Contributed by Jeff Vijungco, Vice President, Corporate Employee Experience, Talent & Technology

As someone who has been in the Employee Experience world for nearly 2 decades, it’s nothing new to say that Silicon Valley is enamored with the topic of talent. Given this eternal hot topic and given the nature of what I do, I’m constantly asked what I look for.

Here’s my POV – I look for candidates who share the same core values BUT what I refer to as “oddly attractive.” I know, that sounds like jumbo shrimp, but hear me out:

1. Culture Fit Culture Complement

Right off the bat I’m looking to see if they’re a “culture complement” versus a “culture fit.” This means someone who adds to the team culture rather than one who brings more of the same. When I’m in org design meetings I often times ask myself, does this team feel/look like a stack or like a puzzle? Puzzle pieces are different, but complement each other to form a whole. A stack is just more of the same – how boring!

What I ask myself:

• Will this candidate add to the healthy debate (creative friction) we need?
•  Does the candidate bring new energy to the table?
• Did we get more of the same or a hire with a new perspective to round us out?

The benefit: More creative friction.

2. Customer Empathy

Now more than ever, companies are selling experiences, not products. So candidates need to have a customer mindset. When I ask questions like, “Tell me about your business model,” I look for whether or not they weave in the customer without being prompted. I want to know that they have some OCD (Obsessive Customer DNA). These are people that excel at “context switching” and always innovate on behalf of what’s best for the customer.

What I ask myself:

• Does candidate lead first with their expertise or with customer needs?
• How customer obsessive will this hire be?
• Does candidate have a KPI around customer satisfaction that is feverishly monitored?

The benefit: No silo-ed selfishness.

3. Critical Thinking

I worry when someone says an interview felt like or should feel like a conversation. Don’t get me wrong, the experience should be amicable and pleasant. The candidate experience matters. But, they should also feel like working sessions that allow the hiring panel to walk away with a) implementable advice and b) having learned something new.

So, it’s not about having the right answers per se — more so, it’s the strength of the questions asked. I want to know how they think, form judgements and add value to the business. Btw, it turns out great candidates love to be challenged because they want to earn their spot on the best teams. Strong candidates are always weary, as they should be, if the interviews were too easy — that’s a red flag!

What I ask myself:

• Did it feel like a working session?
• Did I learn something new?
• Can we implement new advice?

The benefit: Someone who provokes new thinking.

Do you have enough #OddlyAttractive on your team?

Contributed by Jeff Vijungco, Vice President, Corporate Employee Experience, Talent & Technology

Here’s the scenario. You’re a manager. You’re looking at a shortlist of possible internal and external candidates (hopefully they don’t fit in) and you’re ready to hire or appoint someone into the role. But is the candidate ready for the job?

Conversely, you’re the candidate who just landed an offer and you’re evaluating if it’s the right move for your career. How do you know if you’re ready to dive into this new opportunity with enthusiasm?

Whether you’re a hiring manager or a candidate, I’ve learned that both parties have to be ready-ish. Find out what that means and what I look for.

1.     READY-now

Hiring manager POV:

These candidates have the right experience and look fantastic on paper—they know what to do via “muscle memory”. It’s routine for them. In your head you want ready-now because it’s a safe bet. This seems like a no-brainer but consider this…There might be less upside. There’s little challenge for the candidate you’re trying to bring on. When there’s little or no challenge, the “honeymoon period” of a new job may fizzle fast.

• Counter-intuitively – “Hire a 10, luck may end.”
• No assembly required.
• Less risk but is there any upside?

Candidate POV:

If you’re one of these candidates, consider these questions…Is this a side-ways move? Shouldn’t it feel like an upgrade? If it’s the same ol’ same ol’ what’s the point of making a move? You’ve seen this movie before, haven’t you?

• In the comfort zone.
• Been there, done that. Time to Rinse-n-Repeat.

2.     READY-ish

Hiring manager POV:

This is the true paradox in career management….I can’t get the job without experience, I can’t get the experience without the job. Come on, give em’ a chance!

Ready-now candidates may be gold, but ready-ish candidates are diamonds in the rough. Why do I look for these types of people? Simple. They’re looking to prove something and that extra motivation makes them special. Maybe during the interview, he/she didn’t have all the right answers, but surprised you with the most provocative questions.

Once you’ve identified ready-ish, equip them for success. Stay close. This means being a more hands-on manager, creating clear pathways to learning and development, and celebrating wins and supporting setbacks along the way. Trust me. It’s worth it in the end.

• Counter-intuitively – “Hire a 7, you’re in heaven.”
• Some assembly required.
• Some risk, but more upside.

Candidate POV:

Employees are most engaged when stretched. You have a foundation of experience and a lot of motivation to make up for the slight gap. Go make an impact and learn it all.

• In the stretch zone.
• This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.

3.     READY-later

Hiring manager POV:

You’re in a rush. But wait, let’s not ignore the carpenter’s rule: “measure twice, cut once.” The candidate is a great person perhaps, but the gap is significant. He/she may not be the one today, but keep them on your radar. 

• Intuitively – “Hire a 5, may or may not survive.”
• Too much assembly required.
• Can candidate pull this off?

Candidate POV:

If you’re this type of candidate, re-tool and re-skill. Good news is you have something to work towards. Keep inching forward. It’s not about an overnight overhaul, it’s about accumulating micro-learnings along the way.

• In the panic zone.
• Can I pull this off? 

In brief, #Readyish is the new ready.

Over the course of my career, I’ve seen a broad spectrum of career successes. (And, well, failures.) And I’ve thought a lot about the causes of those outcomes. Why do some succeed faster than others? Why do some get opportunities and others don’t? Why do some get stuck in their careers?

The answer, I’ve found, to all of these questions is making a lasting impression. If you consistently make a positive, memorable impact on your boss, your co-workers, and even your employees, you’ll increase your chances of getting hand-picked for the best opportunities when they come knocking, paving your way to career success.

It may sound simple, but leaving that lasting impression takes a strategic approach. Here are five tips that’ll help you make your mark and be remembered over anyone else in the room.

1. Keep it Real

I like the quote by Oscar Wilde that says, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” Sometimes, we get so caught up in trying to impress that we forget to show our true selves—we hold back opinions, squash our creative ideas, and downplay our personalities, all for fear of being judged.

