Diane Deaver

I would say my most notable achievement is the people I've influenced and the growth that my direct impact has had on so many people's careers. I invest heavily not just on my team but across the enterprise. I've mentored a lot of people who have realized the promotions they wanted, and I worked hard with them to help them along. Creating high-performing teams and helping other resources realize what their potential is, even if they don't see it themselves, is the most gratifying to me. Really seeing my influence on other people and helping elevate them is what I'm most proud of. My mentors from early on taught me that it wasn't just about delivering, it was about doing it the right way, helping me grow soft skills, and showing me how to bring others along and elevate others around you. At some point I became hyper-aware that they did all this for me not for me to just not do it to others. My obligation to them was to continue that and share everything I've learned along the way, never keeping anything hidden from others. The power is in giving it away and expanding and multiplying. That core value they instilled in me is what I carry to this day, and I work extra hard to make sure that my legacy is what I've helped others do and achieve, what I leave behind.

The biggest thing my mentors taught me in the early days and over many years was that it wasn't just about delivering, it was also showing me how to do it the right way. They helped me grow the soft skills and gave me a bigger understanding that it isn't just about getting the job done, it's how you bring others along and how you elevate others around you. I became very hyper-aware that these people invested in me, and my obligation to them was to continue that and share everything I've learned along the way. They taught me to share everything and never keep anything hidden from others, because the power is in giving it away and expanding and multiplying. That was a core value they instilled in me that I carry to this day, making sure that my legacy is what I've helped others do and achieve, what I leave behind.

I would tell her that if they want to go into the industry, wherever they go, don't limit themselves. Stay curious. I learned from some of my mistakes in hindsight, because I stayed in one organization for a very long time. I would say not to limit yourself in that way. Get out, explore more, and always remain curious. Keep trying to have time in your calendar for strategic thinking at every level, because it's not good enough to just work on your project. You've got to carve time to continuously elevate yourself no matter how many years you've been in the industry. Keep doing market research, keep knowing what your competitors are doing, bring curiosity, and learn whatever the new thing is in technology. Spend some time personally exploring it and bringing that curiosity into your job every day. Continue to ask questions, even when you think it's a dumb question, because I don't care how much experience is in the room, if you have a question, most likely five other people have it too. You always come in and feel like you don't have a voice or what you say, everybody knows way more than you. But each one of you brings such a unique perspective that we want to hear your ideas, we want you to come in challenging the norm. You never want somebody to be a yes person in a room because that doesn't make anybody better. I don't care if you're one year in or five days in, bring a different perspective and share it so you can provoke different ways of thinking. Always know that there are so many ways to bring value, and it starts day one when you walk in a room.

Continuous learning is at the core of everything I do. I'm always challenging myself to get better because I know I'm never done. I'm super big into self-reflection, and whenever I find a course on LinkedIn Learning or other avenues, I want to read it. I go out to LinkedIn myself and read articles with different perspectives. I actually led a professional development segment in my organization a few years ago where I helped create a one-year learning day. We turned American Express's five days of training for technologists into a training day a month. What we would do is pick your training based on your development plan, put a program together of what you were going to do, then share it with the team and organization to give them ideas and have them share with you. I've done all kinds of training over the years, some official classes but a lot of it was hearing about something and jumping in and taking it. The power is in giving knowledge away and expanding and multiplying. I work extra hard to make sure that my legacy is what I've helped others do and achieve, what I leave behind. I invest heavily not just on my team but across the enterprise, helping people realize their potential even if they don't see it themselves.