In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews marketing professor and author Diane Huth. Huth shares a pivotal personal story of surviving advanced breast cancer at age 43, emphasizing visualization, commitment, and creating one’s future. She explains her core philosophy that individuals are brands, urging people to apply branding tools—brand promise, positioning, and awareness—to market themselves and advance their careers. Huth offers broader business counsel centered on a "win‑win‑win" mindset, ensuring every stakeholder benefits in negotiations. She stresses the importance of loving what you do, embracing evolving passions throughout life, and finding happiness through meaningful contribution, growth, and learning. Huth recommends the book Personality Plus for understanding innate personality types and improving collaboration. She shares two favorite quotes—one about living young as long as possible and another about the journey from seeker to guide—highlighting lifelong learning. Finally, she directs listeners to her website dianehuth.com and the Brand You Guide Facebook page for further resources.
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Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner and today's sponsor is Flipboard. Flipboard curates the world's stories so you can be smarter in your work, life, and play. Choose from thousands of topics to personalize Flipboard and get the latest stories from the best publishers and experts delivered to you 24/7. So You can get started now at flipboard.com. And now let's jump into the episode. All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Diane Huth with us. She is a marketing guru University professor and bestselling author of two career guides, she became known as the accidental career coach when she wrote her first book, Brand You, to land your dream job, to teach her students how to use the branding tools she teaches in class to market yourself. Her new book, Reinvent Your Career, helps baby boomers beat age discrimination to achieve their career goals. So welcome to the show.
Why, thank you, Tyler Wagner. It's a pleasure to be here and to visit with you and your listeners.
Yes, thank you so much for coming on. And the first one we ask on this show, Diane, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, it's not a happy story necessarily, but it worked out well. 25 years ago, when I was a 43-year-old, a new mom, I was diagnosed with a potentially fatal case of advanced breast cancer. And it was a battle. When I got that diagnosis 25 years ago, there were not role models of people who had survived. You died with that diagnosis. And I laid in bed for 3 days. I'm sorry, I'm teary-eyed. I laid in bed for 3 days and thought about my child. And I made a commitment that said, I'm going to live to dance at my son's wedding. And I realized You have to fight for what you want to live. You have got to visualize what you want in the future, and you have got to grab it. You have got to claim it, and you have got to make it yours. And your future is yours to create, but it takes energy, and it takes commitment, it takes visualization. But your future is within each person's grasp, but you have got to make it your own, and you have to make it happen.
Wow, thank you for sharing that with us. So, Diane, the next one that we have for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
As you mentioned, Tyler, I am a branding and marketing expert, and the whole platform that I have embraced on in career coaching is to teach people that you are a brand. Just like brands are marketed using social media and advertising, positioning and strategy. You are a brand and you have to use those same tools to create your brand awareness and your brand preference. So if, if everybody out there says, I'm not just me, I have got to be seen by the outside world like a product, like a bottle of wine or shampoo, I have to create a brand promise, a brand positioning and brand awareness that will help you build your career or your business, whatever it is.
And then what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
What I have learned through the years is to always seek a win-win-win. If you're in any kind of a business negotiation, you're in a contract, you're in an arrangement of any kind, everybody has got to take out of that arrangement more than they think is fair. If anybody in any transaction thinks they got cheated, thinks they got less than they deserved, thinks that they were treated unfairly, they will do everything in their power to make whatever it is fail so that they can prove that they were right. So I tend to be a mediator in business, and when I'm creating marketing programs, I say, okay, I want to look at every stakeholder in a transaction or whatever we're doing and make sure that they get what they they want, or it won't be as good of a deal. So if you look at all sides and say, I want everybody to walk away from this deal happy, it's not a win-lose. Anytime you have a win-lose, it's a lose-lose because your venture will lose the energy, you'll get bad will. But if you can create a win-win-win that everybody is happy and feels that they got a good deal, anything you do will be successful.
I love that. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
It is what I embrace today, and I guess I always have, but it's really understanding that you need to love everything you do and do everything that you love. It really is the journey and not the destination that matters. I'm blessed because I'm able to do what I love today, and I see so many of my friends and peers who who are unhappy in life, they don't have a passion, they're stuck in dead-end jobs, and I think the most important thing is to really embrace what engages you, and that changes over time. I'm not the same person at my age, I'm 68, and I have no idea how that happened, that I was 30 years ago. When I was 38, I'm not the same person, so your passions change, but the thing is to Embrace your passion and live your passion and fulfill it, and it will take you to new wonderful places that you can embrace new passions, but to live with passion.
And then in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
The key to happiness? The opportunity to learn and grow and contribute every day. Meaningful work or meaningful contribution to the betterment of the world or the betterment of others. Today really makes me happy, and I think everybody seeks happiness. I'm at an age where many of my peers are retired. They don't know what to do. They don't have meaningful jobs. They're at wit's end, and they don't know how to contribute to others, and I see them very unhappy. But when I see people who live with passion at any age, I think that really is what makes you happy, is to be able to contribute and grow and do something meaningful with your life every single day.
And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, every book that I've ever read is my favorite. I'm a bookaholic, so I, I read all the time. Um, but most recently I read a book that was recommended to me by one of my mentors, and it's called Personality Plus by Florence Littauer. And it, it teaches, um, 4 different types of personalities that are innate, that you're born personality types. And I found it incredibly insightful really to understand myself and why I am the way I am. And then the other personality types and more importantly, how you interact and communicate and you live and you work together because it really is a very thoughtful insight into people's personalities and how to relate for the good and the bad, the pros and the cons, the strengths and the weaknesses. I found it very valuable. I'd suggest that everybody read it. I found it wonderful.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
Well, I have two. The one I got this week from the funeral of George H.W. Bush, which I wrote, I actually have stuck on my computer, is, "Die young, as old as possible," which means to live a childlike life of joy and interest and wonder, but do it as long as you can. The one that I have typically embraced is a quote from Russell Brunson, and I know that you're a funnel hacker, as am I. And he teaches that to become an interesting character, you kind of go through steps. You are a seeker, you seek information, and you bring kind of people, you know, on that journey. A sherpa is somebody who has already learned the journey and helps other people by guiding them. Over the rough spots. And then the seer is the person who knows everything and can give advice. And what I've learned is the older I get, I do it backwards. So now I am in a constant journey of discovery and learning because the older I get, the more I realize that I don't know, so the more I have to learn. So I have to dedicate hours and hours every day to learning more stuff because I realize how much I don't know. That makes sense. Yes.
Well, listen, thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is where can our audience best find you online?
Well, you can always find me on my website, which is www.myname, dianehuth.com, dianehuth.com, or Facebook. You can find me at Brand You Guide because I help people find out how they can brand themselves. So it's Facebook/Brand You Guide.
Perfect. Thank you again for coming on.
Thanks, Tyler Wagner. It's wonderful to be with you and your fabulous followers.
