TB 45: National Journal President Kevin Turpin II Shares His Trusted Approach to Recruiting and Leading The Best People

Kevin Turpin II is the President of National Journal. Kevin is one of D.C.’s up and coming trailblazers that’s helping lead one of Washington’s most established and trusted media brands that serves government and business leaders in the nation’s capital. In his various roles with National Journal, he’s had exposure to product development, strategy research, digital and marketing.  In today’s conversation, we unpack some of his tips and wisdom around hiring and leading people.  And we also discuss some of the most important things that go into doing product development.  It’s a power packed episode, sure to provide you some inspiration and knowledge, that you’ll be able to apply in your own career or business.

Kevin’s Episode Outline:

• • • [02:45] What are you most grateful for in your life right now?
    • [03:55] Kevin shares the story of how we won a car at a Georgetown basketball game in 2002
    • [07:55] Discussion about Kevin being promoted twice in one year
    • [10:05] What sacrifices have you had to make, especially as a young African American man, to propel you to become President of National Journal?
    • [14:00] What have you learned about hiring and leading people and what’s been your approach?
    • [19:55] What have been some of your failures and what have you learned from them?
    • [27:15] Shares advice for those looking to develop a new product
    • [29:35] How do you plan to shift strategy to achieve your future goals and leave your mark on National Journal and the people you’ve been blessed to now impact?
    • [34:40] Excluding National Journal, what companies or businesses do you admire the most and why?
    • [45:30] One action that our trailblazers should commit to this week to help them blaze their trail

You’re only as good as the people on your team!

The two things we recruit for is force of intellect and spirited generosity

Buying is personal: people want to know how is this going to help me, and how is this going to make my life easier. When you can answer these two, you’ll have a really clear value proposition

Move as fast as you can!

Kevin’s Favorite Book: 

• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Connect with Kevin Turpin II / National Journal:

• Twitter: @NationalJournal
• Website: National Journal

Kevin Turpin’s Full Bio

Kevin Turpin II is the president of National Journal. As the former senior vice president of National Journal, Turpin led the product development, strategy research, digital, and marketing teams. In this role, he oversaw product research, evaluated potential partnerships, and established operational infrastructure for the new product pipeline.

For more than a decade working at National Journal, Turpin has produced successful proposals to increase profit margins, identified efficiencies in vendor relationships, and created new revenue lines for the organization.

Turpin also built a strategic advisory group of 60 government affairs executives from Fortune 100 corporations and influential trade associations; resulting in the launch of National Journal’s Leadership Council. He is also responsible for the launch of Policy Brands Roundtable and the Network Science Initiative. He began his career gaining deep insights into the Washington media market and the needs of public policy professionals while serving in roles ranging from sales to manager of signature National Journal products such as The Hotline.

A proud Hoya, Turpin is a graduate of Georgetown University.

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