How to Train Yourself for a More Successful Career Path

“Behind every successful woman is a tribe of successful women who have her back.”

MissFits is calling for the universal support of women in the workforce!

We’re a tribe of strong female business owners, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, creative minds, and ambitious ladies just getting started in their career.

Our focus starts by telling the stories of the women who broke barriers within their career so more women can reach success.

MissFits got the chance to welcome Cammie Dunaway, Chief Marketing Officer at Duolingo, and Eliana Murillo, Head of Multicultural Marketing at Google to our tribe and they happily shared their career experiences with us.

Here’s what we asked…

Q1: What are 3 things you must do every day to keep you sane?

Q2: What goals did you set at the beginning of your career to shape who you are as a professional today?

Q3: What skills would you recommend women develop to grow in their careers?

Q4: What tools do you use that help your team stay motivated and on task?

Q5: How do you stay productive on days when you just feel like binge-watching Netflix?

Q6: What advice do you have for the young professional who feels undervalued and how would they voice their concerns with their supervisor?

Q7: Have you experienced pros and cons from working in a gender dominated industry?

Discover the advice these two fabulous leaders have for you?

Q1: What are three things you must do every day to keep you sane?

“I meditate for 5 minutes in the morning when I wake up and 10 minutes to fall asleep. I also journal for at least 5 minutes in the morning and also write down or Tweet 5 things I’m grateful for. This helps me keep perspective and account for the big and little things to remember that every day is a blessing.”

“Suck down an iced latte.

Get as close to 10,000 steps as I can. (I love it when my Fitbit lights up with rockets and stars – it’s like a party on my wrist!)

Pray and try to remember that life is bigger than whatever I am facing today.”

Q2: What goals did you set at the beginning of your career to shape who you are as a professional today?

“Make an impact in my community by advocating for access for underrepresented groups within my work.

Become critical talent and make it hard for someone else to fill my shoes (this was early on and has since been edited).

Turn my own work into a platform for others to plug in and contribute toward the greater mission of impact so they can also grow personally and professionally through our efforts.”

“At the beginning of my career, I set a goal to get as far as I could as fast as I could.  I sought out role models, took on challenging assignments and raised my hand to move 4 times in 13 years.

I didn’t focus on promotions or salary so much as I looked for opportunities to learn from smart people and develop new skills.  At other points in my career, my goals shifted to balance family and work. Your career is a journey and it is OK for your goals to shift along the way.”

Q3: What skills would you recommend women develop to grow in their careers?

“Skills to grow: Become comfortable taking inventory of your wins with pride and be strategic about it, so you don’t lose your humility and can stay grounded but remember your experience to know your worth.

Learn how to connect with people who have experience you can learn from so they can become mentors, sponsors and advocates, and know the difference between each to lean on them when you need them in different capacities.

Embrace the challenges and turn them into opportunities – there is always a silver lining and a spin on the story to make it work for you to grow, gain perspective, and pivot if needed.

Tactical skills: learn to love data and the nitty gritty because the juice is always in the details. Make good decks and seek out great examples as templates so your work can stand alone even if you aren’t in the room to defend it.

Make “coffee chats” the most strategic way you learn from someone and gain insights without making them feel like their brain is being picked, but appreciated and admired. Always send available times for a chat in the other person’s time zone if you are asking for their time.

Craft smart emails that add value and convey your points concisely (because people ain’t got time for novels in their inbox).”

“Communication skills – you need to be able to sell your ideas.

Initiative – if you see something you want to be involved in, speak up and ask for the opportunity.

Confidence – especially the ability to be OK with not being the smartest or most talented person in the room but knowing that you have something unique to contribute.”

Q4: What tools do you use that help your team stay motivated and on task?

“The Strengths Finder book to identify everyone’s strengths and discuss them to map out how we can best leverage everyone’s individual strengths and partner up to fill any gaps.

The Love Languages test to learn how people like to feel valued, either with words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, etc. This makes a big difference to understand how each person prefers to engage in a way that is most meaningful to them, which can influence how we show team appreciation across the board or for me to consider as a manager.

Team offsites. Fun matters! Personal connections matter! We may not all be best friends outside of the office, but we can’t forget we’re all real people. When you forget the humanity on your team, then you have problems. We also make sure we have a group chat for silly memes and pump up jams to keep everyone feeling positive and hyped!”

“OKRs, weekly 1:1’s and team meetings are just part of the normal course of business.  We recently did Gallup Strengthsfinder to learn more about each team member’s styles and preferences. I absolutely believe that teams who like and respect each other and who bring together a diverse set of experiences have the most fun and get the best results.”

Q5: How do you stay productive on days when you just feel like binge-watching Netflix?

“I focus on my why, which is usually grounded in who. I think about why I’m doing this, and then remember the people I aim to serve. I think about the difference I want to make for them and then I put on some jams and get going.

I also hit up my best friend who is an incredible purpose-driven leader and founder, and she reminds me that we have to do this and that I CAN do it! Lean on your tribe and they’ll reflect back to you the strength you need to keep going.”

“I am pretty goal oriented so if I feel like binge-watching Netflix, I just give myself grace and binge-watch Netflix.  I also read People magazine cover to cover every week. Hey, as marketers we have to stay up on pop culture!”