Recently, at a leadership program in San Francisco, I witnessed the opposite—and it was so refreshing. Several groups of leaders from across the company were asked to present their recommendations based on a real-life customer problem. Naturally, seven of the eight teams gravitated toward sending the best sales or marketing leader on their teams to deliver their recommendations. But not one team. Instead, they sent the least obvious pick—an engineering leader.

To everyone’s surprise, he took us all on an eye-opening customer journey laced with Star Wars metaphors. Some of his feedback was extremely revealing, but it was accepted very well because it was unfiltered. He came across as a creative problem solver with a sense of humor, and, needless to say, that presentation was the one that everyone remembered because it was authentic and brilliant.

2. Make Deposits, Not Withdrawals

Just like a bank, every exchange or interaction that you have is like a deposit or withdrawal. People either feel energized after working with you—or exhausted.

To make sure you’re in the former camp, examine the factors that contribute toward deposits. Are you easy to work with? Do you give the person with whom you’re speaking undivided attention? Do you support your team during peak periods of stress? Are you leaving conversations making others feel empowered, motivated, and energized? These are great leadership qualities that will help you grow your deposits.

As I share this advice, one vice president that I work with comes to mind. He’s known as a technology innovator and leads one of the largest teams at my company. He knows very well that positive emotion accelerates innovation. As such, he makes a concerted effort to leave conversations making people feel inspired. And they usually do.

One easy tip that you can try today is giving the person you are speaking with your full attention. I often find people distracted in their own thoughts. When you’re having a conversation with someone, give your undivided attention and pay a close watch to your non-verbal gestures. Give eye contact, and don’t get distracted by the 10 action items waiting for you (or your phone!). The more focused you are in your conversations, the more you’ll get out of them, and the more deposits you’ll make.

3. Get Comfortable With Pressure

In the business world, people are defined by how they handle stress—it’s called “cope-ability.” Whether you’re presenting in front of a massive audience or dealing with a customer service crisis, nailing the pressure moments will define a lasting impression.

So, pay attention to how you handle stress and pressure, and start getting comfortable with it. In fact, go out of your way to put yourself in uncomfortable situations. When you do this often enough, you’ll be more immune to pressure when you are stress-tested—it just becomes more normal. I think it’s similar to muscle memory, where the act gets so routine, your body just goes into autopilot.

Being in your comfort zone for too long only creates a situation that makes it easier for you to crack under pressure. But if you’re constantly in the “stretch” zone, you’ll create a habit of performing well no matter what the pressure level.

4. Be Bright, Be Brief, Be Gone

This tip is something that’s stuck with me from a coaching session I had a few years ago. It’s all about being an expert in your line of work and presenting your ideas in a succinct and simple way.

First, you need to know what you’re great at, not what you’re good at. And when you know what that is, don’t be afraid to offer solutions and bring value to discussions. Whether you’re presenting at a meeting or having an impromptu chat with your boss, nail your point with simple language and simple solutions. Be bright, be brief, be gone—and you’ll always be remembered.

5. Get Elected

You often hear the advice to “manage up” and to promote yourself, making sure the higher-ups know about your achievements. And many people in the corporate world have climbed the ranks this way.

But this approach is never sustainable because it lacks authenticity. In the long run, a “vote for him or her” approach is much more powerful than “vote for me.” You want to be elected; the person who people throughout the organization want to help, want to work for, and want to see succeed. This will happen when you can authentically influence your audience throughout the organization, not just manage up. In fact, some of the best leaders I’ve worked with meet with cross-functional groups, at all levels, all the time. I’m privy to a vice president’s calendar, and I’ve noticed that he works with a wide audience across the whole company, frequently meeting with people at all levels. As it turns out, he’s one of those who gets the most support throughout the company.

Ask yourself this question, “Do I work with a diverse group of people at all levels?” If you do, great. If you don’t, look for ways to extend your network to a broader set of colleagues. It’ll create more inclusion and buy-in, and a more successful career all around.

Start 2018 right and begin your year by charting your path to a successful career!

We can’t wait for all the new opportunities 2018 will bring! Share with us what some of your career goals and resolutions are this year by leaving a comment.

Explore our career site for a full list of open positions and apply today.

Contributed by Jeff Vijungco, Vice President, Corporate Employee Experience, Talent & Technology

‘Tis the season to make a move. You have an offer in your hand, and not a boring one, but a really good one. In fact, you signed the offer letter and provided a start date. You’re not going from light blue to powder blue. You’re going from light blue to deep, deep, deep purple. Because why make the move otherwise? It’s truly an upgrade not just an uptick.

But before you begin your next opportunity, here’s the back-and-forth you can expect when you give notice to your current employer, and what I like to call the 3 stages of a counter offer.

 1. Guilt

You come in Monday morning and ask to talk to your manager. You take a deep breath and blurt out “I’m leaving for another opportunity.” Your manager immediately shows their disbelief and disappointment, and says, “OMG, you can’t leave!”

That’s when the guilt sets in.

It’s an understandable feeling—this is a breakup after all. My advice to get over it? Remember why you took those initial calls in the first place. You were ready for a change and perhaps the next level of your career. Tell your manager you already accepted the new offer and when your start date will be. 

 2. Hope

So when your current employer says, “We had so many plans for you,” it can be hard to hear. But ask yourself, have you heard about these plans until now?

Many times the answer is no, and you’ve made the right decision to leave. If there wasn’t already a clear development path for you, there may not be one in the near future.

 3. Bling

In a last ditch effort, your manager says they want to offer you more money, more responsibility and a bigger title. Bling! But why did you have to give notice to suddenly be more valuable…? This may be tempting, but it’s often a reactive management response. #CoinOperated

If you’re thinking about taking the counter offer, do know that you’ll always be known as that person that resigned at one point.

Last tip, give a reasonable amount of notice but not too long. Leave cleanly but you need to move on, and the org gets to move on.

Follow Jeff at @JeffVijungco for more career advice.

Contributed by Matt Thompson, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations

In today’s business climate, you’re either evolving or dying—there’s little middle ground.

Advances in digital—analytics, AI and personalization to name a few—are transforming every business and empowering customers with new levels of knowledge and increased expectations.

In this competitive environment, the ability of sales to understand and engage accounts with meaningful information and solutions at every step of the lifecycle is more than a differentiator.  It’s a requirement for success.

More than that, internal stakeholders—whether they’re in marketing or elsewhere in the business—are relying on sales’ knowledge of the customer to inform their own strategies for delivering engaging experiences. 

