Rising to that Next Level of Growth: How You Get There is All About Flexibility

Climbing to that next step in your career or guiding your organization towards growth shouldn’t rely on having all the answers or certainty about the future. Oftentimes leaders who continue to elevate their growth do so by embracing uncertainty. When the future is unclear, leaders must get comfortable with taking that leap of faith towards growth and be flexible about how they reach their goals.

Episode 13 of the Workplace Forward Podcast examines how leaders can reach that next level of growth by getting clear on where they want to go but being flexible about how they get there. Procter & Gamble SVP of R&D and Innovation Julie Setser and Bright Arrow CEO Tegan Trovato discuss Julie’s 5 Principles for Taking Leaps of Faith and how these leaps can continue to spur growth.

Julie explains how leaders can be intentional about their journey, flexible about the path, and be champions for taking those leaps of faith in the excerpt below. Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about her five principles and how to apply them to your personal and professional life.

EXCERPT FROM: Workplace Forward Podcast Episode 13 “Procter & Gamble SVP of R&D and Innovation, Julie Setser—5 Principles for Taking Leaps of Faith”

Julie: I've mentored a lot of women over the years, people in both R&D and other functions, and when they have a real tension about what to do next in their career or in their life, it really is that they're reaching this moment where the future's unclear, they have a big choice to make. Having the way to frame how to think about that big choice really helped the people that I've been mentoring.

Tegan: Yeah. I have to tell you, just from me to you, and with a bunch of people listening, one of the things we see at Bright Arrow, and I don't know if I've mentioned this to you before, but our practice is full of men and women in their 40s and 50s who are coming to us, executives, and they're saying things like, "Listen, I know how smart I am now. I'm clear on my value, and I am clear that I want to have a life with my family. I don't want to only be working. And I want to make sure that my life has purpose." And it's an awakening. It's a beautiful thing. If only it could happen sooner for all of us, right?

But there's something about that, especially between 40 to 55, where there's this moment of what's my next chapter going to be about? And they want to do it really intentionally. There's certain things they're not willing to do anymore, certain things they have to do with their time. And so, that's part of why I was so attracted to your work in this area, because it really does encourage us to just take the leap. And I think it's all magnified right now by what we've all been through the last couple of years, because we have all been forced, in some way, to get clear about what's really important and what's really worth our time. So, take us into the five principles and help all of us be braver to kind of take those leaps.

?Julie: Okay. Well, first, let me just say, I think I've seen exactly what you're talking about. I mean, COVID has really, I think, forced almost everybody to think much more intentionally about “Where am I” and “Where do I want to go”, right? But that's a big, scary thing to do.

Tegan: It is. The sea is a vast opportunity for a lot of things.

Julie: The sea is vast. So hopefully, this first principle will resonate with people, which is to resist the idea that the future is certain. Embrace uncertainty. Embrace uncertainty, and within that, clarity is very important.

“Get super clear about what matters to you and where you want to go, and then be very flexible about how you get there. So, be ready to learn. As you're starting to find your way toward that Northern Light, recognize that you don't have all the answers, nobody else has all the answers, and you have to put yourself very much in a learning at work mindset.”?

Julie: So, the first principle is that principle of embracing uncertainty. That is today's reality, without a doubt. And in that world of uncertainty, having that clear Northern Light is super important.?

Tegan: I appreciate that you're including clarity and certainty in the same thought. So, look for, get your clarity, but resist the temptation of certainty.

Julie: Right, that's it.

Tegan: Beautiful. And Julie, this might be a nice time for you to share with listeners some of those moments that you took for your career. I particularly think about a couple for you, like when you shared with me about being with your children in a certain chapter, but also earlier in your career, taking some of those global roles. Which of those would you like to share in this perspective, or from this lens?

Julie: Yeah. Let me share, I think, something that'll resonate with, again, many of the people who are facing that issue of the next chapter now, which really is leaping in and out of the workforce, right? So for me, I had an amazing career for 15 years at Proctor and Gamble. I was on a great growth trajectory. I loved my job. I had done a couple of international assignments, but I reached a point where I had three young children. My husband also had a P&G career. And it just wasn't all adding up. The myth that you can do it all is a myth, right?

?Tegan: Indeed.

Julie: I think it's much more of, there is a season for everything. And so, I stepped out of the workforce, and that was scary. I mean, a lot of my identity was tied up with my career. Frankly, this is an environment, we're going back to the '90s, when how I might keep a toe in the workforce, the options were very limited.

Tegan: That's right.

Julie: So I chose to step away completely. That was the right decision for me at the time, but it was a huge leap of faith. And then, I'll just say, going back, similarly, right? When I went back to work, it had been nine years that I had been out of the workforce. I had done some consulting, but I had been out of P&G for nine years, and when I went back, again, how was I going to balance this? Was I going to be able to be effective at P&G when I've been gone for nine years? These were all big questions.

But at that moment, what was super clear to me was I needed to be a role model for my children, not to be their chauffeur and their nanny and their housekeeper. And so, with that kind of clarity of what mattered, I was able to say, "Okay, I will figure everything else out as I go, and I'll take this big leap."

—---

Interested in the complete conversation with Tegan and Julie? Listen to the full episode here.?

This transcript was adapted from the Procter & Gamble SVP of R&D and Innovation, Julie Setser—5 Principles for Taking Leaps of Faith episode of the Workplace Forward, a podcast by Bright Arrow Coaching. Our show provides senior-level leaders and executives with essential insights they can use to navigate the future workplace—along with best practices on bringing out the more human side of leadership.