5 Career Lessons that Changed Everything for Me

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. As I reflect on my career, specifically the last 15 years or so that I was in pharma and biotech, there are things that I learned that were discovered through experience. Just like I’m sure you have some of your favorite lessons too. And sometimes they’re painful experiences, things that weren’t taught in a career development training or that I was prepared for from any of my colleagues, from college, from graduate school. No one prepared me for the realities of what it’s like in the workplace sometimes and those lessons that you can painfully learn, things that I would have really loved to have known.

And I want to share these lessons and experiences with you so you can have an insider edge and hopefully learn from my experience and help you expedite your growth. Instead of it taking you 5 years, 10 years, 15 more years to learn these lessons, you can learn them right now. So I’m going to share five lessons and some you might take something away from and start implementing now and considering now. And that would be amazing. Some you’ll hear our lessons that I learned that I had some advance notice of, but I didn’t really let it sit with me.

I didn’t really use it right away and if that happens to you, that’s okay too. But these five lessons are really a game changer. They were for me. They changed everything for me. And I think for you, they’re really going to help too.

So I’m going to share what each lesson is, what it meant for me, and some stories to go with it. So let’s go ahead and dive right in. In this first lesson, I’m going to talk about overthinking. So my very first lesson is overthinking is a career killer. The faster you make decisions, the faster you learn, the faster you grow.

If you’re anything like me, well, than me. I used to be anyway. I was a high-performing perfectionist who never wanted to make a mistake. If I made a mistake, I wanted it to be a mistake only I saw. I wanted all of my work to immediately be seen as high quality and excellent.

So I did things like not letting drafts actually be drafts. They were more like a final product that I allowed myself not to spend too much time catching every single grammatical error. This didn’t just show up in how I did my work, but in how I made decisions. I saw decisions as final and really catastrophized the outcome sometimes. So if I was considering applying for an internal job, for example, I’d get caught up in what my colleagues would think if I did apply to that job or if I got that job.

And I’d also overthink. What if I did get it? Or what if I applied for that job and I didn’t get it? And how would I feel? Would I be embarrassed? I thought I would be embarrassed if I said, fine, I’m just going to apply to this job and then I went through the process and I didn’t get chosen right. And then everyone would know. It’s funny how our minds work sometimes. I wanted to guarantee my outcomes before taking steps, which is really what was causing the overthinking. If I was considering an external job, I’d apply cautiously to test waters.

And if I wasn’t 100% confident, I’d spend a lot of time thinking about whether I’d get the interview or whether I’d get the job and how I’d handle certain questions that would come up and what if they asked me to deliver a presentation? And all of that would delay actually applying. Think about how this really slowed me down compared to if I had just made a decision and didn’t overthink things, right? There are so many things that have to be decided before that big scary outcome. Like with applying to the external jobs, I have to apply to even see if I get an interview, and then I have to interview in advance rounds, to even get to the point that I’m considering presentations or negotiating the offer.

What would happen if I actually got it right at my first industry job? My boss, John Mason, who is actually on this podcast, if you go back to some of the earlier episodes, he’s a senior talent leader with Takeda now, and he gave me this feedback. He said, your drafts, even the imperfect ones, are better than most people’s final products. Try to spend less time perfecting and more time getting your ideas and work out there for people to experience. That feedback has stuck with me all of these years, and if I ever catch myself belaboring the details, it breaks the cycle for me.

But to be honest, it didn’t right away at first. And you may experience with this, too. This might be something that you can really resonate with. Really, Any of the lessons I share today, I thought, yeah, okay, but it’s my perfect draft, and that makes me great. It’s the perfectionism that people expect and appreciate from me, right?

If I’m less perfect in my work, my career will suffer like this. Perfectionism, yes, it’s stressful, but this is how I got where I am. Do you see what I did there? I justified not following the feedback by doing what I was doing. That was actually holding me back.