With this in mind, here are four lessons from my own journey to help sales—and, by association, their companies—win in the Era of Experience:

1. Make data-driven insight a part of your DNA

You can’t sell by gut instinct anymore. Basic product knowledge and good judgment are no longer enough. Your customer is already doing their own research and competitive intelligence; so, successful sales must be built around compelling data and the unique insight it brings to the table.

It’s eye opening when you get beyond basic metric tracking and embrace analytics as a science. Although it’s becoming cliché in the business world to embrace the notion of big data, few sales organizations have truly made the shift to being insight-driven. A 2016 report from ZS found that 94% of enterprises have implemented big data infrastructure, but only 8% have fully integrated their analytics capabilities across the business. There’s tremendous upside here. 

Whether you’re selling inside a data-driven company or not, you need more insight into your customer’s challenges. You must:

• Become advocates for putting data-driven insight at the heart of every sale
• Identify and make use of data resources relevant to your customer’s business
• Establish relationships with the analysts inside your own organizations
• Apply analytics to your own sales process and performance tracking

2. Learn to operate at scale

It’s not enough to simply embrace data into your sales process. You need to be able to do it at scale, again and again, with an ever-expanding set of stakeholders.

Today, it’s nearly impossible to close a sale with a single decision maker. Usually, it requires working with a complex matrix of stakeholders, each of whom brings different needs and expertise to the table. CEB now reports an average of 6.8 decision makers are included in each B2B sale. You need to be able to influence a diverse group within each account, identify advocates and arm them with the story of value and ROI they need to help close the sale on your behalf.

Navigating matrixed sales environments is challenging enough when you only have a handful of accounts. Now imagine doing it across thousands of accounts and multiple verticals and geos.

It’s certainly transformed what I expect my own team to do, the skill sets we look for when we hire and how we organize ourselves to call upon customers.

Every salesperson needs to prioritize operational efficiency and embrace the technologies that will help them sell at scale.

3. Build stronger relationships, with a twist

Good relationships are still important, but you have to build them differently (hint: it doesn’t just happen on the golf course or over dinner anymore).

The RAIN group says that, “sales winners educate buyers with new ideas and perspectives 3X more often than second-place finishers.” The ability to do that starts with genuine empathy for what your accounts are trying to accomplish, and then helping them achieve it. It takes solutions that solve real problems and offer competitive advantage beyond incremental speeds and feeds.

Most importantly, relationships that stop with the sale aren’t really relationships at all—and that’s unacceptable. Help your customers realize the full value out of what you sold them by asking yourself:

• Are my customers using the product to its full potential?
• Can they benefit from training?
• Can I help them apply my product in unexpected ways?
• Can they help me improve the product?
• Can my customer’s experience help inform other prospects?

When you do it right, you’ll delight (and retain) your customers. They’ll stop thinking of you as a salesperson and start thinking of you as a true partner. They’ll even help you win new business.

4. Double down on core skills

With so much changing in the way we think about sales, it can be easy to lose sight of the skills and personality traits that make a winning salesperson. So, while you’re focused on transformation, don’t forget:

• Passion—You need to be more driven than your customer to understand their industry and its challenges. It makes it easy and fun to develop the in-depth expertise you need when you’re inspired by what you sell.
• Curiosity—This will compel you to explore new opportunities, think of creative solutions and be invested in solving customer problems.
• Competitiveness—Every successful salesperson is competitive by nature. It fuels a sense of urgency and drive for tackling challenges. It pushes you to go the extra mile.
• Integrity—This fuels the trust that your customer relationships are built on. It’s also the cornerstone of acting with confidence and the humility to correct your mistakes.

These four principles have emerged out of the digital transformation in my organization, and continue to guide us as we enhance the way we structure teams, hold each other accountable, collaborate with internal stakeholders, and build strong relationships with our customers.

Look for opportunities to apply these lessons to your own challenges, and you’ll be amazed by the results—closer customer partnerships, operational efficiency, and happier, more productive sales teams.

Article originally posted on the Adobe Blog.

When you join Adobe’s worldwide field operations team, one thing is clear—there’s no shortage of opportunity and reward! To exemplify this, each year at Adobe’s Worldwide Sales Conference, ten Adobe employees are honoured with the “Of the Year” award, which highlight their outstanding performance and demonstration of Adobe’s core values.

Today, we feature one of these winners—Rupert Wills, Senior Solution Consultant in the UK, who shares his recipe for success, how he develops strong teams and the tenacity it takes to be named Solutions Consultant of the Year.

What is your recipe for success?

I am not sure if there is ever a complete recipe for success. However, I have found that no matter what the customer interaction is, you need to be flexible, open-minded and have the customers’ trust. I try to listen to what the customer requires, understand their challenges, identify where they see value (whilst constantly verifying understanding) and then match these against our Adobe solutions.

Teamwork should also never be under-estimated. To succeed you need to work as a team engaging with your colleagues, using their experiences to help you and of course, supporting them as well.

What is your strongest asset or quality?

I would say my strongest asset is my tenacity and determination to succeed.

How do you go about developing a strong account team– from the beginning of the deal, through to customer success?

I work very closely with my account managers, colleagues and the customer to build a team that brings together the correct balance of skills. It’s important to build a relationship where our customers see us as trusted advisors.

I tell my team not to just focus on the immediate challenge in front of you; explore what it means to the customer and try to identify other areas in the business where we could add value. If we can show our customers the value of our solutions and how we can help them make their business more successful, they will see us as long-term partners.

How do you deal with setbacks or failure in customer engagements?

When it comes to setbacks I don’t see them as a negative, I see them as an opportunity to learn, diagnosing where we went wrong and using that learning to minimise failures in the future.

How do you keep motivated?

I am motivated by challenges and problem-solving. There is nothing better than a customer throwing a particularly tough challenge or highly specific requirement at us that at first looks unsolvable; getting stuck in and working out a solution is deeply satisfying.

On a perfect day off, what do you do?

A perfect day for me would consist of either going out on my bicycle for a few hours or going to the local lake to take a run out on my wakeboard or wakeskate – you can’t think about anything else.

Last year, I took part in a charity bike ride which took me from London to Paris over four days – that was a great experience. This year, I am entered in the Prudential Ride London which is a 100-mile challenge that I hope to complete in around six hours.

Any favourite quotes?

“Hope for the best, plan for the worst.”  Jack Reacher (Lee Child)

Want to join our world-class sales team? Apply today on our career site!