Q6: What advice do you have for the young professional who feels undervalued and how would they voice their concerns with their supervisor?

“Feeling undervalued:

Early in my career, I learned the concept of becoming critical talent, meaning playing your role in a way that proves to be so critical, it would be near impossible to fill your shoes. This is important when you are trying to establish your worth and visibility at the beginning, but once you become a leader, you want to make sure that everyone around you can operate and thrive even if you aren’t there. Otherwise, you’ll never take a vacation LOL!

When you feel undervalued, it is important to make sure that you communicate your contributions tactfully, so you don’t feel like you’re boasting if it makes you uncomfortable, and use metrics to measure your impact to make it as objective as possible.

After establishing that you are critical talent, it is important to then focus on making sure your work is set up to scale, do that, and others can contribute toward it without all of the weight sitting on your shoulders. The more you delegate and empower people, the more leadership abilities you demonstrate, which shows impact beyond your direct output. If you want to stay in the individual contributor lane, that’s more than okay, but consider the different types of leadership responsibilities you want to take on outside of people management, which is often equated with leadership positions and visibility at most companies.

When I have felt undervalued, I have had to reflect on whether I felt I was being underutilized and was ready for more responsibilities or opportunities, or if I didn’t feel seen, which is very different. Although it is important to communicate openly with a direct boss about your experience on a team, often it is important to reflect on what is making you feel undervalued and what it would take for that to change. A promotion? An increase in budget? A new or larger team? Or if you think you are ignored, then do you want more input on decision-making situations? Do you want more opportunities to present to your larger team or leaders? Think about what you really want to see change, and then consider whether it is up to your boss to do something about it, or if it may be strategic to seek it out for yourself. You can prepare to do more presentation, propose projects with expanded budgets, discuss promotions, but be specific in knowing what your ideal scenario and a solid “consolation prize” you’re willing to accept before opening up the conversation.

Sometimes feeling more valued can also be the outcome of contributing to things outside of your day job, like mentoring other people or taking on a side project where you are clearly involved in leading it. I don’t recommend seeking to find all of your value and fulfillment at work, as that can lead to unmet expectations and unnecessary frustration, so find other ways to nurture that for yourself as well.

If it really is about your core work, then rather than asking to be valued more, think about the value you can create and fill the void without expecting direct validation from others. Focus on the purpose you want to work toward and do that, in or outside of work. It will create a lot more value for yourself on an intrinsic level than hoping others all somehow value you more overnight without seeing a clear change in you or your work, or the way you present it.

Show the impact you’re making and measure it. I believe in show, don’t tell! Show them why you should be valued more, rather than telling them. Show them you’re ready for the big leagues if that’s what you think you want!

We have to signal to people how we want to be valued, and that starts with assessing how we value and present ourselves. Do a great job and own it!”

“I would start with making sure you understand your boss’s goals.  If you are unsure just ask, “Can I get a little more input on what you think is the most important thing for me to accomplish this quarter?”

Then make sure you are spending time on things that matter to the company. If you still don’t get the recognition you are seeking, set up a private meeting with your boss and walk through your concerns in a calm way with an attitude of ‘can you help me understand what I need to do to be more successful?’ It is really important that you take responsibility for getting the feedback that you need to grow.”

Q7: Have you experienced pros and cons from working in a gender dominated industry?

“Things that may seem obvious to you may not be the norm or top of mind for the rest of the group, which may then involve more work to get their buy-in. That said, the additional work to relate to people with your points and ideas does help you remember that your reality isn’t the only one that exists. You learn how to communicate your point to people with different perspectives, and often gain more attention for being the outlier in the room. If you have a male sponsor or mentor, you can run ideas by them and ask for input on how to present them to other leaders and make your ideas and proposals even more sound with their perspective.

Diversity of input can sharpen our strategies even more so that when you present them, they’re bulletproof! Don’t let being the outlier hold you back. Leverage it as an opportunity to present a new perspective and different experiences that are valuable!”

“Because I am frequently the only woman in the room I have had to stretch beyond my comfort zone.  I have been more prepared for meetings, and bolder in asking for opportunities. Fortunately, I have been able to learn from some talented and compassionate men who have given me great advice and pushed me to reach higher than I might have on my own.

The challenge early in my career was that I felt like I needed to be one of the guys to succeed like one of the guys.  Whether that meant wearing suits with padded shoulders and neckties or toughening up to show little emotion, it was draining to try to conform to a mold I didn’t always fit. I am so encouraged that young women today are less focused on leaning into male-dominated systems and are more focused on changing those systems. And I am excited that over the years I have learned that bringing my heart to work is actually a powerful way to help my teams succeed.

Companies need men, women and non-binary people bringing their best, most authentic selves to work every day.”

Are you new to MissFits life?

Did Eliana and Cammie make you want to climb a mountain? Yeah, us too! You’re going to hear from these kick-ass ladies again. Stay tuned for the MissFits Fall eBook??

Until then keep an eye open for more articles just like this one. We’ll continue asking the hard questions, so you can understand the grit it takes to walk in these lady’s shoes.

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