The reason why I was successful. That is a bit of a mind trip, right? I think this is what we do in our heads when we’re overthinking. We think about things. We think about through scenarios, possible outcomes, what we would do then, what we want, if we want it, what people will think.

And all this time thinking and analyzing keeps us right where we are. It keeps us paralyzed by the fear of what if? And not taking the action we need. It’s why a lot of the work I do with clients is getting them to get out of their head and put pen to paper and stop the loop. Over the years, I have become someone who makes quick decisions.

They are thoughtful and they are quick. They both can exist with each other. And I want to reinforce that because I know your brain might not think that you can make a thoughtful, intentional decision quickly, but you can. You don’t need all of the research you think you need. You don’t need to wait and sleep on it and all of the things, right?

You don’t need a hundred opinions. And guess what? You make a million little decisions every step of the way to the outcome. But everything starts with that very first one. That very first step, that very first decision.

The first step to decide what you want next, the first step to get your idea or imperfect work out there, that real, true draft, the first step to applying for the job that you want. You will have so many decisions to make after each step, and you’ll be in control the whole time. One of the best things, too, is that you can also save so much time by only considering and thinking about the situations that are in reality happening at this moment, rather than the possibilities or fear of what could happen. When you’re overthinking yourself, your options, your next step, you don’t take action. And the faster you take action, the faster you make the decision.

The faster you get to the next step, the faster you grow, you learn, and you get to that end destination, wherever that is, whatever that is. Whether it’s being seen as a leader to feel confident, to get a new job, to get promoted, you get there so much faster. But you don’t need to overthink the how. You don’t need to overthink what you’re going to do to get there every step of the way, or if it’s going to be worth it. You don’t need to overthink that.

You just need to take a step forward. That is my first lesson. Overthinking is a career killer. Lesson number two, act like you’re already in the role that you want. When I worked in child welfare for the state of Wisconsin, before I was in industry, I had a boss who offered advice to me that I should always dress and act like the role I want to have, not the one I’m in.

I didn’t give this a lot of weight at the time. I was relatively new in my role. I was in my early 20s and I thought, I’m just enjoying life right now. Right? I’m focused on my job right now.

And it did stick with me, though, because I did wonder if I did act like I was in a higher role, if I behaved that way, if I dressed that way, what would change, right? And I have found that this lesson is true. I have had it reinforced for me throughout my career, especially in pharma and biotech. I hear from women all the time that they can do more, that they just want to be given the chance, the opportunity, that they’re not seen as the leader they want to be seen as. And the problem with that is if you’re not given the chance, it’s sometimes because you’re not being seen as the person or leader who can be successful in what you want to do.

I know that can sound kind of Harsh. I have worked with clients who are frustrated that their leaders aren’t more effective. They think that they themselves could do their boss’s job better. And I’ll ask them how they know, how they’re demonstrating themselves, that they are the leader that they think the organization needs. And most of the time when we really peel back the onion on that, they aren’t.

They’re stressed, they’re overwhelmed, they want to rise up and be given better opportunities, but they aren’t acting like the person who already has them. You want your leaders to see you as you want to be seen, not just for your potential, right? Not a diamond in the rough. When they see you as a confident leader who communicates effectively, is professional, they are more likely to promote you when they see you confident in yourself. And when you see yourself that way, you are more likely to perform better.

When you’re focused more on the impact you want to make, the leader you want to be seen as, and not the gap of what you don’t have, you get better results. And another example, a long time ago I used to get caught up in workplace gossip. You know, if you’re not new to the podcast, you know, I like reality tv, sometimes I like my Bravo. And in the real world, I would sometimes indulge in hearing what’s going on with people at work. But listen, if people see you do this, if they do it with you, so that then they do know that you do this, if they are your insiders who gossip with you, and if they are influential in the decision-making process, if they’re part of the decision-making process, if they provide feedback on you, even if they love you, that goes into their feedback, it’s going to be a factor.