Recently, Adobe had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Andrew Ng, a globally recognized leader in artificial intelligence (AI), cofounder of Coursera, and CEO of landing.ai, to Adobe for a fireside chat with Scott Prevost, Adobe’s Vice President of Engineering, Sensei & Search. During their fireside chat, Andrew and Scott hit on a variety of topics as they pertain to the Evolution & Future of AI, which ranged from education, how companies should use customer data, and the implications AI and technology have on creating a better world. Here are the top takeaways from their discussion.

Rethink education

There’s tons of great science going on in the field of machine learning, but Andrew expects it to mature as an engineering discipline. He likens it to how bridges used to be built—in those early days of bridge engineering, there were wise old men with accumulated tribal knowledge and reliable intuition who trained their networks to build bridges. But as bridge engineering matured, it became systematic. Andrew hopes for the same shift to happen in machine learning—that instead of being driven by tribal knowledge and gut instincts, we’ll develop principles and practices that allow machine learning to become a systematic engineering discipline.

And while the university educational systems are doing a great job teaching more and more people new technology trends, it’s equally as important that corporations do the same and help their employees with continued learning. We need a different educational system to help people to always keep on learning new things, so that someone whose job is displaced can retool themselves and learn a new trade.

Teach computers

One of the most fundamental ideas in the evolution of the human race is humanity’s realization that you can program a computer. It’s such a big idea and we haven’t even finished sorting out all the implications of that yet. But it’s possible that the idea that you can teach a computer would be an equally fundamental idea. Today, we have giant computer science departments focused just on programming computers. In the future, we could have equally large numbers of students and faculty focused on teaching computers.

Build unified data warehouses

One of the most important things that companies should be paying attention to about the data they collect is actually building unified data warehouses. If your data is at least put together in one database, it increases the odds that an engineer can connect the dots or run a learning app on the data to find patterns. Whereas if the data was siloed into 50 different data warehouses under the control of 50 different owners, it’s impossible for an engineer to connect the dots on the data!

Identify high value AI projects

One of the other things that companies should do is build teams that repeatedly identify the highest value AI projects and then execute against them. Although this sounds really easy in theory, the practice of how you set up the org chart, how you design the teams, how you provide the training to the engineers, can become very challenging. You have to have the technical skills but you also need to provide training to the executives. That way the executives understand enough about it to know how to advocate resources and build teams to go after the highest value projects.

Make the world a better place

In today’s world, whatever you can do in less than a second of human thought can probably be automated using a deep learning algorithm. Which means that there are plenty of things that cannot be automated, but also plenty of things that can be. The hope is that people only do work that they truly think makes the world a better place for themselves and for other people.

Every time there’s a technological disruption, it gives people an opportunity to remake large parts of the world and with this current technological disruption in AI, there is a window of time, an opportunity to change large parts of the world to be better for future generations to grow up in.

As we are in the midst of an artificial intelligence revolution, we couldn’t be happier to host Andrew at our Adobe headquarters. To learn about how Adobe is leveraging AI, ML and deep learning capabilities in our products, visit our Adobe Sensei site.

From all of us at Adobe, Happy New Year! The beginning of a new year always signals the start of new opportunities and goals. So as you’re meticulously outlining how to crush your career goals for 2019, here are our top pieces of career advice, brought to you directly from the Adobe Talent team.

Thinking about looking for a new job opportunity? Here’s what to do first.

1. Put thought into what opportunities and goals you’re working towards, and have a strategy on how to get there.
2. Take what you’re passionate about and reverse engineer from there. Be unapologetically ambitious and passionate about your goals.
3. If you don’t know what to do, talk with a mentor or trusted colleague to help you think through what you’re trying to solve, and make sure you have a clear agenda of what you want to talk about.
4. Meet as many people as you can, across all your networks, and find out how they can help you.

You have an interview coming up! Now what?

1. Preparation is absolutely key. Be very informed about the interview panel. Check out their LinkedIn profiles and read any recent articles they may have published.
2. Get to know the company. You can get valuable insights by listening to recent earnings calls and researching company performance.
3. Prepare very specific questions that you couldn’t get answers to during your research.
4. On the day-of, be authentic and don’t be afraid to show some vulnerability. Interviewers want to see your true self.

Now it’s time to develop your career. Here’s what to do next.

1. Meet as many people as you can who can help you succeed. Establishing key relationships is important!
2. Ask questions and always be in learning mode.
3. Be involved and don’t hold back. Share as much as you can, speak up, and be the hardest (and smartest) working.
4. Take feedback early so you know what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

We can’t wait for all the new opportunities 2019 will bring, and we hope our advice helps you get where you need to be!

Interested in working at Adobe? Explore our career site for a full list of open positions and apply today.

This year, for Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, we decided to throw this query out to our Adobe & Women Employee Network: what’s one piece of career advice you want to tell women who are just starting their career? From senior customer success managers to software engineers, here’s what they had to share.

Always say “yes” to new assignments or tasks that you’ve never done before, and then do the research to figure out how to complete that job successfully – Google it, ask your colleagues or someone who’s done that task before. Clarify expectations with the requestor. You’ll learn something new, you’ll decide whether you like it or not, you’ll have helped your team, and you will be seen as someone who’s not afraid to jump in and figure things out.

• Margot Nack, Senior Manager, Strategic Programs, San Jose, California

Follow your passion, in whatever you do. No matter what role you are in, your job responsibilities, team or product you work on, you will do your best work when you stay true to what motivates, drives and satisfies you. Redefine pre-existing role models, be the change, bring your diversity of thought leadership to how you problem solve. Our teams and products, and ultimately our customers benefit the most.

• Jackie Lincoln-Owyang, Senior Engineering Manager, San Jose, California

Have a vision, create a plan and don’t be afraid to pivot or change your mind, but be committed, see things through and be humble. Take part in improving a workforce that includes everyone. Don’t get caught up when someone is better than you at something, learn from them and partner – there is a place for us all. If you don’t see one where you are, create it! Be a leader. Support those at the table and speak up for those not invited. Be good to yourself, connect with nature, volunteer and take part in community. Surround yourself with people that are positive and kind to others, who want to excel in life. Be good to yourself! Ultimately, have true faith, release and dive in!

• Vanessa Farias, Software Engineer, San Jose, California

Especially early in your career, give yourself permission to explore several fields of work. You’ll find you are good at something but don’t enjoy.  You’ll also find work that you enjoy but may not be very good at. If you explore enough, you’ll find the perfect fit – something you love and are good at.

• Nalini Natarajan, Director of Product Management, Cloud Technology, San Jose, California

I’m quoting Lady Gaga’s inspiring advice, “It’s not about winning. What it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it!”

