Hattie Hynes is a Recruiting/HR Marketing Intern with Milliner & Associates. She will graduate from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2018.
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend âForward: Tales from the Young CEOâ, an Indy Chamber event. This was my first professional event, besides a career fair, so I had almost no expectations going in. My green âfirst-timerâ ribbon proudly displayed, I fumbled around nervously for the first 20 minutes of the networking portion of the event. I was at the mercy of my mentor, Nicole Bieker, as she introduced me to all the people she knew at the event.
After what seemed like an endless number of handshakes and conversations, finally the program started. The keynote speaker was Max Yoder, co-founder and CEO of Lesson.ly, an organization that produces learning software for companies. Being a CEO, I expected Max to be an old executive in a young personâs body: cool, calm, composed⊠that sort of thing. Boy, was I surprised when he walked up to the microphone in jeans and a t-shirt, and spoke transparently. He was just a guy with really good ideas. I could write a whole book about what I learned from Yoder by listening to him for an hour, but Iâll keep it to three points:
Show vulnerability as a leader.
I think we often hold this misconception that when weâre a leader, we need to be composed and display only our best attributes so that our subordinates will respect us. Yoder flipped that idea upside-down. If youâre vulnerable and show your team who you are and what youâre afraid of, theyâre going to want to work harder for you and youâre going to want to work harder for them.
Youâre not going to grow while youâre inside your comfort zone.
Weâve all heard it time and time again: âGet outside of your comfort zone!â or âPush yourself to do uncomfortable things!â I think this is something that we all need to be reminded of repeatedly, because after a while the phrase loses its sting. Itâs true; to become a better person and to grow, you need to put yourself in a position where youâre uncomfortable, and then excel. Rinse, and repeat.
Yoder talked a lot about his failures. One of the things he emphasized is that while youâre working on something, donât just hide in your basement until whatever youâre developing is ready for the public. Odds are there are still going to be a million things wrong with it when its released, so might as well not waste your time working on a part of something that isnât desired by your intended audience. Bounce your ideas off other people and see what they think. Donât waste your time on something that wonât work.
Don’t waste time on a bad idea.
About a week after I went to the event I sent a handwritten letter to Yoder, thanking him for speaking at the event and letting him know that I would be blogging about my experience. A few days later, I received an e-mail from Yoder in which he said he was excited to read my blog. Writing thank-you letters and following up with a quick email can open you up to new opportunities that you didnât know existed. I highly encourage anyone and everyone to remember how important people are to the success of your career, no matter which position you fill or what industry youâre involved in.
The experience I had going to this event was amazing and terrifying. But hey, I was outside my comfort zone! I learned a lot about networking and how to better prepare myself for future events, and Iâm excited for the next opportunity I get to practice what I learned⊠which is next week at the Indiana INTERNnetâs Intern Meet & Greet with Pete!
