Q: What was your first professional job?
A: My first professional job after undergrad was working for a Japanese language company in Nara, Japan. I taught English to adults and one group of high school students. I chose this path to expand my need for independence, do something outside of the typical career path, and fulfill my love for traveling and experiencing other cultures and people.
It was an outstanding growing up experience, personally and professionally. Personally, I had a sincere opportunity to reinforce what I love about being an American and to learn how to handle the embarrassing aspects of being an American.
Professionally, I was able to focus on three things that have been a pattern for me throughout my career. First, was to challenge myself to continuing improve the quality of my teaching and resources. As an example, the books that I was supposed to use were awful, complete with grammar and spelling errors and uninteresting stories/examples. Not a good example for an English teacher! I found new resources and books. The second area of focus was to appeal to my customers – my students — and expanding on their interests. And finally, it was important to me to be creative in challenging them with exercises, contests, games and so on for a meaningful learning experience.
Q: How do you currently define success in your career?
A: I have had a personal mission statement for about six years or so that is along the lines of "intellectual growth and challenge through the creation and execution of solutions to enable individuals, teams and businesses to grow and flourish." At Prouty, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to do this every day with my clients and Prouty colleagues. I love what I do and this creates a virtuous circle of great client work that also keeps me growing and learning. In addition, as a consultant, I must continue to expand my network for business reasons. And this energizes me to have a network of really cool people, especially the many women I’ve gotten to know over the years.
Q: What's one of your most tried-and-true secrets for maintaining or re-gaining your sanity?
A: Sanity isn’t the term I’d use, per se. For me,
it is finding meaning in everything I do (except the drudgery of dusting) by keeping a thoughtful perspective to help me live my life. The usual aspects come immediately to mind – time with family and friends, working out, cooking and enjoying red wine, adventurous travel, the cabin, humor and so on. While these are vitally important, there are two secrets that help me keep perspective – viewing life as an intellectual and fun challenge and keeping the big picture in mind. For example, when I was working on my M.A., I was often overwhelmed by school and work. I would turn on the news, watch the scenes from the first Iraq War, and remind myself that my issues were totally manageable. Putting situations in context helps me to find meaning and keep my perspective.
Q: What's one piece of career advice that was given to you when you were an emerging leader that you'd like to pass along to other emerging women leaders?
A: The career advice I received was to move outside of my comfort zone and invest in myself. I regularly put myself in roles and situations that would push my boundaries for comfort. It probably stems from my desire to never be told “no” (even when I was a kid), so I push myself to have experiences and knowledge that will always open doors for me – such as volunteering in the nonprofit world, serving on boards, leaving a company I loved, going to events by myself, completing my MBA, and so on. I encourage others to be willing to try new roles, volunteer in the community, serve on special projects or task forces, meet new people, read the Wall Street Journal, learn to play a sport or musical instrument and so on. All of these experiences lead to a richer and fuller life which ultimately is great fun.
Q: What would your totally decadent day-off look like? (Think fairy-tale)
A: My decadent day off would be in London or Paris and include: working out, immersing myself in a museum, having lunch with pals, going to the theatre in the afternoon, engaging in a romantic dinner with my husband Dan, taking an evening stroll, and going clubbing (if I can stay awake!).
Or
A day exploring a new place – Machu Picchu, the Galapagos, Madrid or Casablanca.
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