• Priya Vaidyanath, Product Manager, Enterprise Customer Experience, San Jose, California

Listen. Watch. When you speak, let it be from a place of knowledge, and speak with confidence. Know your business, and take no shit. Be humble, and especially respectful of those with more knowledge or who communicate differently than you do but, if you are being mistreated, walk away and don’t look back.

• Marisa Lenhardt, Research Engagement Manager, San Francisco, California

Explore and learn as much as possible!

• Shauna Ehninger, Front End Engineer, Lehi, Utah

I received this advice very early in my career and it has stuck with me and is how I try to approach my work and personal life everyday – don’t bring a problem to the table, bring solutions to the table to address the problems.

• Carrie Pruitt, Senior Customer Success Manager, Seattle, Washington

Life is going to throw many challenges in your path so don’t create obstacles for yourself on top of that. Your age, your gender, your ethnicity, or anything else unique about you is only a limiting factor if you allow it to be. When I got my first job in high-tech, I was a 17 year old high school student and being a petite Asian on top of that, I probably looked like I was about 12 years old. I was far too determined and headstrong to let any of those things get in my way, so when no one in my team took me seriously, I not only proved them wrong – I was offered a job to return the following summer.

• Kim-Anh Nguyen, Senior Manager, ACS Strategy and Operations, Newton, Massachusetts

Don’t be afraid to ask for new challenges. If you don’t ask, people don’t know you want to progress. There is nothing to lose but a lot to gain.

• Anna Bennett, Manager, PS Ops Revenue, London, England

Dream, dare, work hard, never give up!

• Murielle Le Goff, Senior Manager, Customer Success, Paris, France

Know each day’s “quitting time” and honour it. We can’t do quality work tired. Rest every evening: your brain will work wonders for you.

• – Kathleen McGowan Nee Cunningham, Financial Support Representative, Dublin, Ireland

At Adobe sites across the globe, we’re hosting events, panels, film screenings and fundraisers to recognize the contributions of women everywhere and advance opportunities for everyone to succeed. Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day give us the opportunity to celebrate the positive impact that women have always had on society, politics, and business. Stay tuned for more content this month as we celebrate women globally!

Interested in learning more about our Adobe & Women Employee Network? Here more from them here.

Everything seems obvious in retrospect, but in the moment, decisions aren’t always easy to make. Wouldn’t it just be easier if we could travel back in time with the knowledge we have now and tell our younger selves what paths to take? At Adobe, we have the next best thing —leaders with knowledge and experience who are happy to share with the next generation of leaders. Here’s what four of our female VPs had to share.

Anjul Bhambhri, VP, Experience Cloud Platform Engineering

Anjul had 14 years of engineering experience at IBM before transitioning to Adobe.

“My time at IBM gave me the opportunity to lead and grow businesses with bleeding-edge technology and work closely with CIOs from some of the largest corporations in the world, but when I was given the opportunity to join Adobe, I jumped at it,” Anjul said.

Some advice Anjul has followed during her time at IBM and at Adobe is “to be flexible while having fixed views on the outcome and to just be who you are. Ultimately, do what is in your DNA.”

Beyond just giving advice to younger employees, Anjul strives to lead by example in the way she conducts herself in her position — a more lead-by-example approach.

“I strive every day to be genuine, visionary, customer-focused and results driven,” Anjul shared.

Natsumi Akita, VP Japan Marketing

Natsumi wasn’t always in tech. She was in the financial services industry for 20 years before transitioning to Adobe. Many of Natsumi’s coworkers in the financial services industry workers warned her that this was too drastic of a change.

“Some people warned me that the tech industry will be a closed-door community and only certain folks can make it,” Natsumi said.

But at Adobe, everything was open and welcoming. She felt right at home.

Natsumi encourages employees to not let fear inhibit them from trying something new, advice she wishes someone gave her during this transition.

“Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Everyone fails. Challenges will be a constant in life, and you will make a lot of mistakes and be dejected by repeated failures. But don’t be afraid. Failure teaches you the greatest lessons, and often shows you a better way of doing things,” she said.

Jamie Myrold, VP Design

Jamie jumped into tech later in her career. She hopes people starting their careers now will consider it earlier than she did.

“I was kind of dragged screaming and kicking into the digital side of design – I was comfortable with the analog world,” she shared. “Once I got my first Mac and some early Adobe software, I realized I should have been doing this a long time ago.”

When she arrived at Adobe, she was impressed by how everyone was on an equal playing field in the company. “Adobe is not a hierarchical company, and our founders stated early on that ‘ideas can come from anywhere.’ This value gives everyone permission to have a voice,” she said.

Ever since Jamie got here, she’s taken every opportunity to mentor employees internally and speak to diversity in design and business to different external groups. For Jamie, diversity takes many forms.

“It’s not just balance of gender but also more broadly having a diverse team. If you’re designing products that have worldwide impact it just makes sense to have a team assembled that is made up of people that come from different educational, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds,” she said.

Stacy Martinet, VP, Marketing Strategy & Communications

Stacy came to us from Mashable and immediately saw the benefit of viewing diversity through different lenses, similar to Jamie.

“The conversation around gender equality has, in large part, been focused around equal pay, but we also need to focus on the distribution of opportunities and checking our biases,” she shared.

Though Stacy says the professional world can be biased in one way or another, she’s proud to work for a company that equally supports every employee.

“Diverse voices are so critical. I’m proud to be at a company that hasn’t wasted time in doing what’s right to even the field,” she said.

Stacy has had amazing mentors and now does her best to pay it forward by mentoring others across Adobe. One message she wishes she told herself and can now tell her younger mentees is to always keep moving and focus on doing an exceptional job.

“The start of a career can be overwhelming, but you just have to roll with the punches and do your job. So, take risks, ask questions and strive to put your best foot forward in all you do,” Stacy said.

Looking for some more life changing career advice? Look no further. 

Contributed by Donna Morris, Chief Human Resources Officer & Executive Vice President, Employee Experience

Graduation season is upon us here in the U.S., which means hundreds of thousands of eager University students are preparing to enter the workforce for the first time. At Adobe this Summer, we’ll be opening our doors to 500 interns and 300 new graduates in North America. As the mother of a college senior and the CHRO & EVP of Employee Experience at Adobe, my personal and professional lives are colliding this season with our son graduating from Fordham University.

