Rose Sheldon: A Girl Scout in the C-Suite

Rose Sheldon, SVP and Chief Learning Officer at KeyBank, started her leadership journey at a young age—by selling cookies and earning badges in the Girl Scouts. Born and raised in Rockford, IL, she participated in the citywide troop through high school where she made friends for life while learning to “be the girl you want to be.” Rose said the Girl Scouts taught her the value of sisterhood, being your authentic self, and coming together across interests and celebrating each other’s wins.?

Those lessons have served Rose on her journey to the C-suite.?

Being the girl you want to be?

Rose was the VP of Member Education for Delta Zeta. She describes the role as “pledge mom” and says she was always attracted to leadership roles that enabled her to educate and inform others. Looking back now, Rose is not surprised to find herself in the learning and development field, though it would take years for her to end up there.???

While in college, Rose also had an internship at a Fortune 100 company. During her time at the organization, she looked up all the women senior leaders to learn what they had in common. What she discovered was that most of the female executives were unmarried and did not have children. Rose knew she wanted to have a family, so she thought she’d have to wait 40 years to make it to an officer-level position.??

Fortunately, it took Rose less than half that time to achieve her goal.?

Earning a “real-world” MBA?

In her 20s, Rose owned and operated an Allstate insurance agency. Developing the confidence to run a business, learning to inspire and motivate her team, and finding balance between being a friend and a manager to her employees were some of Rose’s key lessons from what she calls her “real-world MBA.”?

Taking this path enabled Rose to step into a high-level corporate position in the Property & Casualty Insurance industry when she sold her agency and joined corporate. Eventually Rose did earn her “official” MBA while advancing through positions of increasing responsibility on Learning & Development teams.??

Learning from good and bad role models?

Rose is clear everyone she’s worked with over the years has helped her become the leader she is today. “I’ve learned more from bad leaders than from good ones,” Rose admits. She has seen some leaders who made her think, “I never want to be like that” and others who have served as role models. Knowing who she doesn’t want to be has helped her realize who she does want to be. For Rose, it is important for her to lead authentically, be transparent, and cultivate a growth mindset.??

Leading with empathy?

Like many others, Rose has had many challenges along her road to the C-suite. With their first child, Rose had to handle the challenges of managing her work schedule and daycare pickups. Working with an eye on the clock and rushing to meet the daycare deadline was hard. Rose says that she hated living into the stereotype of the working mom who must leave the meeting midway.??

Sometimes, women who have struggled to achieve professional success become harsh in their expectations of others. However, Rose’s own experience of being a working mother has helped her empathize with colleagues. During this pandemic work from home period, Rose has enjoyed watching newborns cuddled during meetings and little ones joining the meetings in their parent’s laps.?

“Twenty-five years ago, it felt like women in the workplace weren’t helping each other and they were hiding their femininity in order to succeed,” Rose reflects. She is happy to see times have changed and you can now be feminine and a senior executive.?

Coming Full Circle?

Rose accepted the role of Chief Learning Officer for KeyBank in late 2021. She was excited to not only obtain this executive-level role, but to also find a company that encourages her to bring her authentic self to work. At Key, Rose is able to democratize learning experiences so that all employees can develop the skills and capabilities they need to be successful in the future.??

Interested in learning more from Rose? Join NIIT Principal Consultant Pooja Singh Mehta, Rose, and the panel of other women leaders for “From Glass Slippers to Glass Ceilings | Celebrating Women Leaders in Learning” on March 30, 2022 at 10 AM Eastern time. Click here to register.?