Last week I was on a panel at a Women’s leadership event. There was a lot of conversation about how women manage conflict in the work place. Then I was asked the specific question ‘In your long corporate career how did you make sure that you got noticed to get ahead?’
I think they asked the wrong person this question. For a start I left corporate life more than a decade ago! And I know I was a very challenging employee. I could never sit still. There was always another idea, a better way of doing things, some information I did not yet know and needed to discover.
I would become so passionate about whatever project I was working on – I couldn’t necessarily see other peoples point of view about other commercial pressures the organisation might have.
If I was tasked with producing a road show with 52 presentations around Australia in only 2 months, I saw nothing wrong with enlisting the support of every sales manager into the program, dragging them into presentation training and delivering the presentations. Forget about their real job of revenue.
I got noticed for hard work and being very focussed. But really as I recently commented to a fellow entrepreneur. “I’m probably unemployable.” I?m too passionate.
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