The combination of my own experience with our son finishing his undergraduate journey and the opportunities I have had to participate with students at college campuses, makes me realize that the transition from college to campus life is one that is a key inflection point that often requires support to navigate. While personal growth and excitement are a part of the journey, it comes with periods of self-doubt, stress, and uncertainty for many. These feelings are common, and I see it first-hand when we welcome a fantastic and diverse set of new graduates and interns to Adobe each Summer.

If you’re a new graduate in pursuit of charting a successful career path and shaping the future of the workplace,  there is some excellent news for you. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, new graduates are entering a job market with unemployment near the lowest level in 50 years, and job prospects are up significantly from 2018.

With the current job market being ripe with opportunity, I’d like to share my top advice for all transitioning from campus to corporate life:

• Appoint your Board of Directors. We often hear about the importance of mentors and sponsors, and this cannot be understated. Throughout your career, you will need to have people who are your champions. These are the folks that inspire you, that challenge you, that treat you with respect and give you honest feedback about your strengths and weaknesses. Building an active community will help guide you towards reaching your career goals, so start building your Board of Directors today.
• Don’t be motivated by title; be motivated by opportunity. It’s easy to get caught up in the hierarchy of the corporate ladder, especially after investing so much time and money in your education. My advice is to focus on the opportunity itself, the skills you bring to the role, and the skills you will gain from it. Experience is a currency, and the more you have, the more you will earn. Upward mobility is only achievable if you’re continually learning and growing as an employee. Build your skill set, and a great title and rewards will follow.
• Always declare what you want. Entering the workforce can be intimidating for new graduates. While managers play an essential part in your career path, your success and growth are ultimately up to you, so declare your careers goals and objectives early and often. It’s also important to note that those career goals and objectives will change with time. Keep feedback ongoing with your manager and get comfortable with being vocal in the workplace. Moreover, remember, how you choose to be vocal is just as important as what you choose to be vocal in.
• Work/Life Balance is a myth. Work/Life Integration is a reality. People are always striving to blend their personal lives and professional lives, but the truth is, you will continuously be at odds with this. For everything, there is a season. You will go through moments in life where driving your career is paramount, and other moments where friends, family, hobbies, and interests are of more importance. Bringing these priorities together is the key. It is essential early on in a career to embrace how your work is a big part of your life, and the more you get joy from your work – it can genuinely radiate positivity on other parts of your life.
• Embrace your unique self. No one in this world has precisely the same qualities, experience, knowledge, or perspective as you. You as an individual have so much to offer and what makes you unique is your superpower. The current business environment needs a diverse set of opinions and ideas. Embracing what makes us unique is what will drive us forward. Amplify your special something that makes you unique–don’t diminish it.

It is a proud moment being part of a transition from campus to career, and fortunately– I get to experience it personally through our son and year after year with new grads joining Adobe, where we were ranked # 1 on Forbes’ “America’s Best Employers for New Graduates” in 2018.

As we welcome new graduates to Adobe this year, I’m also proud to announce that we are launching a fantastic Learning Fund Education Reimbursement benefit for new graduates who have been recently hired in the U.S. The $10,000 reimbursement benefit is being offered to assist with the high cost of education and the burden of student loans.

To all those in the Class of 2019 warmest congratulations!  You each have an incredible opportunity to shape your career experience.

Contributed by Liang-Cheng Lin, Senior Design Manager at Adobe

When I started my design career, design teams tended to focus more on hiring someone whose skill set most closely matched the itemized job requirements, qualifications, and relevant industry. Nowadays, it’s a little different. Of course, we’re still looking for expertise in specific types of design, domains, and possibly platforms, but our requirements go further than that. We need attributes that enable solid teamwork, the empathy to observe and understand end users, a sensibility to connect the dots, and a superb soft skill to communicate and cooperate with outside teams and departments.

Contributed by Jay Sasidharan, Vice President of Adobe Customer Solutions, Asia Pacific 

It’s a common scene in the workplace — employees seated in a conference room discussing business strategy. The outcome of the meeting represents a critical business decision, yet the strength of that decision is a reflection of the strength of each contributor and how they contributed their unique perspective. Often, only a few voices are heard and accepted more than the others. From my perspective, that’s a major disconnect — and a major problem. It’s not only about having the opportunity to speak, but also being heard and represented like any other that matters.

Having led multicultural teams in various geographies, I have observed that situations like these diminish equality and empowerment. Seven in 10 employees say empowerment is an important piece of their overall engagement, but just one in three feels truly engaged with their jobs. Personally, I always try to challenge unconscious biases and look for behaviours that signal that an individual can deliver beyond the roles they are in.

Empowering every story — and every storyteller 

At Adobe we believe everyone has a story to tell and, with Adobe for All, we continue to focus on ways to empower every single voice to stand out and make their contribution.

Often, though, our push has to go much, much deeper than simple encouragement or opportunities for healthy, low-stakes discourse. Empowering every voice, in many cases, means breaking long-held stereotypes and unconscious biases defined by societal rules and workplace cultures. It is about addressing what’s said, what’s implied, and what toxic belief systems permeate every corner office, cubicle, and conference room.

It’s not an easy task, but, when a company can authentically tear down those walls and empower every voice, you can do more, together. That’s when true equity and belonging happen — when every single stakeholder gets the space, respect, and consideration they need to operate, contribute, and create to their fullest potential. And that’s when you can call yourself a supportive, empowering organization.

Four steps to empowerment and action 

In my opinion, individuals are often held back without the opportunity to participate beyond their defined roles. Leaders should work to overcome those pervasive challenges within their immediate reach, at the very least. To do that, it’s essential to employ four best practices to empower every voice.

#1. Invite every voice

I have witnessed very talented people limiting themselves in their existing roles. They don’t raise their hand, they don’t tout their knowledge and insights, and they don’t come forward to express their opinions, even when they’re the most seasoned and the most passionate in the room. In many cases, though, these people shine when thrust to the forefront. When these individuals realize that they have the leadership support and respect, they immediately find the confidence they need to speak up and speak out — and, with it, make a greater impact than ever. And when that happens, we all win.

#2. Ensure everyone feels like they belong

Granted, it’s not enough to support equity and inclusion. While equity gives everyone a seat at the table and inclusion means having a voice in the conversation, true belonging means each individual voice is heard. There are no systematic barriers and no special accommodations — everyone’s insights, ideas, and opinions matter. When that happens, people feel a deep sense of belonging within their organization — and start to create more impact as a result.

