's how I get my day started. So for example, we have a really busy day where I have to be somewhere at eight I already know well that means that I gotta get up at six because six to seven has to be my time to do it. Now, here's why that's hard.

When I first started doing that, as you know, most people would say, Well, if you have the luxury of looking at Facebook for 30 minutes in the morning, kudos to you. But that's not like work or you know, doing some of the other things that aren't directly for a client. I felt guilty because I said you know, I need to be doing things and I can draw a direct line between what I'm doing and money. But what I realized is that those things help you in the future.

And when I say looking at Facebook as part of my like morning ritual, it's because I would say that 25% of either leads or things we can put on social media are things that we can pursue, I see references to social media, and entrepreneurs always have to be looking ahead, that's the hardest thing about this. You know why bills come due and they don't care about your five-year plan, your five-week plan, it's due when it's due.

So it would be fake for me to say can't deal with that little stuff, because you have to. But the balance with that is you can't just be about that when you start in the morning. Because what you do today, those things like for example, the routine in the morning and doing things that promote our company, like writing op-eds, and, you know, focusing on our social media, that's for our clients, those are things that are going to help us down the road.

And what helped me to see that is, if I look at some of the things I was doing a year ago, some of the things we're doing today wouldn't have been possible had I not laid that groundwork.

So I guess my hack would be to find the way that you need to get started. And don't be so hard on yourself, when there's something you know, you need to do and know you need to prepare, don't feel guilty that well, it doesn't pay this bill that's due tomorrow, like find that balance. Because in the long run, it's those things that you can't necessarily quantify, that are going to make a business successful.

Gresham Harkless 11:32

And now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Calvin Dark 11:40

I would tell my younger business self that don't be overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment. And to not get frustrated, when you can't see past a particular circumstance, you know, I'm not being Pollyanna, when I say it's all going to work out. It's not that simple. But a lot of times in the moment that things you're dealing with, you know, sometimes it can be financial, sometimes it can be just, you do something for a client, they don't like it, and then you're up all night, like maybe this isn't what I'm craft for, maybe I just made the wrong decision, my life is a mess, you're gonna have those moments.

And what I would tell myself then is ride those out. And I'm fortunate that I had a lot of great people in my life, who told me some version of that, as I was starting this journey. But I would just reinforce that because I think young entrepreneurs, and what I've learned, and I would tell myself is that the things that you experience in your fears, 99% of the time, they're real. I mean, it's not like you're making it up, or you're being dramatic, and like making them bigger than they are. However, they do not define.

And I have days, which I'm sure everybody does, where I'm just like, You know what, maybe I just need to start from scratch and just do something else. And I always laugh and remind myself, there will be no life decisions made in a day on what I'm feeling in that moment. And so that's something that I was told before I started but I would go back and reiterate that like just chill out, it's gonna be fine.

Gresham Harkless 13:04

And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So, Calvin, I want to ask you what being a CEO means to you.

Calvin Dark 13:14

It means being able to do what you love and answering to yourself. Not everybody's cut out for that. Not everybody wants it. But when you're doing what is your passion, what is like, literally what you're made of, in your heart, I don't care how great of a working environment you have, when you're working for somebody else, you're always doing it for them. Now, in an ideal employment situation, they will allow you the space to be creative and take ownership.

And that works great sometimes, and it's great for some people. But what being a CEO means to me is that I don't have to ask someone above me, it's just me and my business partners, I don't have to ask for somebody above me for approval. And in those proud moments, when we get to brag about the good things that we do. I don't have to do it on behalf of anybody else.

It sounds trite, but it is so true. The buck stops here, you know, Now, fortunately, most of the time, that's a good thing. And that I can you know, we could take credit in this company for it, we do. But you know, occasionally there are things that bid, we don't get clients, we lose, we also have to take that too. But all in all. for me, because this is very personal. Because like this is my passion. Being a CEO is great. And that has been what has made me not give up when the business side of being CEO gets really challenged.

Gresham Harkless 14:38

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And Calvin, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out what I wanted to do is pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional. You want to let our readers and our listeners know and then how best they can get a hold of you.

Calvin Dark 14:49

Well, thank you so much for the opportunity. And what I'd like to say to everybody, you know, listening is that if you need that specialized communications and branding and marketing from a team that gets really passionate, call us! Our website, www.rccommsdc.com. Social media, which I'm proud of just because personally, I'm on Twitter. And that's how I understand the world and comment on it. And we do so on our social media channels. And also one of the things that we've learned is, you know, we work with big companies, we work with countries that have huge PR marketing budgets.

And so when there's something that we could provide money's not so much an issue for them, because they have the bandwidth. But if you're a small business, or let's say somebody, you're building your own brand, and you have an interview opportunity, but you need media coaching and training, that's something that we decided, You know what, while that's wrapped up, usually into our bigger projects, we're going to offer that as a one-off, because one of my favorite parts, because like I said, I like being behind the camera saying, yes, they're doing it.

So I would encourage folks got our website, www.rccommsdc.com, they can find out more information about us. So you're not ready for your venture to hire a communications or PR firm, but you want something very discreet, and specific, we can do that. And with the blessing of technology, we can do it from anywhere around the world and still be effective.

Gresham Harkless 16:09

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And that's definitely a great reminder. So Calvin, I truly appreciate you. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up with you. And I love what you're doing and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Calvin Dark 16:20

Okay, you too. Thanks a lot.

Outro 16:21

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

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