by Caroline Leach | Dec 29, 2015 | Leadership, Learning
What are your learning goals for the new year?
If you need data-driven ideas and inspiration, check out Stretch: How to Future-Proof Yourself for Tomorrow’s Workplace.
Co-authored by Karie Willyerd and Barbara Mistick, this new book is packed full of strategies to ramp up your learning, your career and your life.
At DIRECTV we had the good fortune to have Karie speak on a number of occasions – at our annual leadership meeting, at large department conferences and to our employee resource group for young professionals.
Karie shared insights from another book she co-authored, with Jeanne C. Meister, called Workplace 2020: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today.
She was always a hit – sparking dialogue, stoking debate and seeding positive changes in the workplace and the culture.
It was a pleasant surprise to get a friendly email from Karie this fall, asking how things were going. Doing a quick Google search before I responded to see what Karie had been up to lately, I was thrilled to see she had a new book in the works.
Since I recently pivoted into a new role, the Kindle version of Stretch zoomed to the top of my list for winter holiday reading.
It starts by asking “who do you want to be tomorrow?”
And it outlines the megatrends that will impact the future of your career – globalization, demographics shifts, data explosion, emerging technologies, climate change, redefined jobs and complexity.
How should today’s professional respond?
By stretching your skills and abilities, the authors say. And by taking into account your dreams for yourself and your family in the future.
There are 5 key practices, each with several supporting strategies. Here are the 4 strategies, preceded by the key practice area, that most resonated with me. They’ll help inform my learning journey.
Learn on the fly: cultivate curiosity. This strategy is about constantly asking “why?”
Why ask why? You’ll question assumptions and unconscious rules, which may lead to new insights and ideas.
The authors provide some good questions in a “curiosity stimulator checklist” –
- “What is the most interesting project or idea you are working on now, or wish you were working on?”
- “What is valid about the dissenting viewpoint in this discussion?”
- “What assumptions or models am I using that causes me to agree or disagree in this situation?”
Be open: seek feedback. This is the strategy I most wanted to ignore, so I knew I needed to include it.
The authors aptly described why: “As researchers of vulnerability understand, our self-confidence takes a plunge when we feel we are being criticized.”
Yet plunge into seeking feedback, I must, to grow and improve. And to do so, the authors describe good ways to create a safe environment in asking others for candid feedback:
- “If you could imagine the perfect person doing the perfect job in the role I’m in, what do you think they might be doing differently than I am?”
- “What 2 or 3 pieces of advice do you have for me that you think would have made this project better?”
Build a diverse network: strive for five to thrive. Strong and diverse networks stretch you, the authors say, reminding me of Roselinde Torres‘ TED talk on What Makes a Great Leader?
The strategic question that spoke to me? “Who are the 5 people who can help you be a better person, especially when it comes to your work?”
They could be people in your network who “inspired you, stretched your thinking, left you feeling it’s possible to change, introduced you to new knowledge in different fields and demonstrated being an expert in ways you aren’t.”
My diverse list of 5 is taking shape. During January I’ll be connecting with them to meet for coffee and talk virtually during the year.
Be greedy about experiences: approach targeted work with a development stance. This is where “you care about getting the task done really well and using what you learn to do even better work in the future.”
The development stance, as opposed to a completion or performance stance, could include doing research, talking to people with expertise, observing processes that work well or taking an online course or a MOOC.
The book has a template to identify your major projects and tasks, skills that can be developed in each one and how you’ll approach each project – with a completion, performance or development stance.
As I work through the template and choose areas of focus for development, I’ll share some of my learning experiences in future posts.
How will you stretch in the coming year?
by Caroline Leach | Nov 7, 2015 | Careers, Change, Leadership, Learning, Marketing & Analytics
“You have to let go of something to make room for something new.”
Author Cynthia Oredugba (pictured, right) shared this and more at a Women of AT&T Southern California fundraiser for scholarships.
Led by chapter president Georgia Zachary (pictured, left), the event was held this weekend at Marmi at The Point in El Segundo, Calif.
How did I find myself there?
For the last year I’ve led the DIRECTV Women’s Leadership Exchange – an employee resource group for professional development, networking, mentoring and community service.
DIRECTV was acquired by AT&T this summer, creating the world’s largest pay TV provider and a video distribution leader across TV, mobile and broadband.
Among other things, our employee resource groups are coming together. This is how I found myself listening to Cynthia Oredugba talk about change.
“You can’t get better by staying the same,” was another truth she shared that struck a chord.
It reminded me of the DIRECTV Leadership Development Program I attended two years ago.
At the end of a life-changing week, I realized I’d only thought I had a big dream for myself in becoming VP of Corporate Communications.
Coming out of the program, I was energized by the idea of pivoting and stretching into a new area – whether that was investor relations, operations, marketing or something else entirely.