#3. Amplify diversity of thought

It’s never the quantity of hires but the diversity of hires that makes you successful. You could have hundreds or even thousands of talented marketers, data scientists, analysts, and leaders, but if they come to the table with cookie cutter thoughts, insights, and opinions, your organization will never grow, scale, or evolve. You’ll simply be nodding at the sea of sameness and, as a result, recycling the same low momentum ideas and mediocre campaigns over and over again. Maybe they’ll perform, maybe they won’t. But without diversity of thought and opinion, nothing will ever change — and that’s never a good thing.

#4. Go beyond your comfort zone

As you work on your equity and empowerment goals, it’s vital to break one very important ceiling: your own. Think about your pre-existing limits — limits you’ve set for yourself and limits others have locked in place — and smash through them. And if you don’t get “heard” the first time, try again.

Together, these are simple but powerful steps. Empowered workers are more likely to go the extra mile to innovate, take calculated risks, and drive business growth. That, at the end of the day, is your goal. As a leader, worker, and valuable voice in your organization’s present and future success, it’s essential you look to empower every voice — yours included — no matter the circumstances, culture, or pre-existing expectations. Speak up, speak out, and cultivate an environment where everyone feels that they belong and that their voices aren’t just noise, they’re truly heard. Because when you do — and when they do — everyone wins.

Contributed by Vanessa Gutierrez, Software Developer at Adobe & Banafsheh Derayat, Software Developer at Yelp

As two 2018-university-graduates-turned-software-engineers, we’re wrapping up our first year of work. After reflecting on our time at Adobe and Yelp, and polling other grad’s in our networks, we found the top five things we wish we knew when we started.

Here are the highlights:

1. How to ask questions

As an intern, Banafsheh was told she wasn’t asking enough questions and that she was spending “way too much time” figuring things out on her own.

It’s a familiar struggle for junior engineers: when do you ask for help?

Don’t know where to start? Simply ask, “What should I check out to get started on this?” This’ll send you in the right direction and unblock you, and it’s different from asking for prescriptive steps.

Otherwise, ensure you have a well-formed question. Try typing your question in a message–but don’t send it! Try to answer it, or  think of follow up questions. Repeat until you’ve answered all your questions or are stuck. Now ask someone (or hit send) with specific questions that’ll save time and demonstrate you’ve given it thought before approaching them.

2. Who to ask questions

First, consult your code base, internal documentation, or online resources. You’ll either find answers easily, prime yourself to understand a teammate’s explanation, or confirm it’s difficult to figure out alone and therefore you aren’t wasting someone’s time with an easily searchable question.

So, documentation first — who’s next? With technical questions, talk to someone who worked on the same thing, or something similar. Independently identify who that is with Git Blame, or Author, to see who last touched relevant lines of code.

Still unsure who to ask? Approach your mentor, technical lead, or manager. They’ll direct you to the right person, and over time you’ll learn who to go to for what.

3. Communicating with your manager

A combination of unusual events meant Vanessa had three managers in three months. Expectations for her success and her evaluation against those expectations became ambiguous, and as a result, things became…stressful.

Though her situation is highly unlikely, it accelerated some consequences that come from lacking transparent expectations and goals with your manager. So, how did Vanessa, and how can you, kick-start and maintain clear communication with them?

First, find out how your manager prefers to communicate: Slack, email, stopping by their desk, a recurring one-on-one on the calendar, setting one-on-one’s as needed, etc?

When you do talk with them, touch on some items we found helpful in our conversations with our managers:

• Your progress since your previous one-on-one. Keeping a “work journal” to track what you need to do, and what you’ve finished, helps here.
• Ask for feedback on your recent work. Regular feedback lets you keep a pulse on how you’re doing and prevents you from being blindsided by future evaluations.
• Clarify what you’re working on next in the short term, and confirm your tasks for a longer period of time, say, until a big deadline.
• Confirm technical requirements, prerequisite knowledge and expectations, and if there are multiple things on your plate, confirm priority.
• Anything else: blockers, struggles, miscellaneous concerns, time off, or feedback for your manager or team.

4. How to get valuable feedback

When we surveyed other working new-grad’s, learning how to get “good” feedback was a recurring theme.

So…how do you get more than a “You’re doing great”?

• Learn about official pathways for getting feedback in your organization. At Adobe and Yelp, quarterly Check-in’s make asking for feedback, evaluations and expectations an approachable and expected discussion.
• For higher frequency, prompt feedback during your one-on-one’s. Try a simple “I’d like some feedback on my progress,” and dig deeper from there. Asking may be intimidating, but addressing any potential areas of improvement is crucial.
• When given vague feedback, clarify with follow-up questions and ask for action items.
• If you don’t feel comfortable responding, you don’t have to — ask for time to consider the feedback.

5. Networking

One of our poll respondents said, “I wish I’d known the importance of going to lunch.” Well, we agree. Here are the ways we’ve most successfully networked at work–including lunch:

• Joining Employee Groups and Clubs – They’re communities that connect you to others with similar interests or backgrounds and push you to interact with people you may not otherwise..
• Ask people to lunch – whether group or one-on-one, lunch is an easy way to build relationships naturally, early and continuously.
• If lunch is too long, but “hallway conversations” don’t cut it, ask people to grab coffee so you can hear more about their role, career path, or whatever else interests you.
• And what about people outside your location? Video conference and have virtual coffee or virtual lunch!

Want more advice on meeting with your manager or networking? Read the full article on LinkedIn and drop by our career advice page on the Adobe Life Blog.

Can you believe it’s already 2020? As we start a new decade, it’s the perfect time to realign your career goals. Whether you’re looking for a new job or developing your current career, we want to make sure we’ve got something for you. We’ve focused on three key areas to get you started for an awesome 2020—new ideas, productivity and leading. Here’s a roundup of the best career advice we’ve gathered from our employees. 

For those looking for New ideas

“Embrace your diversity of experience. When I stepped away from speed skating, one of the challenges for me, and many other athletes as well, was going from “I’m this” to “I’m not this.” It’s an identity shift. I took some time to reflect on my experiences and thinking of how I can translate it into business. I realized my background really helped me standout. Leverage your background and skills. Embrace them, promote them, and be proud of them.”

– Elli Ochowicz, Manager, Talent Acquisition

“Follow your passion in whatever you do. No matter what role you are in, your job responsibilities, team or product you work on, you will do your best work when you stay true to what motivates, drives and satisfies you. Redefine pre-existing role models, be the change, bring your diversity of thought leadership to how you problem solve.”

