Is the Company Culture Right For You with Carolyn Bennett-Sullivan

In This Episode You Will Learn About: 

• Why failure is good

• How to adapt to change

• Be a big picture thinker

• Understanding your impact on a large organization

• Be a leader in every role

• Be your best advocate

Show Notes:
It can be hard to know what you need to do to accelerate your career. You may feel like you're stuck and don't know how to move forward. Maybe you've tried a few things but they haven't worked out the way you wanted them to.  In this episode, we'll teach you how to fail well, adapt to change, think big picture, and show up as a leader in all areas of your life. If you implement these strategies, you'll see an increase in your career success.


Resources:
Website: https://www.daniellecobo.com/
Newsletter: https://www.daniellecobo.com/connect
Book Recommendations: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-de49157c
Career Accelerator Workbook: https://www.daniellecobo.com/career-acceleration
Crush Your Quota Workbook: https://www.daniellecobo.com/sales-performance
Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-de49157c


Connect with Elite Career Coach, Danielle Cobo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellecobo/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheDanielleCobo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellecobo/
Join the “Dream Job” Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2826110370979215/


About The Guest:

Carolyn has 15 years in pharmaceutical, medical and nutraceutical sales. She is the author of "Get The F Out!" and TedX speaker. She has experienced firsthand to creating your best life is you get stuck in F.E.A.R. (Feelings Experienced As Resistance) which manifests as self-doubt, self-sabotage, stress, limiting beliefs, fear of change, procrastination, complacency, anxiety, and more. It results in a sense of feeling stuck, procrastinating on what you know you should be doing to being filled with guilt and shame because you're not moving forward. It affects you professionally and personally seeping into your work, family, and relationships, and robs you of living full out and settling. Today Carolyn is the Vice President of Softgolf, wife, and mother.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynbennettsullivan/  

The Big Vision and Overarching Goals of the Organization

One of the benefits of as you start to go up in the corporate environment, whether you go as an individual contributor up to a leader and continue to go up, you have a variety of perspectives on how the different departments collaborate together. And you really get to see that big picture thinking, you know, when you're an individual contributor role, and you're really in that sales, you're focused a lot on the customer. And as you climb up, going into a vice president role, you're not only thinking about what are the words the business is going to go now in that supporting that customer, but where is the business gonna go in the future innovation with new products, new strategies, new forecasting, launching new products, whatever it is. But it's definitely a bigger picture the higher you go,

Oh, absolutely. There's no question about it. And I think even when you are in a sales position it's important to have out that big picture to kind of look at what is the overall mission, values and vision of the company that I work for, not only for how, how can I utilize that to further my own career? But how can I also utilize that to serve our end users or our customers? So it really is having that. Having the big vision in mind with everything that you do, yes, you always have your day-to-day and your weekly goals, your monthly goals, but having that overarching goal of what is the mission? And what part do I play? You know, in that mission of the company, because everybody has an integral role, no matter what your position is within a company, within an organization.

Yeah, it is every. Everybody contributes to the overarching goals of the organization. And I know that I'm grateful for the experience that I had, you and I both coming from pharmaceutical medical sales and having the training that we did, because I truly believed it prepared me for where I'm at now because as an entrepreneur and a business owner, we were talking a little briefly, before jumping on here, you do everything. I mean, you are the marketing department, the social media department, you're the HR, the payroll, creating courses, and coaching and customer service. It is everything you can possibly think of and running a business, and you're doing it on your own. And then you get to decide when are you bringing on assistants and outsourcing. It's a lot more than I ever anticipated. But it probably would have been one of the most extraordinary experiences, really understanding how to run a business.

Designing Your Role Within the Company  

Absolutely. I think the entrepreneur's journey, I think a lot of people and I'm one of them, you're passionate about something. So you say, well, you know, I'm going to pursue this passion. And I get to do what I love every day without understanding that there are so many different roles, so many different things that you have to do as a business owner in order to keep that business going. And it trips up a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners. And that's one of the biggest challenges. Because if you don't like accounting, which I don't like accounting, and that's not really in my bailiwick, but you've got to do it, then either you have to learn it, or you have to generate the income to outsource it. So I think that's why, you know, they see so many small businesses fail. And a lot of that is because they're not prepared for what it really takes to be able to run a business and be successful.