Leaders won’t think things like, well, we know when she gets promoted she’ll stop gossiping, right? And even if they’re not using gossiping as the thing, if it’s something else that you’re doing or not doing, they’re not going to think, oh well, once she gets the job, she’ll start doing this or stop doing that, right? Or even if you’re thinking, once I get that title or raise, then I’ll do X, Y or Z. Do it now and see what happens. Make it easy to be promoted.

Take away the risk for your leaders and decision-makers. I have found too that when I have admin days where I don’t have coaching calls and then I’m planning out podcast episodes or writing my emails or working on training or materials for my clients, if I show up to my home office and my cute sweats. I’m so comfortable, but I’m not as productive. The lazy clothes signals to my brain to be more lazy, and it’s not conscious. I’m not sitting there thinking, look at me in my sweats.

Now I’m going to be lazy. Right? It’s really just like a subconscious signal, like we’re in relax mode now. And you might find this for yourself too. How you present yourself, how you think about yourself, how you act, it all matters.

So I’ve learned from being an HR in my own career and from observing other people that those that go ahead and move more quickly and step into who they want to be seen as, they aren’t complaining and thinking that they’ll change when they get paid to. They’re doing it now because your brand, your reputation, it’s now. It doesn’t transform with a new title. The decisions made about you and your career are based on now. So if you’re not feeling recognized or don’t feel that you’re given the right opportunities, then I would really encourage you to think about how you can start to think and act differently to create them.

If you were already promoted, what would you do? If you were a senior leader, how would they solve the problem that you’re experiencing right now? What would be the standard? Tap into your best self, your future self, to solve the problems that you’re having today. All right, my third lesson.

The workplace isn’t fair. And focusing on how it should be is solving the wrong problem. You need to instead build the skills to advance and be happy in an unfair system. If you’re a woman in the industry, you know that there can be problems. If you’re part of any group that isn’t the majority, you know that there’s bias, there’s misogyny.

You know that there can be political games, and favorites, and it can all feel like an uphill battle. You know that doing the right thing or working the hardest doesn’t always get you the promotion or recognition you deserve. That’s just true. Part of my job in the industry was employee engagement and work experience, improving our culture and ways of working. And so I had to focus on some of the issues as well as experience them firsthand as a woman in the workplace, in pharma and biotech.

So I say this to give you context of where my perspective is really coming from, and what’s shaped it. I have seen men who are not as qualified, who have said racist remarks, talk about his trophy wife at work, and make comments that were inappropriate about women and still get promoted. I have seen men who complained about getting promoted to lead a group of women without even seeking external candidates. And while this is happening, you may be flooded with information about the positive progress that’s been made in your company and even told that these things don’t happen, that you misunderstood, and that it’s misrepresented. Right?

It can feel a little bit like you’re being gaslighted and that it’s a problem for you to have the thoughts that you do or to experience work differently based on who you are. When you see your boss or leaders hire their friends and not seriously consider other qualified candidates, you’re told they were just the best for the job. And listen, I’m not trying to be all doom and gloom here. I just want to acknowledge that the workplace and society, they are not fair. It’s not always the best, most qualified person who wins. And what I learned is that focusing on that, trying to fix it, letting myself go through periods of giving up or being complacent in my own career development because I, I can’t fix it and I can’t make it fair and nothing matters anyway. Those thoughts I was having, you know, in down days, it only hurt me. Letting the unfair nature of work made me not care or bother to speak up for fear my idea would be stolen. It’s only silencing myself.

Even when it happened again and it truly felt unsafe and I was very upset about the number of ideas that were stolen or repeated by men and then suddenly were great. Right? It’s frustrating and allowing those situations to keep me invisible and small. Let them continue to trample to the top on the backs of women like us. So instead I want you to please, instead of letting it get you down and making you small, build the skills to advance and be successful in an unfair workplace instead of resisting that it’s unfair.

