(upbeat music)
- Hello everyone and
welcome to Boss Talks,
a series featuring candid career advice
from some of the best in the business.
Today's episode is all
about owning your ambition.
And as an ambitious person myself,
I've had no shortage of
big dreams and bold goals.
But over the course of my career,
I've had to learn how to
channel that ambitious energy
to help me find focus and
ultimately make progress
against what I wanted to achieve.
Now, sometimes that meant making a plan
and getting things down and writing.
And other times that meant saying no
and making space for opportunity
more closely aligned
with my vision and values.
Now that's not always easy
and the path looks different for everyone,
but it's yours to own.
So today I've invited someone
who literally wrote the book
on owning your ambitions.
Shellye Archambeau is a
Fortune 500 board member,
former CEO and advisor.
She's also the author of
'Unapologetically Ambitious'.
Shellye, welcome to Boss Talks.
- Thanks so much, Ebony,
I've been really looking forward to this.
- So, your book really inspired me
and I've shared it with so many people,
all of whom were at various
stages of life and their careers
just like the folks tuning in right now.
Some are just starting out,
some are senior executives,
and you've been
through all of these stages
and you are just life
goals for so many of us.
So tell us more about your journey.
- Oh goodness, Ebony.
So I was a little girl who
grew up in very modest means,
my father didn't have a college degree,
we moved all over the place
as he tried to keep improving
his lot in life and his roles.
And I realized early
that the odds really aren't in my favor
but at the same time I had big dreams.
Decided I wanted to run a company one day
and I knew that just doing
what everybody else did
probably wasn't gonna get me there.
So I really worked hard to figure out
how do I improve my odds?
And to me, that was being intentional,
setting goals,
putting plans in place
to go after the goals
and making them happen.
So I worked my way to Silicon valley
where after a couple
of officer level jobs,
I indeed got my opportunity
to become CEO of what became MetricStream.
I ran that for 15 years, drew
it into global market leader.
And as you said, now, I
serve on corporate boards
and advise companies, coach CEOs
and try to make an impact in the world
and help others reach their aspirations.
- I love that and I really
love how you've been
in the driver's seat of your career
and how you've just taken control.
So what does it mean to create success
really on your own terms?
- You know, Ebony, a
lot of times we can feel
that success is what everybody else has.
And bottom line is you have to decide
what's important to you
and what success is to you
and use that as your
metric and your judge.
So when I say success on your own terms,
whether you wanna be a
CEO, like I wanted to be a CEO,
whether you wanted
to actually be an expert
in a particular arena or be an artist
or be whatever it happens to be,
you decide what it is that you want to do
and to achieve and to impact.
And then you can achieve what you want
but don't go after things
because you think that's
what others expect from you,
that's what others want from you.
- Now, big part of being
able to own your ambition
is being clear about your goals
and this can be a really daunting task.
So what's a good first step we can take
in setting goals for ourselves?
- Most people actually do have something
that they are trying to aspire to,
trying to create or trying do,
they're just afraid to say it.
The first step is to say it
and if you can't say it
verbally, write it down.
Okay? Write it down, make it real.
So as you think about the
future, you can set a goal
and it doesn't matter
if it's 20 years out,
five years out, six months
out, just something
in the future
that you want to do achieve, or create.
Make that your goal, and then
write it down and tell people,
you never know who's listening
and who might actually have an opportunity
that fits what it is that you need.
So you wanna make sure you communicate.
- That's absolutely true.
So hope everybody's getting that one down.
So put it out there.
So Shellye, having a plan is great,
but we all know that things
can change at a moment's notice.
So what's your advice on
preparing for opportunity?
- You know, to me opportunity
is when a situation comes along
and you have the right
skills, attitude, experience,
to take advantage of it.
So preparing for
opportunity is number one,
building skills that are
in demand and required
for the area in which you are focused on.
But two, it's also
having the right attitude.
It's being open.
It's being open to take risks.
It's being open to new ideas
or new approaches, right?
So your attitude plays a key role in this.
So, and then it's doing your homework.
If there's something that
you're aspiring to or wanna do,
make sure you know what's required.
I'll give you a real simple example.
I started out in sales,
now you have to understand
was counterintuitive.