Yeah, and whether you are an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, where you're working in an organization, the more that you think like a business owner, the more successful you're going to be, even if you were in sales, and you're working for a Fortune 500 company, when you really take a look at how do you get to support your customers, how do you be an advocate of the organization, really understanding the why of some of the decisions that are being made and the processes that are taking place? The more you have that big-picture thinking and run it as your own business, the more successful you're going to be.

Absolutely, there's no question about that, Danielle, you know, really, when it comes down to it, where we all create our own realities, we create our own life, right? So it's really important - when you are an employee - to be clear about how do you want to design that role within the context of the company? What is it that you bring to the table? So it's not just you know, and I think this happens, really in any corporation, you get a job and you've done it for a while, you kind of start just going through the motion. You kind of lose that spark, the excitement of when you first got the job, and burnout start to happen. I mean, I know I got very burned out at pharma. 

Taking Accountability Adds Value to Your Role and What You Do

And yet, I think if I understood what I understand now that you know, you are the captain of your own ship, you do create your own reality. I believe back then, if I would have taken more of a leadership role within my own role as the sales rep and taken on the personal responsibility of how can what can I add more value to this physician, what can I add to add more value for my customers and for the company? And when you take on that kind of leadership, that's what's going to help you grow not only within your role as a sales rep. It's also going to help you get promoted. 

Because management is going to see that you're accountable. Management is going to see that you're taking ownership and really giving your best value for your company and for your customers. And it is that intrapreneurship - that terminology - wasn't around when I was in pharma. That's how long ago it's been. However, I think that that is really important, no matter what your role is in any business, to take that personal accountability for what you can do to add value.

It's treating it like it's your own business, and always adding value and running it like it's your own. There's a quote that I always speak to, and it's by Tara Frank, and she's the VP of Hallmark for the Diversity Department. And it says people don't get promoted for doing their job. People get promoted for the potential that others see in them. So if you're wanting to step into a leadership role, if you're wanting to step into a marketing role, then it's about exemplifying those skill sets now. So that they're saying, oh, this person would be great. You want your shoulder, especially in those big corporations. A lot of things happen behind the scenes, often a position will be open, they already know who they're filling it with. And it's because those individuals that have exemplified those skill sets for that next role are the ones that are getting their shoulders tapped.

Micromanagement Means Lack of Trust

I worked for Sterile after we had launched Celebrex and Bextra, we were purchased by pharmacy, and then pharmacy, I was purchased by Pfizer. And at that point, I chose to take the severance package. So I had gone it interviewed, we, you know, I thought I'm not going to just leave, I need to go interview and we had interviews with different Pfizer district managers. And you know, at that point, I had been in pharma sales for over 11 years, I was feeling pretty burned out and really ready to do something different. And on top of that, I really didn't feel like I was going to fit into Pfizer's culture. So Pfizer's culture, back then, was very patriarchal. It was very much micromanaged. And I had had quite a bit of it Sterile and which I think was just part of Pharma. And at the time, I think it you know, it was really motivated through fear and intimidation. And

For those of you listening right now, that could probably relate to this because also being in a position where I've worked for a company that's been acquired multiple times by bigger companies. Yes. As these bigger farmers, pharma companies, pharmaceutical companies come in, it's they're tracking, you know, how many calls are you made? Getting Where are you going? Who are you spending your time with? And they're just tracking everything. And sometimes it feels like you're spending more time doing admin work of tracking things than you are actually in the field interacting with customers. I know many of the listeners can relate to this. Yeah, especially if you've been on my team before you, you know that this was a pain point that I did not like doing. Yeah, it's not to do it anymore. But yeah, that is kind of one of the challenges. And when you think about running like your own business, if you hire people that you trust, then why are we micromanaging them?

You talk about that feeling that you had where a company comes in, and there's this almost like pretentiousness about them where the feeling that you got, the perception that you had was that they were better than you. And I see that with some of these larger companies in comparison to some of their smaller companies. But I also see it within these big companies where, depending on which division you work in, depending on how much money the company invests in that division, there almost becomes this unspoken hierarchy, even though often, you know, leadership will say, Oh, well, we're equal, you know, you guys are all equal. But there is this unspoken hierarchy. You can tell a lot by somebody's character by how they treat everyday people that they interact with. If you're checking out of your hotel room, are you saying hi to the person that cleans your hotel? If you're going to the restroom, and the person is, you know, taking cleaning up the restroom? Are you acknowledging them? Are you just going in washing your hands and leaving?

