Rob Layton, Senior Teaching Fellow, Bond University
Rob Layton is a career journalist-turned-educator who specialises in mobile journalism at Bond University, where he is also undertaking a PhD in mojo via a video documentary on Gold Coast surf culture. He trains journalists and content creators around the world on how to use their phones professionally, which has led him to work with Apple, Google, Al Jazeera, News Corp, among others.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
‘Favourite’ may not be the right word, as I use social media purely as a tool for learning and sharing, but ‘most used’ are Twitter and Instagram.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I teach mobile journalism and smartphone photography at Bond University on the Gold Coast, Australia. I was a career journalist for about thirty years, and I've been teaching for fifteen years, ten of those overlapping my industry work.
I introduced mobile journalism into the Bond curriculum, and we were the first university in Australia to have a dedicated mojo course. I further specialise in using iPhones in the ocean, so I'm really fortunate to be able to combine my passions.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
Working with young people can be immensely rewarding. I began my career in newspapers when I was sixteen, and I was quite unsure of myself. There were some people in the newsroom who were very nasty to me when I asked them for help, simply because I was still learning. A few of the older reporters took me under their wing and taught me how to write, and that was life-changing.
I've never forgotten that experience. Now I have the opportunity to be that older, guiding hand. Plus, I learn a lot from my students. We have great discussions and the questions they ask always make me think of different ways of viewing life.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
I'm not sure if anyone actually ever said this to me, but it's advice I have passed on plenty of times - to my students and to my children - and it's simply this: Be true to yourself. The more interconnected we become through social media and the internet, the more tempting it may be to mimic what other people are doing. I learned a long time ago to ignore trends and to do things how I want to do them.
I never make a photo or a video or whatever to impress other people; all my creative endeavours are undertaken simply as an expressive outlet. It always begins with me thinking to myself, "I wonder what would happen if I did this?" I don’t chase likes on social media. Chasing likes and followers by chasing trends is a sure path to misery.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I'm blessed to be living in a naturally beautiful environment and in a community of amazing people. Nature has always inspired my photography, and the deeper I immerse myself in our local surfing community, the more I want to tell the stories of the people who hold that community together. And ever since my early days as a cadet reporter, and then moving through to production, design, photography and later videography, my goal has always been to make my latest project just that little bit better than the last.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
My family. Raising children to be functioning, contributing, and meaningful members of society are my greatest priority. The greatest compliment I've ever had was during a family holiday touring around Ireland when one of our hosts pulled me aside and said: "You have a very special family."
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
In-person, one-to-one. I'm pretty hopeless in a crowd. I always tend to drift towards a corner and then the door when in busy social settings. I'm a bit of a recluse.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
A deep and broad curiosity and thirst for knowledge served me well as a journalist. If I hadn’t become a journalist I’d probably be a scientist. Or a philosopher. Which is basically the same thing but without all the maths.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
That thing will always work out. For better or for worse, everything resolves eventually.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
I admire plenty of creative people, from filmmakers to writers to musicians. Filmmakers such as Tarantino, Polanski, the cinematographer Roger Deakins, writers such as Hemingway and Steinbeck. And, of course, Nick Cave, who is Australia's greatest musical genius.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
I surf every day, and I also dive, sail and generally love being around the ocean. I'm not usually one for organised sports, but I am a competitive longbow archer and have made a couple of longbows.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you been managed it?
We have been very fortunate here on the Gold Coast to be spared much of the pain the rest of the world has endured. However, the pandemic has decimated Australia's university sector, with more than 15,000 job losses in the sector, so I'm grateful to still have a job. Bond has navigated the crisis exceptionally well, and that's entirely due to exceptional leadership.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
I don't currently have a mentor, but I have had one in the past, as I answered previously. I see mentorship as an integral part of my role as an educator.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Set goals and work hard to achieve them. Also, network. Use social media as a tool, not a distraction. I purposely have no friends on Facebook (or other platforms) as I use all social networking sites merely as information portals. If I want to know what my friends have been up to, I ask them when I see them.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I can't answer for other people, but most likely, it's because they don't believe in themselves.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
My work as an educator is founded in this Confucian quote: "I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand." I also live by the whole 'do unto others.' thing.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Apple.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
If I feel at peace with the world, then that to me is a success. Achieving fleeting moments of enlightenment. I don't measure myself against other people.