Her Story
About Laura
My main area of expertise is helping people realize their potential and helping people gain knowledge and skills so that they can execute well, create high-performing teams, and just propel themselves as far as they want to go. I handle the content for our internal professional development programs, so I'm responsible for making sure that we are forward thinking and bringing courses and information to our employees that both helps them be successful where they are in their roles now and to prepare them for future opportunities. I really enjoy creating, researching and creating content that fits our modern workforce. I think being willing to take risks has led to some upward movement for me, and just being willing to say yes to opportunities and trusting that I can figure it out. Specifically, I think leading our flagship Leadership Academy program into the future and modernizing it so that it serves our employees and growing that program to something that is really sought after is something I'm pretty proud of.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Laura
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to hard work and being a good teammate. Somebody once told me, who's someone who's very successful that I am close with, that he knows that he's not ever the smartest person in the room, and that doesn't matter. He's the guy that other people want to work with, and that's what I try to do as well, is be that person that other people want to work with. I know that I'm not always going to have the best idea or have all the answers, and it's important to surround yourself and not be afraid of surrounding yourself with people who are excellent at what they do. In a nutshell, just be that person that other people want to work with, and then you can figure the rest out by surrounding yourself with the right people and building great teams.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think there are probably two things. The first is that language matters. How you communicate, the confidence with which you communicate makes a huge difference in whether others will ever see you as leadership ready. So confident communication is a big one, practicing that, knowing what it is. Some people don't even know what confident communication looks like. That's incredibly important, especially for women. And the other thing is just say yes. Don't be afraid to take a risk, don't be afraid to say yes. Even if a choice you make career-wise doesn't turn out the way you thought it would, you will always still learn something that will benefit you, that you can take into your next role. So I think those are the two things: confident communication, know what it is, practice it, and say yes. Be fearless.
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