Women Who Lead: Meghan McKenzie

YYJ Tech Ladies is interested in sharing the stories and experiences of women who lead in the city’s tech community. Our goal is to highlight their work, create connections, and inspire newcomers to the industry and veterans alike.

Listening to Meghan McKenzie speak about the path that her career has taken so far, it’s not hard to understand her success in sales and leadership roles at a number of local and international companies.

Speaking with refreshing candour, her enthusiasm for her work is obvious as she recounts the experiences that have led her to her current role as Enterprise Sales Manager at local content development agency, Crowd Content.

“I’m still growing and learning every day,” she says. “I’m constantly learning about sales, and about account management, and how they’re evolving.”

She’s also learned quite a bit about succeeding in the workforce more generally, and was kind enough to take some time to share some of her lessons learned and experiences from her time in a competitive but rewarding industry.

The Importance of Mentorship

McKenzie got an early introduction to the world of sales, learning the basics from her father, and that foundation helped to develop her instincts in a way that still benefits her today.

“He’s been a general sales manager in radio since I was born, so he’s been a huge mentor in my life,” she says. “He really just taught me from a young age, and really gave me those tools.”

Even today, she says that when she has questions about big clients or needs a sounding board, she’ll call him for his input. The same goes for her boss from her first job following her graduation from Royal Roads.

“I feel very fortunate to have had her as a first boss,” McKenzie says, explaining that they first met through the mentorship program at the university. After a two-hour meeting before she graduated, McKenzie felt an affinity with her soon-to-be boss, and was eager to go to work for her.

“I felt very aligned with her,” she says. “She taught me some really valuable lessons and she is still a close friend of mine today.”

One of the things that stuck with her was an emphasis on ensuring that the quality of her work is always high, even if that means slowing down her delivery. McKenzie understands that this can be a challenge, especially for young professionals who are conditioned to expect immediacy and trained to work with quick turnaround times.

“Meeting deadlines are important, but as a generation, I think coming right out of university, people just want to prove themselves right away,” she explains.

“She really did teach me how to not worry too much about the speed of responding to an email or completing a project, and really just thinking about the quality that goes into it.”

More recently, an acquaintance reached out to her as she started a previous role as a VP of sales, with an offer to participate in a mentorship program for new sales managers.

“We met once a week, and he really, really helped me a lot,” she says. “I would bring him new challenges.”

Over the course of the six-month pro bono program, she was able to bounce ideas off a more experienced manager, and learned a lot about what it takes to lead a team.

Learning to Lead

Combined with her own drive and abilities, the input from those individuals has helped McKenzie develop into a leader herself, with over a decade’s worth of experience to draw from and her own advice to share. Stepping into a leadership position for the first time was eye-opening for her, and she says that every role she’s had since has taught her something about honing her craft and helping her teams do their best work.

“As an account executive moving into sales management you’re going from dealing with clients to managing people,” she says. “I think that for anybody, whether you’re a designer or a coder, if you go from looking at numbers and coding and clients, to managing people internally, it’s really different.“

Moving into management also made her realize that your bosses don’t know everything, something she encourages those starting out in their careers to remember.

“That was a huge eye-opener for me,” she says. “I, as a leader, didn’t have all the answers, and that will always happen at some point.

“I think what’s important to remember is that everybody’s human, everybody is working on themselves,” she continues. “I think it’s really important to figure out what drives people to get up in the morning and get through their day.”

Words of Advice

While she may not know all the answers, McKenzie does have a lot of concrete advice to offer professionals just stepping into the workforce.

To start, she says one of the most important things you can do is build connections and relationships with others in your field, which she says is often just as important as doing well in school — sometimes even more so.

“I definitely say that’s one of my biggest pieces of advice for women or anybody getting into their career,” she says. “Really find somebody you can relate to, and be really open to their constructive criticism.

“If you go into a company, and just email the CEO or the CIO and say ‘look, I’m a student or a new grad, I’d love to learn about your career and how you got here,’ they’re not going to say no,” she says. “That really helped me ensure that I had job offers by the time I graduated.”

And, of course, it never hurts to invest time in understanding your work and developing your skills. Although it can be nearly impossible to stay completely up to date on your industry, taking time to learn will always pay dividends.

“Nobody can be as up to date as they need to be in their role in this day and age,” McKenzie says. “But I think dedicating 10 to 15 minutes a day to reading and learning is reasonable.” For her, that means listening to a podcast on her ride to work or reading articles — something that’s meaningful but doesn’t strain her already busy schedule.

Balancing that schedule with the expectations of bosses, coworkers, and clients is another skill that she says she’s learned the hard way. She knows from experience that it can be a challenge to set boundaries, and ensure that they’re respected.

Defending her time, and enforcing the distinction between her work and personal lives is something that McKenzie says didn’t initially come naturally to her, but she’s worked hard to avoid becoming an overextended ‘yes’-woman.

“I remember getting a call from my biggest client at a job I had,” she says. “It was my birthday, I’d taken the weekend off. I was literally at the beach and they were freaking out at me, and I realized, it’s not the client’s fault. You train people how to treat you.“

That exchange, and others, prompted her to step back and take more time to herself, both to hone her craft and to develop a better understanding of what her talents and time are worth.

It’s a type of reflection that she recommends, and can be leveraged in job interviews, salary negotiations, and everyday interactions. Knowing your value is a huge asset, especially for young professionals trying to establish themselves in a competitive job market.

Still, a little humility is always healthy.

“Especially with your first job, put yourself out there. Ask questions that help you understand the business better, and understand why you’re doing what you’re doing,” McKenzie says. “And don’t take yourself too seriously.”

You can hear more about Meghan McKenzie’s approach to sales and tech at “Tackling the Myths of Sales: A Woman’s Perspective”, hosted by YYJ Tech Ladies, on Tuesday, March 20th. Register now!