But it wasn’t until the transformative coming together of AT&T and DIRECTV that an opportunity would arise.
Three weeks ago, I moved into a marketing role. It centers on the customer experience, consumer research and the vision for the future of the marketing organization.
This speaks to the opportunities that come from change. And from being part of a newly combined company. And among leaders with a commitment to talent mobility as a way for people to grow and contribute.
It also allows me to explore for the first time my full spectrum of the high-scoring artistic, social end enterprising parts of the Strong Interest Inventory. This career assessment tool links personal interests with a variety of career fields.
I’ve long seen Human Resources, Corporate Communications and Marketing along a related spectrum of careers that blend the qualitative and the quantitative, design and data, and people and products.
Having spent many years in Corporate Communications and HR leadership roles, I’m thrilled to have an opportunity in Marketing.
And now the hard work begins. Applying previous knowledge to new situations. Addressing new business challenges. Adapting to new norms.
It’s a good thing I love learning. Because there’s going to be a lot of it in the near future. And we all need to be constant learners, whether or not we’re changing jobs, functions or companies.
Thankfully I work with a lot of great people who are more than willing to answer questions and share insights.
As I dive into the new role, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the many parallels between what I used to do and what I do now.
And that’s been the best learning of all. You don’t have to let go of something you’ve loved as you move into something new.
You just have to let it evolve into a new state. It’s about combining what you’ve done with a commitment to lifelong learning to inform what you do today – and tomorrow.
by Caroline Leach | Sep 20, 2015 | Change, Leadership, Learning, Work/Life
When the world seems full of rejection, look for bright spots. And make the most of the them.
I choose to see rejections simply as milestones along my journey. They aren’t major rejections. A community involvement role here. A professional association board membership there. And some others along the way.
One bright spot is I got the volunteer job I wanted this year in National Charity League. I’m the inspiration chair for the Palos Verdes chapter. I give a short talk each month to inspire my fellow members.
We’re parents serving communities along with our daughters in middle and high school. We’re part of a national organization fostering mother-daughter relationships in a philanthropic organization committed to community service and giving 1 million hands-on volunteer hours annually.
And we’re busy – juggling children, careers and community.
So my inspiration this month began with a collective exhale. We were gathered on a scenic September evening at the seaside cliffs of the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.
And here’s what I said.
By a show of hands, how many of you –
- Have more texts, emails, pings and dings than you can answer?
- Have more calendar commitments than you can ever do?
- Feel like everyone but you leads a charmed life on Facebook and Instagram?
Well, welcome to a new school year!
One mom with two school-aged kids is also the junior senator from New York. Her name is Kirsten Gillibrand. In her book, Off the Sidelines, she says if you ask a mother how it’s going, the universal answer is “Um, barely holding it together.”
So you’re in good company with parents everywhere.
But my job is not to depress you. It’s to inspire you.
Since we often meet at the Palos Verdes Library, my theme this year is good books. And it’s a complement to the theme of this year’s president, Francine Mathieson – Be the Good.
And while you don’t need yet another thing to do, how many of you would like to:
- Increase your concentration and improve your memory?
- Connect better with people on an emotional level?
- Feel happier, calmer and less stressed?
Then reading, as little as six minutes a day, can help you do that.
A study on stress was done at the University of Sussex – yes, it’s in England, so it may or may not be on your daughter’s college list.
It showed reading was better at lowering stress than a number of other activities, such as listening to music, taking a walk, drinking tea or playing a video game.
Reading focuses your mind and crowds out worries – with no hangover, extra calories or other bad side effects. What could be better?
Thanks to Debra Young-Stearns and her team, you have a reminder bookmark on your chair about keeping calm and reading a good book.
The next time we meet at the library, visit the new releases section. It’s like being in a bookstore and walking out with every new book you want – for free!
(And post-inspiration talk, I took my own advice and found Frank Bruni‘s terrific book, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, pictured above).
There’s also a great new book out by Brené Brown called Rising Strong. You may have watched her popular TED talks or read her books. Her new book is about resilience and bouncing back from adversity.
I first heard Brené when I was driving to Lake Arrowhead a year ago to meet our very own Beth Graziano and other friends for a family weekend. And I have a feeling Brené and Beth would be the best of friends.
My life was busy, so I drove up by myself after the rest of the group. And I found the TED talk playlists to keep me company – pick a topic and you’ll be entertained by 18-minute talk after talk for several hours.
The last one as I wound my way up the mountain was called The Power of Vulnerability. With more than 21 million views, it has struck a universal chord.
I closed with a few words from Brené’s talk. About our children being wired and ready for struggle and being worthy of love and belonging. And about believing that “we are enough.”
Because, as Brown says, “when we work from a place that says, ‘I am enough,’ we’re kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we’re kinder and gentler to ourselves.”
I am enough. You are enough. Enjoy this beautiful season.
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