VIDEO: Disney Entertainment & ESPN’s Paul Melvin on putting your career growth in perspective

Paul Melvin, vice president of communications technology for Disney Entertainment & ESPN, said that his leadership journey didn’t have one single starting point, but instead was made up of lots of small, incremental steps of key progress.

“Earlier in my career I had a chance to work on the X Games, and I remember hearing the term “progression” a lot in that world,” Melvin said. “Every day, those athletes would try to do things a little bit different, a little bit better. To me, leadership is the same thing. It’s trying to constantly improve.”

Melvin also shared some of the best advice he’s gotten from leaders who helped him along the way.

“A career, by definition, unfolds over a long period of time,” he said. “We have a timeline in our heads that we often use to judge growth or accomplishments,” he said.

“But the reality is that most people we view as successful will tell you that their career journey unfolded over time and did not unfold the way they pictured it. It’s not always going to be on the schedule you think.”

Check out more from our discussion with Melvin below.