Erica Briody

I think travel and languages, being open to new cultures, have been key to my success. My father was a great mentor to me. He was 35 years with Caterpillar Tractors, so we traveled all my life, and I think having that experience of travel really makes you think differently and reflect in a different way so that you can really add value. I would say that travel and the cultural experiences I've had were my greatest gift. I lived in 16 countries as part of my career, and my father worked with Caterpillar, so we traveled all over the world.

The best career advice I have received is to look at careers as a repositioning strategy, rather than just one role going to the next role, to the next role. I was given the advice of making sure that even though women may not necessarily always be able to go up, taking a lateral move so that they can develop more effectively before they go to the next step and understand the gaps in their career, I think is powerful.

In work, having a company that is a meritocracy is extremely important to me. A lot of companies use that as part of their values, and it isn't. It is definitely not that. Being in HR and seeing the gaps in salaries, you could definitely tell there is no meritocracy. Integrity is extremely important to me, that a company follows through and walks the walk and doesn't just talk the talk. I find that carries over into my day-to-day life. Meritocracy, as in, is it fair what's happening in the world with women and men? And also, is it fair that people are working for companies where they maybe don't have integrity, where there isn't that loyalty anymore? I actually talk about in my book the loyalty tax, that women end up staying in a company so long because they think it's the right thing to do, so they'll grow, but then they end up getting passed over and not getting the raises, and therefore they pay a tax for that. In regards to my values, understanding integrity and making sure the world is a meritocracy, for me, is the most important.