Establishing connections and good working relationships at workplaces is one of the critical aspects that can catapult someone’s career progress. It is, therefore, prudent to treat everybody in an organization with respect, regardless of their ranks or roles. Whether it is a colleague or a client, you never know what the future holds for them, as well as you. They might turn out to be the stepping ladder that you would require later to move to the next level of your career. This scenario was evident in the case of Greg Blatt. His encounter with Martha Stewart, while he was serving as an attorney, opened doors for him to become a global corporate leader. Were it not for his kindness towards his client, Martha, Greg would never have become the great business leader he is today. How did this happen? You must be wondering. Follow this closely:
At a younger age, Greg Blatt aspired to become a lawyer. He believed that it was the best career, getting in and out of courtrooms in the quest to settle disputes. He, therefore, pursued a degree in law from Columbia School of Law, from where he graduated with a J.D. This was the first meaningful step Blatt made towards realizing his career goals. After that, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which is a reputable legal firm in New York, offered him his first job as an associate lawyer. This opportunity allowed him to learn a lot of concepts that would turn out to be very useful in his future career moves. Grubman Indursky & Schindler, another law firm in New York, would later employ him in the same position, a role that he played for a year.
While working as an associate, Greg Blatt felt that he did not realize his full potential. Additionally, he did not enjoy his daily routine work of handling business issues. This was because the two law firms specialized in matters relating to mergers and acquisitions. He decided to quit his job to pursue entertainment law. While working in this role as an attorney, Blatt met with his client, Martha, and established a friendly working relationship as her attorney. After working for a while and building trust in each other, Martha asked him to take up the role of General Attorney in her organization, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. He was poised to accept the request.
This position acted as a brilliant stepping stone for Greg Blatt in his career because after working for two years in Martha’s organization, Wachtell, his former employer, invited him to fill the position of the General Attorney at IAC. In this position, he worked with a lot of zeal until the owners of the company decided to make him the vice president of the organization. He would later rise the ranks to become the Chief Executive Officer of the company in 2013.
In the same year, Greg became the Executive Chairman of a dating company, Match Group. He was later made the CEO of the company in 2016. Also, in 2016, Tinder, another dating firm, employed his services as the CEO of the firm. He was later appointed as the Executive Chairman of both Tinder and Match Group, a role that he performed until December 2017.
One aspect of Greg Blatt that has enabled him to move that far, despite the external forces that have catapulted him, is curiosity. When asked about it in an interview, Blatt admitted to being fond of the question, “why?” This turns out to be annoying to some people when you ask them the reason for their thoughts or actions. However, he submits that this question can enable you to understand a lot of things, how and why they are done the way they are done. This way, you can never stop learning.
