Five Lessons

Jacklyn Watt – Global Director Supply Chain Interior & Exterior, Ford Motor Company shared the following lessons she learned in her career.

• Stay true to who you are. It's just exhausting to be someone else, and you just won't be happy or feel comfortable.
• Be an effective communicator: Effective communication is a superpower. It's about being able to talk to anyone, no matter what level, no matter what age, no matter what background.  Whatever your situation is, whatever you are trying to convince someone to do. You need to be able to sell it in 30 seconds to two minutes.
• Cultivate cheerleaders and advocates: Having multiple cheerleaders who genuinely support you is crucial. Form authentic connections and relationships with advocates throughout your career, which can positively impact promotions and opportunities.
• Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.  At times you have to have difficult conversations with real people who will give you real responses to what you think. 

• Things don't go to plan all the time. We make mistakes, nobody is perfect. It's not so much about the mistake but how you recover from the mistake. How you handled the situation after the mistake was made. Did you come up with a plan to correct the mistake?  How you react to the criticism or not getting the promotion is important.