Skills and Talents
I am in constant competition with myself to improve and develop new skills. I believe some skills can be learned and some we must be born with. I feel blessed to have a little bit of both. Let’s take a look.
Relationship Building
My whole life, I have always found it easy to connect with people. I never meet a stranger personally or professionally. I not only form great relationships and make friends within my own organization, but my customers often become friends of mine as well. I read an article recently that said the #1 trait that draws people to you is authenticity. As I sat down to write this section on this site, I started dissecting why I tend to form strong relationships with people and I believe that authenticity probably plays a big part in that (or at least I hope that is the case). Anyone that knows me knows that I have no filter which has gotten me in trouble along the way, but I say what I think. I am outspoken, but straightforward and very transparent. I am also genuinely curious about EVERYTHING, so I naturally lean in and ask questions about people and their experiences and I share things about me as well. Ultimately, all of this leads to building TRUST which is at the foundation of all solid relationships and that is something I do not take lightly because my reputations in this industry depends on it. Below are the guiding principles behind the strong relationships I form with my customers specifically.
- Follow through and do what you promise to do. PERIOD...no exceptions and no excuses!!
- Give more than you take.
- Put the customers goals before your own.
- Be invested in their individual success.
- Take time to understand their world, their goals and their challenges. Be curious.
- Be a thought leader for customers even in areas that do not financially benefit me.
- Listen with the intent to understand rather that intent to respond
- Do the right thing even when no one is watching.
Customer Obsessed
My customers are ALWAYS at the very top of my priority list. I feel solely responsible for the success (or failure) of my solutions within their organizations. I run my business as if I own it and take accountability for all things related to their outcomes. I only represent technologies and solutions I believe in; therefore, I am confident about the solutions I provide my customers. I am also very aware and empathetic to the disruption technology can cause to a business if poorly designed, implemented and supported by me and/or my company. I always set very clear expectations and check temperatures along the way to ensure that expectations are being met and that my customers are getting the experience and solution they expected. I am always a champion for my customers success, and I own that responsibility even when doing so may require me to provide support that falls outside of my role. I have made it a habit to regularly check in with my customers just to see how things are going and what help they may need from me.
Team Player
I do not possess (and will never possess) ALL of the knowledge, skills and expertise required to go it alone in my role at NetApp. I know my strengths, and more importantly, I know my weaknesses. As a result, I have become proficient at building and facilitating teams of individuals within NetApp who ARE experts in their areas in order to expedite outcomes for my customers. I strongly believe there is strength in numbers and as a standard, I use a collaborative, team approach to give my customers the best experience possible. NetApp is top notch when it comes to support and technical expertise. Many of NetApp's technical experts and engineers have spent a majority of their careers on the customer's side of the table, so they were users of NetApp technology before coming to NetApp. This provides invaluable knowledge and a unique perspective for our customers because they understand the challenges you face more than I ever could. I am amazed at the amount of resources I have available to me as a NetApp Client Executive and blessed to work for a company that is as customer obsessed as I am.
Creative and Strategic Thinker
I love nothing more than an opportunity to be creative and strategic with my teammates and my customers. I have always been motivated by challenge. This is where I get to step outside of the box and find unique ways to maneuver through your challenges to help you obtain your goals. I am not a "wing it" kind of girl. I prefer to understand the optimal outcome and then methodically plot the best path to achieve that outcome. In technology, how does anyone successfully wing it? I have no idea!!
" Sometimes the only thing standing in the way of a successful outcome is a different approach"
unknown author
Leadership
No good leader ever said "that isn't my job", and you will never hear me say that either. I step up and take ownership of a problem that is impacting progress for my customer or my team. I do this in my professional life as well as my personal life. In professional situations, I work to quickly identify gaps in processes, knowledge or resources in order to get ahead of foreseeable issues and prevent delays. If something stands in the way of a goal for me or a customer and I can reasonably and ethically mitigate the issue, it will not be an obstacle for long. I have always been wired this way. I am not a patient person so waiting on someone else to take care of my problem is not my strong suite, especially in my professional life where my reputation is on the line with my customers. While I haven't specifically pursued leadership titles in my career to date, having a leadership mentality has been useful to my customers in many scenarios. For instance, many of the customer organizations I have worked with over the years had internal silos and poor communication internally with regards to goals, projects and agendas across departments. When I identify these types of gaps, I try my best to be a bridge. One example I often see is communication gap between the cloud and on-prem infrastructure teams. Organizations do not create these silos intentionally and may not even realize they exists. My customers have thanked me for bridging the gap in these scenarios many times.
I am fortunate to have been taught by many great leaders throughout my career. One of the traits they all possessed was a true desire to teach people and a desire to help others along their path whatever that path may be. This is a trait I admire and try to mirror in my own life. A good leader should be a trusted guide, not a boss. Great leaders also have to be attentive and caring. I want to see people to succeed; my co-workers, my superiors, my family, my friends AND my customers. When I see someone struggling, I reach out. When someone asks me for guidance, I give them honest feedback. To me, success is not always measured by reaching the final destination, but rather the impact you make along the way.
Competitive Spirit and Goal Oriented
I believe this is something most people are either born with or they are not.. Good, bad or indifferent, I was certainly born with it. I turn everything into a competition even if the opposing side has no idea they are in a competition!! My biggest competitor, however, has always been myself. That may sound cliche, but I am motivated by the mere challenge of self-improvement. I welcome constructive criticism from my teammates and customers, and very often, I proactively seek out those critiques because you will never get better unless you know where improvement is needed. I do not strive to be perfect because no one will ever be perfect, but I do strive for excellence in everything I set out to do. This mentality has helped me grow into a better friend, a better teammate, a better sales rep and a better person. With that said, if you are up for a competition... a go-cart race, shooting some hoops, billiards, darts or just a good ole fashion foot race..... I AM YOUR GIRL!.......LET'S GO!