Lynn Soleski

The formula is determination. It's really determination and being willing to stick to it. If you fall down, you've got to get back up again. There's never complete failure, even if you have some failures along the way. The important thing is that you get up. The important thing is not the failure itself. You have to be able to accept some failures along the way, and the failure actually becomes a small step toward success, because you experienced it and you get better and you move along. So it's really determination and grit. I've also learned that kindness matters. It's really important. You'll be a happier person in the long run if you value kindness and make it a priority in your life and how you treat others. They'll treat you that way, too, and that'll make you happier, too. I value my colleagues and am always learning from them. I'm not really competitive. I think it's important that we look out for our colleagues, and help each other, and learn from each other, and celebrate each other when we have success. If you do that from the top, they'll do it for you, too. I'm not interested in a really competitive atmosphere where if I win, you lose. I just don't like that. We could all win together.

Somebody told me that a lot of it is timing. You have to be in the right place at the right time, but it may not happen where you are, so you have to look for that advancement. When you work in an architecture firm, they're generally much smaller than these giant tech companies, and there's not always room for advancement for everyone. I can't be the boss everywhere. I was running out of opportunities, and this was the way for me to advance. The other important thing is that I was getting older and retirement is within sight. I felt like I needed to increase my compensation to make sure I could take care of myself for the rest of my life. I'm single, so I'm completely responsible for the outcome of my life, and I wanted to make sure I was secure.

I would say, keep your eyes open. Look out there, meet people, ask them what they're doing and what they do, and if you find something interesting, go and find out more about it. There's something to be said for meeting people and introducing yourself, and then just saying, do you want to have lunch sometime? I would love to hear more about your job and what you do. It might be interesting to me someday, or it might be related to what I do. You've got to meet people out there, and you've got to meet more people than who is in your immediate circle, just the people doing the same thing that you do. It's networking, but it's really just kind of being an active participant in life, networking with a purpose and with intention. Young women need to be made aware of the different paths that they can take that haven't historically been women-dominated, and there's no reason why women should not be in those more highly compensated careers. It just gives us more choices.

The companies that I've worked for are just so big. You really have to learn how the corporate structure functions so you can design your place within it and feel like you have some agency for your role. I never really did this much before when I worked with smaller companies, even with 100 people. There were politics, but I just kind of stayed out of it. In these large tech companies, you really have to get to know people, and learn what they do, and let them know you're there and that you want to work together and collaborate. Learning how to work in a large corporate company structure and being an agency for yourself is critical. It's not getting better fast enough in the leadership positions. Even if there's a 50-50 split between women and men in the architecture field, it's not interesting in the leadership positions. We all really need each other and have to be on the same side.

Kindness is a big one. It's really important. You'll be a happier person in the long run if you value kindness and make it a priority in your life and how you treat others. They'll treat you that way, too, and that'll make you happier, too. I value my colleagues and am always learning from them. I'm not really competitive. I think it's important that we look out for our colleagues, and help each other, and learn from each other, and celebrate each other when we have success. If you do that from the top, they'll do it for you, too. I'm not interested in a really competitive atmosphere where if I win, you lose. I just don't like that. We could all win together. Collaboration is so important because everybody's winning together.