Five Questions with Suzzette Jaskowiak
At Walmart Global Tech, we want to know what makes our Core Services Leadership Team tick. What drives them? What lessons have been important in their careers? In this installment, I sat down with Suzzette Jaskowiak, the VP of Catalog, Enterprise Item and Inventory, to find out.
1. What do you think distinguishes a manager from a leader?
A manager helps people understand what they should be doing from a day-to-day perspective, whereas a leader sets a vision and inspires people to work toward that vision.
2. What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned in your career so far?
I learned the greatest lesson from my mother very early on in my career. She taught me to seek out the biggest challenge or hardest problem and focus on solving that. When you take on the hardest challenges, it provides you with the most interesting work, enables you to build your career quickly, and produces the most value to the organization.
3. If you could go back to your 20-year-old self (or the beginning of your career) and give one piece of advice, what would you say?
Dream big and set ambitious goals. Don’t just think about the next level but think about where you want to be long term, and for me, that’s being a CTO or CEO. Early on in my career, I wouldn’t have dreamt that big, but over the last 10 years I’ve had supportive mentors and leaders who helped me realize that I have the potential and capability to achieve that.
4. What sets Walmart apart from other companies you’ve worked at?
One thing that I’m intrigued by is Walmart’s ability to challenge Amazon. Walmart is the most well positioned retailer to compete against Amazon because of its scale, customer base, strategy, and technology. I’m an extremely competitive person so the opportunity to beat Amazon is super exciting to me, and I think Walmart is the only place with that opportunity.
5. If you could have one superpower, what would it be, and why?
I would want to be a ninja warrior like the competitors in the TV show American Ninja Warrior, where they do all these crazy obstacle courses. I love sports and working out, but I’m nowhere close to having the athleticism, strength, or endurance of the ninja warriors on that show. It’s amazing what they can do.
