Want to Crush the Corporate Ladder? Ask Yourself These 5 Career Questions
By Jenny Seyfried
Career advancement. It’s what every employee hopes to gain … and it’s also the thing many of us find to be particularly challenging.
Thankfully, Stephanie Glenn is here to help. In less than six years, she’s seamlessly moved from Account Executive to Vice President of Small Business Sales East at Salesforce. Along the way, she’s mastered the art of expanding her responsibilities and growing her career strategically by asking herself five essential questions about what she loves, what she knows, and what she needs to learn.
Have you asked yourself these tough questions yet? Get to it, with help from Salesforce’s May Woman of the Month, and get on your way to the top.
1. What do I love?
Sometimes, it’s discovering what you don’t want in your career that helps determine what you do. One summer, she held a role in IBM’s Mergers & Acquisitions group to gain experience outside the world of sales. What she learned was simple: “I love the impact of being in a client-facing role. It’s very powerful, and I want to stay as close to the client as possible. That experience reaffirmed my love for sales.”
2. What do I want long-term?
Glenn also knew that a client-facing role alone wasn’t going to sustain her forever. Before she even walked through Salesforce’s doors, Glenn had her sights on what was next. “I knew I wanted to progress in terms of responsibilities and formal leadership opportunities. I wanted to build out and implement strategy as it relates to territory, career development, and budget.”
3. What’s the smartest way to get there?
Getting to your dream job doesn’t — and shouldn’t — happen overnight. Armed with an MBA and years of experience, Glenn didn’t rush her endgame. “I followed the natural path of sales leadership at Salesforce and trusted that process.” Furthermore, she says the 18 months she spent as an AE were pivotal for her continued success. “It helped me move forward more quickly because I got real experience with the Salesforce selling process. And the best way to lead a team of salespeople is to start by being one of them.”
4. Who can help me?
No one can do it alone — it’s important to look to your mentors, sponsors, and managers for assistance. “A mentor can give you advice and allow you to bounce ideas off them; a sponsor is the person who advocates on your behalf to help you take on a new role.” Glenn says that she likes to “cast a wide net — listening to ideas from a lot of different people is valuable,” but that she also keeps a few key influential players in her corner. “These people have helped me recognize when I need to be a sales expert, and when I need to lead, coach, and mentor my team.”
5. Will I thrive in my new role?
Success as a manager looks different than success as a salesperson, and Glenn did her homework prior to taking the leap to ensure she’d thrive in the environment she’d set her sights on. Job shadowing is essential — it allows you to either see yourself in that role, or realize that it’s not for you. To be a good manager, “you thrive on your team’s success and career development as opposed to your own individual performance. You are the sum of all of your people.” Exploring the day-to-day of her desired role allowed Glenn to transition seamlessly to a leadership role … and odds are, it might do the same for you.
The Salesforce Woman of the Month campaign turns the spotlight on the amazing women who help make Salesforce one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies (according to Forbes) and one of Fortune Magazine’s Best Companies to Work For. Honorees are nominated by fellow employees and selected by a dedicated committee that works to ensure a variety of roles and regions are honored.
To hear more from Stephanie Glenn, make sure to connect with her on LinkedIn. And stay tuned for more career tips and tools for success from our next Salesforce Woman of the Month, coming your way in June.
Interested in growing your career at Salesforce? We’re hiring! See opportunities and apply today at salesforce.com/careers.
Originally published at www.salesforce.com.
