Caroline Meinen Arendall

I would say so much of my success comes from the support of the women in my life, honestly, which is part of the reason I was interested when you guys reached out. From being recommended for jobs, to people I've seen as mentors, to just friends along the way who have been listening ears when things are tough or sounding boards for advice, there are so many women I can look at throughout my career that I can think of very specific, as well as very broad moments that they were influential to me and helped me in some way to further me to the point that I'm at and even beyond where I am now. I'm capable, yes, but I could not be where I am, especially now having two kids, without leaning heavily on the women in my life. I definitely would commit so much of my success to the women around me.

Some of the most valuable advice I've received is, even if it feels personal, don't take it personal. In your career, especially when you're young, everything feels very close to the chest, and receiving feedback when you're younger feels really hard to take. The more you can take your ego out of it, the easier it is to see the actual benefit of the feedback you might receive. The less you can attach yourself to the work in a way that defines you, the easier it is to be open to feedback, to growth, to opportunity that maybe you didn't see. COVID was a huge factor for me when I lost my job in 2020, and that was really hard because I only saw my identity through my work. Once I had that tie severed for 8 months, I had to figure out that I still exist and still have value without this job. Going from that point forward, it's been so much easier for me to try for jobs I maybe wouldn't have applied for before. Removing the ego and being open to feedback has allowed me to grow much quicker and find a more clear path for me going forward than before when I was afraid of feedback or thought that if I received criticism, I'd hold on to that and let it destroy me. The more you can separate work from your identity, the further you can actually go.

This may not sound great, but something I've been saying a lot lately is, have the confidence of a mediocre white man. Just put yourself out there. There are so many opportunities I know in my career that I have held back from because I've thought, oh, well, in reading the job description, I qualify for some of it, but maybe I don't have experience in this or that. That has definitely changed in recent years of being like, just apply. The worst they can do is say no. In my experience, there are so many men who will just have the confidence based on nothing, and they're like, I got this. I can take a lesson from that and just put myself out there, put myself in more positions I may not have put myself in, and just see how it goes, because I'm holding myself back for no reason. I would tell them the same thing, just put your name in the hat. It costs nothing to try. Make the effort, get out of your comfort zone, and just see what happens, because the more you do it, the more comfortable you get doing that, and also the more likely you are to get something that you didn't expect, rather than holding yourself back and waiting until you meet every single measure on the job description. Put yourself out there when you meet 5 out of 10, who knows? You never know what they're going to say.

I'm actually in the process of interviewing within my company right now for a director's position, so I'm very hopeful that that goes well. That's my next direction that I would like to go. I've spent a lot of time working with clients and working very client-focused, and now I'm at a point of feeling really good about that experience that I have, and hoping to be able to turn it internal and work with a team and manage account managers like myself, to help them with their clients, but also help push their own career growth and their career goals, and just sort of alter the direction slightly to continue doing a lot of what I've been doing, but in a more personalized way with a team directly.

Communication is really important to me. I think that, both professionally and personally, clear and authentic and vulnerable communication can really just shift an experience or a relationship in such a positive way. When you talk directly, you're going to yield so much better results, whether it's to an employee, a client, a loved one. The more that they can receive from you that you're presenting yourself with vulnerability or authenticity, the more they're going to do the same, and so that's something I really try to hold onto, regardless of the setting. Another value is being service-oriented, just putting other people first. When you actually get out in the world and you travel, or within your own community, you see how loving and caring people are to each other in the real world, and so maintaining that through line of helping other people in whatever way I can, whether that's in work to help them achieve their professional goals, or just helping put away someone's shopping cart at Costco, or anything like that. I would also say, try to have fun with everything you do, because life is so short and such a blessing. The more you can enjoy your time and not take everything so seriously, the more everyone else around you is going to enjoy it. The more you can kind of infuse joy into the things you do, the better life is.