Skip to main content
Justin Conway

Writing

9 years

Y’all, I just hit nine years at Sprout Social! Can you believe it? Anytime a friend asks, “You still at Sprout?” I typically respond with, “Yeah, I’m still at Sprout.” I don’t mean this in a bad way, its just that the folks I’ve interviewed and hired usually haven’t stayed even five years at an organization. Every year I go through an existential crisis of “Am I providing value with what I do?” I usually realize that’s an annoying question, but this year is different. I’m not going to get a gold watch for my time at Sprout, but there are so many things I continue to learn in my day-to-day. I want to talk about nine lessons I’ve learned working at Sprout Social.

Leadership lessons from 1998’s blockbuster hit “Armageddon”

If you haven’t watched it in a while, 1998’s “Armageddon” is an incredible work of art. It’s part of the Criterion collection for a reason. Michael Bay is doing full-on Michael Bay, and enough Aerosmith on the soundtrack to last a lifetime. Armageddon is the story of a rag-tag oil “roughnecks” team recruited by NASA to save the world from an impending asteroid collision. If you haven’t watched it, this should be the sign to stop reading and immediately fire that bad boy up on Amazon Prime. When rewatching this movie all I could think of was how good of a boss Harry Stamper, played by Bruce Willis, is. Harry is a determined leader and exhibits many leadership lessons throughout the movie. From his unwavering commitment to his team’s well-being to his ability to make tough decisions under pressure, Harry’s character provides valuable insights into effective leadership.