Tara Althaus

I think humility, actually. Understanding that failures come with a lot of learning opportunities, and being able to appropriately understand when something didn't work out, and talk about it. Talk about it openly, and talk about what went well, what didn't go well, and how things can move forward in the future. Really showing up every day with a lot of consistency, when you're able to show humility simultaneously, I think opens up a more honest and transparent workplace, where it's just healthier.

Don't be afraid to take up space. Really trust that your perspective matters. I think that how somebody shows up, how they follow through on ideas, and they advocate for what they believe in plays a really large role in the success of someone's personal career, but also the organization. The important thing is where influence kind of starts to build is making sure that you bring meaningful solutions to your ideas. I think that's just where people start to see that you don't just have a point of view, but you can really start to move things forward.

Believe in yourself. I think that we're told, as women, not to take up space, not to be allowed. There's that cheesy saying that says, well-behaved women rarely make history, and I think that that has a lot of truth behind it. It doesn't really matter your title, doesn't matter the platform that you have, everyone can bring real value, and really understanding how you can move the needle forward for both your career and your company is really important. Just believe in yourself, stand tall and speak up and share your ideas. It took me 40 years to feel a little bit more confident in that. As women, we're often told in many different ways to be small, not take up space, but I think we're needed more than ever right now.

A lot of it is just constant reminders to keep the big picture always at the forefront of your mind. Really being able to navigate how to tell stories that are data-driven but show that there's a human impact behind them. Being able to trust that sometimes difficult conversations are necessary in order to move the needle forward.

It's gotta be that I am somebody that you can depend on. That I follow through with what I say I'm going to do, it's that saying of under-promise and over-deliver, and really, really clear communication. There's going to be times where you get to provide really incredible information and news, and there's times where you have to provide complex information, and even sometimes constructive or unfavorable information, and being able to communicate that clearly is really, really important. That comes with how you show up every day, and being somebody that they can lean on and trust as you're advocating for your customers, but also their members.