Flexibility as a Huge Factor for Culture Fit

Our work now as employees we’re expecting, you know, we talked about his great resignation and how there's a lot of companies that are looking to fulfill positions and they're having a hard time fulfilling them. And it's because employees are looking for culture. And they're looking for flexibility. Because you spoke directly to that, you know, when when the pandemic first hit. My husband had just gotten home from a serving a year deployment he had been home for maybe, gosh, and he was home for two months before the pandemic it so here I'm thinking he's gonna come back from Iraq. And you know, we're gonna go to dinners and we're gonna have all this fun, and that's not the case. And so we're trying to adjust to him coming home and not integration of being away from a year, then, you know, kids and leading a team through a pandemic, which you've never done before. So if you're listening, please give your whoever was leading you at that point, give them some grace, because that was really stressful as a manager trying to navigate through that, when you've got a lot of people coming to you wanting answers, and you don't always have them. But yeah, the flexibility is what a lot of people are looking for right now is, is an understanding that there's going to be times where you're going to have to work from home because your kids are quarantined. Now my kids are quarantined for two weeks recently,

I think COVID was a great wake up call. I think it was, you know, it was so abrupt, it happened so fast. It was just so disruptive. And that's what causes people to take a step back and really evaluate what's going on with your life and say, hey, wait a second, you know, this working 60 hours a week, and, you know, my job is my number one priority. There's gotta be more so even to the point of what we were just talking about, of being an intrapreneur. You know, it's also about getting really clear about what you want for your life. And what are your priorities and not making yourself fit into something like a culture that isn't in alignment with your values and what you want for your life with what your priorities are? 

Because that that is the intrapreneur role. You give your best to your company. But if you're giving your best to your company, at the at the risk of harming yourself or burning yourself out, then you're probably not in the right company.

This frame of mind prompts us to take inventory of our lives and ask these poignant questions:

• What do you love to do? 

• And are you in a position with a company that aligns with your core values?

• Are you in a position that brings you joy? 

• Are you happy with the people that you work with and what you do? 

• Are you checking in with yourself frequently?

Knowing and Doing What’s Truly Important

A lot can change in six months. A lot can change in any year. And any other reason why you want to do that because we get so busy. So if we don't, if we aren't checking in routinely, then we can lose sight of what we want. And we start living by default. And then the next thing we know another year passes, another five years pass. Life goes fast. It truly does. And so that's why it is so important to stay on top of what are those priorities that I had. What is the vision for my life? What brings me joy? And am I taking the time to do that routinely? Am I making time for that? For those things? Because those are the things that are important. You know, it's, I think about, you know, when I get to the end of my life whenever that is could be tomorrow, for all I know, right? But it's not because I know I'm gonna live to be really old. But, you know, it's like, I don't want to have any regrets. I don't and regret why didn't I do that? You know, why didn't I spend the time with the people I wanted to spend time with? Why didn't I take the vacations that I wanted to take? You know? Why didn't I pursue the things that I want to do for my career? You know, and if you're not taking the steps towards those things, then you have to ask yourself, well, what's holding me back?

Is Transparency Part of the Company Culture?

Especially from the executive team, are they transparent? Do they walk their talk? Or it's because you read it, you go on a corporate website, and it's like, oh, we do this and we do this and then we do this. And then if you go on, indeed, and you look at the reviews of people that work there and they're like, two stars. You're like, okay, well, apparently they're not walking their talk. So for me, transparency, are they authentic? Are they real in their concern and in their honoring of their employees? Are their employees valuable to them? Or are you just a number? 

It's important to look at company culture and really invest in yourself for the long term of your career because you just never know what tomorrow brings.

Corporate Culture is Constantly Changing

One of the lessons that we've learned too, from COVID is the future is uncertain. And so companies are always changing. You know, one of the things that I speak to and then I've spoken at companies about are about navigating change, how to navigate change with greater confidence. And there's a lot of fear around change. And I think the one thing that that you can do is, is learn the skill sets and the tools to use to feel more confident in uncertain times. The more that you can feel confident within yourself, whenever you're faced with whatever kind of chaos is going on in your life, or whatever kind of change is happening in your life, you're going to be able to navigate that change better. And, you know, it's okay to feel uncomfortable. It's okay to question like, what's going on? And what am I going to do? And how am I going to manage this, you know, that's all normal human emotion. Yet, the point is, allow yourself, don't beat yourself up, allow yourself to know that getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, is how you're going to grow. And it's how you're going to be able to navigate that change successfully, no matter what that change is.