Being upset, it’s unfair. And staying stuck that it’s unfair. Build the skills to beat them at their own game. Live in the world of and it can be unfair. And you can build the skills to be successful with an unfair advantage.

Work smarter, not harder. When you build the skills to succeed in an unfair environment, you can be successful anywhere. And that is empowering. I wish I would have spent less time being frustrated and worked up about how things were and more time problem-solving. But we’re human, right?

The goal isn’t to shut off the frustration or to shut off the fact that we’re upset. It’s to not let us stop us. If you resonate with this, then think about what you need to do to protect yourself and build the skills so that you can rise up and avoid letting anyone dim your light. My fourth lesson. Your manager isn’t the most important decision-maker for your career.

A pivot point in my career happened when I started looking globally at my stakeholder relationships and stopped focusing just on my day-to-day and my boss and team. Your relationship with your boss is very important, but it’s a mistake to think it’s the one and only relationship that is going to get you promoted or control your career future. This speaks to my philosophy and thought leadership in your brand. But the more people that know who you are, what you do, and your impact, the better. I have found that to be true in my overall network, but also at my job.

Your boss can be your biggest advocate and ally, but the industry is competitive and budgets are often constrained. So when they go to ask for your promotion because you’re exceeding expectations and a high performer on the team, what other senior leaders are going to agree with them? Literally look at who would be in the room, who is going to know who you are and agree with that. If it’s only your boss, that is where promotions can go to die. That is where you can get thinking about maybe next year.

It’s not promotion time or other excuses. You’re going to get other reasons why the promotion can’t happen. Even though you’re the high performer on the team, it’s not that you weren’t good enough or performing high enough. It’s that you need the other key decision-makers to know who you are and the impact you make. So many people around that table would agree that it’s time for your promotion and that it’s a business necessity.

I found this to be true over and over again when I had a leadership role created for me with the government. It’s because of the relationship I built with their other satellite sites and the impact I was making to help them deliver at a higher level. When I had my talent and development role created for me at AstraZeneca, it wasn’t because of my boss or my boss’s boss. It was because of the relationships I built with our global talent team. My boss and boss’s boss agreed that I should be promoted.

They agreed that my work was valuable, but it wasn’t going anywhere. It was kind of a this will happen sometime shortcut for there isn’t a business need to pay me more or give me a higher title if I can do the work where I’m at So I got creative. I found mentors outside of my site. I sought mentors who were different than me, whom I didn’t even necessarily agree with in different business units that were in the circles and meetings with my boss’s boss and even her boss. What this did is it had people talking about me when I wasn’t there to my senior leaders.

One day my boss came back from a global HR meeting and said my mentor, who was the head of talent and development globally, approached her and shared the work I was doing and how impressed he was, and how there is such a need for the solutions I was providing within Biologics. Then I had her peer do the same thing. Now, this took some humbling on my part. I already knew I deserved the role and I already proved the impact with projects that positively impacted our site scorecard. But it wasn’t until I built those relationships with people who were influencers of my leadership that I got to write my own job description and get promoted.

Suddenly, there was a business need after all. So my lesson here is to think bigger. Think outside your boss and think about who your other key stakeholders are, who your mentors could be, who your boss trusts and listens to, and become more known for who you are, what you do, and the impact you make. Now, another part of this lesson that I want to mention is that your boss isn’t the only decision-maker in your advancement, but they are a critical ally. It doesn’t do you any good to have beef with your boss, to focus on how you could do their job better than them or how they aren’t good at their job.

Even if those things are true. I have had some great bosses and I’ve had some terrible ones. But learning to use the terrible ones to my advantage only helped me. When I resisted on principle and didn’t help them succeed, it only hurt me. So to sum up this lesson, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Whether your boss is good or bad, don’t rely on just them to advance your career, and don’t count them out. Don’t rely on just one person. Get as many people to work to your advantage as you can. Because in an industry like pharma or biotech, it’s so well-connected and most roles are filled through referrals and relationships. The more people who know who you are, what you do and your impact, the farther you will go.