– Jackie Lincoln-Owyang, Senior Engineering Manager

“Maintain curiosity. It’s so easy to get into a checklist mindset, trying to find final results and move on to the next query. However, research is founded on the idea that answers to questions usually create more questions, and that will in turn lead you to the most interesting ideas—and questions!”

– Laura Herman, User Experience Researcher

For those who want to be more productive 

“One of my first bosses told me, ‘Ann, you can’t go to the mat for everything,’ and that’s been a life lesson for me. I’ve had to learn how to focus my energy on the most important things and put ‘critical mass’ behind those.”

– Ann Lewnes, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer

“Don’t worry too much about the next big step. Be genuine, work hard and work on the right things every day. Good things will happen. When I learned that, it took pressure away from me and cut out all of the noise.”

– Christoph Kull, Managing Director, Central EMEA

“Be insanely curious about everything. You really shouldn’t be focused on your agenda—focus on the customer, ask them a lot of questions, and be genuinely interested in people.”

– Jeremy Lam, Commerce Specialist, Enterprise Account Executive

 For those who want to lead

“Be yourself. That’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten, period. You hear it all the time, but it’s hard advice to take. Be genuine, be vulnerable. It’s all you got. We all have a story to tell, and the worst thing you can do is not tell it.”

– Jason Woosley, Vice President, Commerce Product & Platform, Experience Business

“Two things. First, show up. That means being there for your customers and with your team. You have to show up and be in the game every day. Secondly, and this is cliché but so true, find and hire great people. When you hire talented people, the rest takes care of itself. One of the traits I look for is an acute sense of curiosity—I’ve found these people are relentless in solving customer issues.”

– Karen Terrell, Vice President, Public Sector

“Listen. Watch. When you speak, let it be from a place of knowledge, and speak with confidence. Know your business, and take no shit. Be humble, and especially respectful of those with more knowledge or who communicate differently than you do but, if you are being mistreated, walk away and don’t look back.”

– Marisa Lenhardt, Research Engagement Manager

Here’s to a fulfilling 2020!

Interested in putting your advice to action? Check out opportunities on our career site.

The Adobe & Women employee network is launching a new video series called Adobe WE (Women Executives Leadership series). These videos will feature candid conversations among female leaders at Adobe about topics of importance to us all, like navigating your career, building influence and exercising your seat at the table.

Watch the first episode in which Gladys Liu (Sr. Director Service Life Cycle and Product Operations), Lisa Graham (Sr. Director, Education GTM) and Ashley Still (SVP, Digital Media Product Marketing & Doc Cloud Product Management) discuss their non-linear career paths, how to find mentors and sponsors, when to make a career pivot, and how to navigate different seasons of your career.

Contributed by Mark Lipscomb, Vice President, Global Talent

About 14 years ago, I was at the airport waiting to get on a flight for a business trip. Also waiting for the flight was a group of Army soldiers who were starting their long journey to Afghanistan. I was sitting next to the officer in charge of the group, having a conversation. The ticket agent was trying to upgrade as many soldiers as she could to Business Class as a thank you. As I sat there next to the officer, the agent came over and said to him, “Sir, I was able to get just over half of your group into Business Class. I have your roster here, starting with you at the top, from senior rank down. For the upgrades, I assume you want me to just start from the top and work my way down?” Without hesitation, the officer looked up at her and replied, “No ma’am, please start from the bottom up.” In other words, put the lower ranking solders in front and the leaders will sit in the back.

This concept of “starting from the bottom up” and putting the needs and comfort of your people before you is a leadership lesson I learned long ago when I served as an officer in the military. You realize quickly in the military that your success, and possibly your life, depends on your people. As such, your role as a leader is to serve your team, not the other way around. This is in stark contrast to the misperception of military leaders barking out orders in a completely top down chain of command.

It’s a lesson I’ve tried to apply over the past two decades in the companies I’ve worked in and is the cornerstone of the concept I like to talk about: flipping the org chart. This means putting the leader at the bottom of the org chart to show that their responsibility is to serve their employees above them, who ultimately serve your customers. Flipping the org chart isn’t easy but here are a few tips to help you get started in 2020:

Find and hire the right people. Then get out of their way.

Throughout my career, from being a military officer to a college coach to a General Manager of a business to an HR Leader, I’ve learned that without a doubt, the # 1 driver of a leader’s success comes down to WHO is on their team. It’s always been my goal to hire people that are both smarter than me and come from different backgrounds. Finding the right person to fill each role on your team must absolutely be your top priority. Once you have that talent onboard, your role is to define clear expectations and desired outcomes. Great managers are great coaches who focus on the growth and development of their teams. Ask your people how you can support them but don’t get in their way! As Steve Jobs once said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” 

Connect people to the mission.

People want a mission to serve. In the military, it’s quite easy to connect people to the mission of the organization. It doesn’t matter what type of role or industry you’re in though—if people don’t feel like their work makes an impact, they’ll leave—or worse, stick around and bring the whole team down. As a leader, it’s your job to connect people to your overall company mission and constantly remind them of this mission. Our CEO does this extremely well as our Mission slide is always front and center when he presents. Remember that how one relates to a company’s mission comes in different forms—some may be inspired by a company’s products and technology, while others may connect more to the company’s impact on the world, community or individuals. What matters is that each individual feels their work is meaningful and contributing to the overall mission of the organization.

Keep your ego in check.

In order to flip the org chart, and lead in service to others, you need to keep your ego in check. There’s a line in the comedy Anchorman when the lead character Ron Burgundy says, “I don’t know how to put this but I’m kind of a big deal. People know me. I’m very important.” Don’t ever think like that! Stay humble and grateful no matter your role, title or level in an organization. While it’s important to have a strong sense of self that inspires confidence, one’s ego can get in the way of truly impactful leadership.

Be confident enough to stay humble. Leaders must be able to admit mistakes, receive ongoing feedback, be vulnerable, and remain open to constantly learning. And above all else, it is a leader’s job to enable and grow future leaders. The most successful leaders empower their teams to take charge and lead as the true legacy of leaders is creating more leaders.

Lastly, it sounds simple, but leaders aren’t leaders unless they have followers (and I don’t mean the ones on Instagram!). Your job is to take care of and look out for your followers. Hiring the right people, connecting them to the mission, and keeping your own ego in check in order to flip the org chart will enable you to serve your “followers” and ultimately your customers. 

Liked what you read? Hear more leadership thoughts on my LinkedIn and Twitter.