Alexandra Smallwood

The best career advice I've received is to stick to your agreements. When you make an agreement with a stakeholder, it's really important to honor that and honor your word, because the moment that you don't honor what you said you would do, it starts to breed doubt or mistrust. It's really important for everyone to be on the same page and for everyone to know what the plan is so that you can move forward as a team.

I would say to embrace AI and get as comfortable with it as you can, because it's not going anywhere, and the more that you can figure out how to work with it, the more well-positioned you will be. Also, be yourself sooner and don't let men or other women or anyone tell you that you're not smart enough or that you don't understand it or that you're taking too long to learn. Show up every day, make the best next choice that you can, show up 100 percent, and be yourself, and that will get you very far.

We're seeing a really big shift from baby boomers retiring and millennials moving into senior-level roles, with Gen Z coming in behind us. The biggest challenge is adopting new communication styles in this new era of AI. Gen Z is used to using AI and modern tools, millennials are still tipping their toes in but might be a little reluctant, and boomers don't really use any of it or know any of the technology. The challenge is getting everyone on the same page as far as how to work together and communicate well.

Number one is creativity. I really value beauty and creation and creativity and doing things a little bit differently than maybe everyone else might be doing them. Number two, I value transparency. Being transparent is really important, especially in the corporate world where sometimes it feels like corporate can kind of suck the life out of you. Number three is teamwork. None of us live on islands. We all were made to live in community, and the power of working with your team and valuing each other and respecting each other is really important.