It is time for you to be more seen. And just like that, we’re on to our fifth lesson. Taking ownership of your career results in Both good and the bad is the fastest way to be in control of your advancement and transform your relationship with yourself and with work. It’s a big lesson. This is our final lesson, and it’s a humbling one that I had to learn.

When I started taking responsibility for all of my results in my career, the accomplishments, the achievements and the setbacks, things changed for me. It can be a protective instinct, a comforting coping mechanism, to blame others for why we don’t have what we want. And to be honest, if someone had said to me, you blame others for why you don’t have what you want, I would have disagreed because I didn’t see myself as doing that. I saw the obstacles, the people, the challenges as really other circumstances, other people, not something I could control. And that were true and factual.

And it wasn’t about blame. Sometimes it is other people’s fault. Sometimes situations do hold you back and they are real. But what I learned is when I blame other people, when I blame other situations, it takes all of the power and control away from me and I don’t get the results I want. And when I take responsibility for everything, I feel more empowered.

I have a choice. I have decisions I can make. I feel in control. Here are some examples. When I didn’t know what I wanted in my career, I spent time thinking dream jobs don’t exist and to just be happy with what I have.

When I took accountability and said, I don’t know what I want because I haven’t figured it out. Not that the option doesn’t exist, not that my boss didn’t tell me, not that this career, job, this company just doesn’t have career paths. When I made the outcome that I don’t know what I want because I haven’t figured it out, I was able to discover how to figure it out. When I had a stakeholder who’s so difficult to work with, that person that, like, you just dread, dreaded going to meetings with and believe that she just was a terrible colleague. I went through the motions and the relationship didn’t improve.

I did what I had to do. I delivered right? But I was just like, struggling to get through it. And I was happy to go home after work and give all the reasons on how she made my life miserable that day. And when I took accountability for the relationship and I decided that even if I didn’t think I was the problem, I was going to challenge myself to build the skills to work with anyone.

I took training on difficult conversations. I built my skills through practice and I repaired the relationship and then this person ended up reaching out to me for support. When I started my business, the relationship transformed. And that wouldn’t have happened had I not built that skill or taken responsibility for the relationship. Even when I didn’t believe I was doing anything wrong, when I thought my dream job was too out of reach, when I did figure it out, and then I was like, it’s too, too risky.

I can’t start a business. I took clients at night and I started dreading my day job. I started feeling stuck when I took responsibility for my choices. And I decided that if I was going to make this move, I had to figure out how I could make it work if I wanted to make it work. Then I got resourceful.

I hired a coach, I started cleaning up kind of what was holding me back. I started taking action and getting the accountability that I needed so that I could have what I wanted. Whether it was a promotion, a colleague that was a struggle, a job change, or even just like day to day interactions with people. Taking responsibility for the outcomes created a huge shift in me. It allowed me to stop blaming people, and giving up being stuck, and instead problem-solving, feeling in control, and feeling empowered of my results.

Then I could focus on what are my options. When I moved into this mindset, I stopped feeling sorry for myself in those times that felt hard or impossible and I would switch quickly to problem-solving. I started to build more confidence by taking action through courage and not waiting to have experience or to feel more comfortable or to have things be more done or whatever, just to get started and just to try. And then everything became a problem to solve. It was no longer an issue of if I could have something, it was how to get it.

It was no longer it is what it is and instead it’s it is what I make it. If you believe that you are capable of achieving anything, that you are one skill, one step away from having what you want, then you’re empowered to create what you want. My advice to you would be to learn from this lesson and the others, to really take a piece away with you today so you can create the results that you want for yourself, so you can expedite where you’re going. You have more power and control over your results than you think. All you have to do is decide to make a change and you will.

All right, that is all for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something. I would love to hear from you. Reach out to me on LinkedIn.

Let me know what you resonated with or what you’re taking away from this episode. I’ll talk to you soon.

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