I graduated from Wharton,
nobody coming outta
Wharton started their career
selling computers but I wanted to be a CEO
and I targeted IBM and
I'd done my homework.
And every single CEO
at IBM started out in sales.
So I didn't know what it was about sales.
It wasn't even that I said,
oh my God, I'd love sales.
Right? It wasn't any of that.
I was trying to build
skills and get on the path
to obviously where I
thought the overall objective
of becoming CEO would take me.
And I'll tell you what, that
was the best job I ever had.
I still use more of the skills
that I learned selling computers today
than anything else I've ever done.
So do your homework,
understand what
skills are required
so you can have them ready
when the opportunity appears.
- So we have a tendency,
especially as
women, to apologize
or hold back from asking for what we want
out of the fear of
appearing too aggressive.
What's your perspective on this?
- Oh my gosh.
You know, we do.
I feel like women have
been raised from the cradle,
especially women.
To apologize, I remember my
husband would step on my foot
and I'd apologize because
obviously my foot
was in the way.
That's ridiculous.
What I learned is if we keep apologizing,
even if it's to create empathy
and to be nice and all,
people actually think
that it is our fault,
that we are like somehow responsible.
So we have to stop doing it
'cause it actually makes us look weak.
So instead of apologizing,
especially for areas
where it wasn't something
I actually did wrong,
I try to come up with other terms to use.
Like for instance, if you join something
and you're a minute late or two, right?
You don't have to say I'm sorry,
what you can say instead is,
thank you for your patience.
So turn things around where
you're still acknowledging
what's transpired but
you're keeping your power
in the dynamic.
- So you've said the best
way to build a network
is by giving and I love this.
What does this mean
and what are your tips for
building a strong network?
- So I find that when you give to people,
it creates an environment
where people actually get to know you
in a very positive light.
Because a network is a real relationship,
it's not how many people
I have in my phone, right?
To me a network represents the people
who will actually do something for you
when it's not convenient.
That's a network, right?
And the only way you create a network is
if you actually have a real
relationship where people feel
that they are connecting
with you in some way
and then they get to know
you as a person in the process.
So I find rolling up your
sleeves and helping others
is just a great way to build a network.
- Thank you for that.
Now, here's an interesting question.
It's my personal question for you.
So, many of us think that to get ahead
you have to say yes to everything
but there's also something
to be said in the art of no.
And last year for me
was the year of saying no
to create more space for the things
that I wanted to say yes to.
And it's not just saying
no to the obvious things
but also those bigger opportunities
that may be a little bit
hard to walk away from.
For example, maybe
that really great opportunity
that maybe you just don't have time for.
So what are your suggestions
for saying no with grace?
- This is something that I've absolutely
had to learn as well,
because I was definitely the person,
initially in my career was
saying yes to everything
and totally burned myself out.
So yes, the best way I've found to say no
is by offering another alternative.
So if people are asking you to,
making it up, speak at something,
you don't have time to speak,
you might offer two other people
that you think that can do that.
Right? If they're asking you
to advise them in their overall
I don't know, business project, et cetera,
then think through,
is there someone else
who actually might have
a better experience
and background to help?
So I try not to just say no,
I try to say no and then
point them in a direction
so that in some way
I've still added value,
even though I couldn't personally deliver
on the actual request.
- All right, Shellye.
Now it's time for my favorite
and final question (giggling)
So Shellye, what is your superpower?
- Oh goodness, I actually have two.
I would say my superpowers
are courage and discipline.
And here's the interesting
thing about my superpowers.
A lot of people think you're
born with these superpowers.
Nobody's born with courage,
mother nature makes sure
of it, we are flight animals.
And discipline? No, I was
the absolute procrastinator
in terms of growing up.
So the key is you can actually decide
what you want your superpowers to be,
and then just work on them.
It's just like working out
and building muscles.
- Thank you so much
for all the incredible
insight that you share today
and for that boost of confidence.
I think we're all leaving
this conversation
feeling incredibly motivated and inspired.
- Oh, I'm glad to hear it
'cause I want everyone
to own their careers
and be able to achieve
the aspirations they have
for themselves.
- Thank you for joining us, Shellye.
- Oh, thanks so much for having me, Ebony.
I hope you all enjoyed today's conversation
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With that, thank you for
tuning in to Boss Talks
and I will see you all next time.
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