Lindsey Phelan

I would definitely say my Agile thought process. Because I am so fluid and agile, it's easy for me to pivot. I like to stay busy, so I thrive in a very high, fast-paced environment. That ability to be flexible and adapt quickly has been key to my success.

One of my directors, who I looked at as a mentor, really brought to light the power of positive thinking. He actually gave me a book called The Key to Living the Law of Attraction. At the time, I didn't realize exactly why, but now I believe it was because, as a leader, you don't always realize the power that you have, even just something as simple as your tone of voice. I try to use little tips from that book each day now, and it's really just about living the law of attraction and trying to always have that positive voice, to really bring people the strength that they need.

I would say, don't let being the only woman in the room stop you. Just keep moving forward on your career path and say yes to every opportunity because you never know where it will take you. It can be very difficult, it can be very overwhelming, you know, looking around, and sometimes you hear the comments being made, like, oh, you're a woman, you're emotional, you can’t manage a team but you kind of just have to keep going and not let those words define you. I don’t take things personally in the office because I know that I am always giving my 100%. Being a woman and trying to rise up in the ranks anywhere, I feel, would probably have the same types of struggles. But don't let that stop you. Just keep working and push through.

Probably helping others feel more comfortable with change. I’ve worked in a smaller company environment, as well as a corporate setting. Change can be very scary, especially with all of the technology advancements that have occurred. I have experienced more than a handful of situations where a change might be occurring and resentment/frustration have built up within a team. So for those types of situations, I do like to bring a lot of data points to try to clear up any confusion. I like to make sure that I'm hearing everyone out, and not just cutting someone off, and trying to be like, well, this will be so much better. There's a lot of training that I like to do whenever change is occurring. But yeah, dealing with change is definitely one of the bigger issues that I face.

Integrity is probably my number one. I just feel it's very, very important to always try to do the right thing, even when no one's looking, because you can definitely have bosses who are sometimes wanting to skirt the lines, and it can be difficult to really be able to say no, but I would say in those situations, be courageous and stick to your integrity, be your authentic self. And then another one is accountability. I have high standards for myself and at first I thought that I needed to be “perfect” to be a leader but I have been blessed to see great leaders will always accept responsibility for any mistakes made. Mistakes are truly learning opportunities and they can help you grow. This type of mindset helps to create a better work environment too because my teammates know that I won’t be waiting for errors to point out or blaming anyone to make myself look better. Unfortunately, I have worked with directors who will blame anyone to make themselves look better and it just creates a hostile and toxic work environment.