In addition, anyone who wants to take their career to the next level should consider enlisting an executive coach. Working with a professional can help you see things from a different perspective and give yourself permission to try new things without as much fear and anxiety and can help you be the leader you’ve always wanted to be.
3. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
At the beginning of your career, there is a lot of pressure to pick a path and stick with it, as if it is a commitment that you can never change. The good news is that you do not need to take your first career choice so seriously.
Give yourself permission to change roles and careers as you grow and evolve. An easy way to accomplish this is to embrace job shadowing, which can help you better understand what you like, and maybe even more importantly, what you don’t like about different roles. It is OK to say, “Yes, I want to try this, but I’ll need some support.” It is OK to try new things without having a fully developed skill set. That is what being comfortable with being uncomfortable is all about.
4. Have Hard Conversations for the Greater Good
There is a lot of work to be done to improve equity and diversity in the workplace. This starts by having hard conversations about bias. Seemingly small changes to policies and procedures can make a big impact on a lot of people. For instance, find ways to help your company understand its bias and in turn translate that understanding to better hiring practices to increase diversity. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but it is important to do work that has a lasting impact.
If you feel really uncomfortable approaching these topics in your workplace, ask yourself if this is an organization that you want to be a part of long term. A healthy organization will want to make everyone who works there feel comfortable, and leaders will want to hear about changes that could help folks belong. Also, push your peers to reshape company policy to put employees first, such as parental leave, flexible working arrangements, and more.
Looking Ahead
A theme that emerges from these four lessons is that being vulnerable isn’t a characteristic that is present in many institutions, likely because it can be misinterpreted as a sign of weakness. But exposing vulnerabilities, talking through strategic issues, or having concerns is not a weakness; it is part of a healthy process that allows us to deliver the best outcomes.
That’s why I challenge myself, my teams, and the next generation of the channel to embrace vulnerabilities to strengthen the places in which we work. As one of the women leaders in the channel space, I want to inspire the next generation of women to break the glass ceiling and champion the channel.
EMILY GLASS is president and CEO at Syncro, a combined RMM and PSA platform that helps managed service providers start, run, and grow their business. Before joining Syncro, Glass served as COO at Alyce, a sales and marketing enterprise gifting platform; and at Datto, she served as customer experience officer, creating an award-winning technical support experience, and as chief product officer, driving product strategy.
