Emotional Journeys

*This post first appeared on my SaaS Blog QuotaClimb on August 23rd, 2022: https://quotaclimb.com/2022/08/23/emotional-journeys*

Its been 20 years since I graduated from Santa Clara University. Looking back on my career so far I can definitely say I’ve ben mostly fortunate and have plenty of successes and high points to look back on. I’ve also met so many incredible people and learned a lot along the way. I’ve held nearly every job possible in customer operations, literally from my first job out of school as a receptionist all the way to my most recent job as a CRO managing 100+ people across sales and customer success. I’ve seen 4 SaaS exits (2 IPOS, 2 acquisitions) and have seen “hyper growth” on several occasions. All in all its been a fun and fulfilling ride! I have also though had my fair share of disappointments and heartbreak. I care deeply and pour everything into my work. When I am engaged in a role, I work tirelessly to be the best I can be as well as do everything I can to help others around me be better. Sometimes that effort is rewarded, sometimes it is not.

Over the years one of my largest areas of reasonability has been hiring, interviewing and scaling organizations. I’ve conducted thousands of interviews and hired hundreds or employees. During interviews my goal is to not only evaluate the persons skill set but also give them an opportunity to learn about our organization. What I’ve learned over the years is that mutual fit is far more important than many folks realize. If an employee doesn’t like your culture, they will not be happy, will not be as engaged and will not last long. As part of this process I ask the candidate if they are curious about literally anything, and in many cases I will get thought provoking and fun questions.

One of the questions I would get frequently is “How did you become so successful?” The first few times I was asked, it caught me off guard. I didn’t see myself as “successful” rather a person who has collected a lot of interesting experiences and in many ways have been fortunate to have people trust me with more and more reasonability. I have also always worked hard and tried to treat people with respect. As I reflected further on the question my mind kept coming back to the concept of resiliency and emotional journeys.

You see, I have fallen down more times than I can remember. I have been depressed, scared, worried and often unsure of what next step is best for me. I have wondered what I should do with my career. I have wondered many times if I was even in the right line of work. However, I have also always had faith that hard work, positive thinking and a desire to get better would propel me forward. I accept that I am not perfect and I will make mistakes but I also know that mistakes as long as you learn from them will make you smarter, better, stronger. The graphic attached in this post is me attempting to chart my emotional journey at work over the last 20 years. Its not a perfect straight line up and to the right! I have enjoyed highs and endured my share of lows. To this day I still do not see myself as someone that is “successful” because I am still learning and collecting experiences. My emotional journey continues. I encourage anyone that reads this to think of life and career as a journey. You have the ability to make that journey what you want. Take the good with the bad, collect experiences and strive to get stronger and better with each step forward.

*I wrote about similar topics in another blog posts here:?https://quotaclimb.com/2015/11/08/a-practical-guide-for-career-progression/

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* If you see an acronym or word anywhere on the site that you haven’t seen before, I might have posted an explanation?on my glossary of terms.?If not tell me and I’ll add it!*

**Lastly if you are intrigued about anything I write about OR just want to network, hit me up! I love talking about business and career journeys.**