Pivoting, or making a significant change in your career or life, can be both exciting and terrifying. It requires courage, vision and the willingness to step outside your comfort zone. On the most recent Training Tuesday, moderator Caroline Flowers gathered three businesswomen who shared their experiences and advice on pivoting. Here are some of the highlights.
Shellisa Multrie “boomeranged,” as she called it, from LPL Financial to Hubspot and back to LPL Financial again, where she’s currently Senior Vice President of Learning & Development. Her motivation for a pivot was to learn new things, learn to believe in herself and not get comfortable. Her biggest advice for women pivoting is to ask yourself why you want to make the change. So often, we quickly list off goals as actions by a certain deadline, but she urges women to enjoy where they are now and take it step by step to achieve how they want to feel, not just what they want to do.
Before she founded her firm Zinnia, offering travel planning for corporate offsites, Lauren Marturano set and achieved lofty sales goals at Microsoft and Salesforce, but meeting each goal led to a higher benchmark. She realized that she couldn’t continue that endless loop or wait any longer to start her own company. She read many books on entrepreneurship and start-ups to prepare but felt she could never be prepared enough, so she jumped right in, knowing that as long as she was her authentic self, the rest would fall into place. Lauren advises women who are pivoting to remember that nobody knows what they’re doing, so don’t suffer from impostor syndrome. We all Google everything.
Jackie Bardet has worked as a tax partner and account leader at Ernst & Young (EY) in Charlotte for 13 years. She has had self-described “micro-pivots” in her long career at EY, but they still required her to move across the country twice. Having a family necessitated a pivot back to Charlotte to raise her three children. She recommends you picture yourself in the position you want and ask yourself what you need to shift to get there. Usually, it’s not as big a shift as you think.
All three women leaders agreed that the pandemic had affected them in various ways, from teaching them that they don’t have to wait for tomorrow to spend time with loved ones to giving them time to bond with family members and realizing the flexibility of remote work. When not working, Bardet refuels by seeing friends and going on walks, Marturano enjoys traveling and Multrie treats herself to items she’s coveting, which is currently nice furniture. They all highlighted the importance of balance, self-care and finding support from mentors and loved ones. The biggest takeaway from all three guests’ advice is, “You can have it all but not at the same time,” so find balance whatever stage of life you’re in.
To pay it forward in their communities, all the presenters offer mentorship and advice to other women. Bardet always carves out time to volunteer and be a good example to her team. She stresses that her entire team should set boundaries between work and daily life to maintain a healthy balance. Marturano mentors other women entrepreneurs and Multrie mentors middle school-age girls and volunteers. As Multrie courageously puts it, “Leave the world empty; give all you can.”
If you’re considering a pivot in your career, remember that it’s never too late to start. Take it step by step, ask for guidance from mentors and don’t forget to prioritize your feelings and needs ahead of routine goals. Who knows? You might just find that a pivot leads to a fulfilling career and a more satisfying life.
