Marjorie Etter Parnall

I would say I'm a big advocate of Brene Brown and all of her teachings and learnings around being vulnerable and being impactful. I always remember she talked about the stories we tell ourselves. As the markets evolve in a positive or negative way, with all the fluctuations in the markets, it's really important to understand what is actually happening and not personalize it. Don't tell yourself that this is happening because of me, or something I have or haven't done. Tell yourself something is happening that is going to have an impact, and I want to be a positive element in that, because this isn't about me. That's what has to happen in the business. Also, as women, as a woman of color, that's something I have to live by, because there are going to be stereotypes. But no one knows me until they try. So I can't walk into every room thinking that how people are feeling or behaving is about me. They've had a bad day, or many things could have happened. But it's about how I show up with my confidence and my shoulders high, my head up, and just being respectful of myself and the interlocutor.

I think the biggest challenge within change transformation world is helping executive leadership truly understand what's happening on the ground, so that they can aggregate at the right time and in the right doses, so that the workforce that sits under them doesn't lose confidence in what's about to happen. Because usually these changes are to help a company grow, are also to help a company move forward. Like, they want to produce something new, so they have to be in a different state to keep up with the markets and things.

Two top strengths that I value are that I'm a great communicator, from the listening part to the translating part. And then also, and I think this comes from my family, I'm very good at connecting people. I'm really good at pulling teams together, and then I use those communication skills to help them listen to one another so that they can work better together. I'm also quite reliable. I'm kind of like the go-to for many things because of those two skills that I do well. So that reliability is what attracts a lot of other team leaders and executive leaders that I've worked with.