When I was a child, I wanted to be a social studies teacher. Living on a farm, the boundary walls of my knowledge made up a very small box. I knew cows were hard work and social studies was my favorite subject, so I went with my best option.

As I exposed myself to more of the world, that box grew and my career goals shifted: first to psychology, then business and, ultimately, technology. I learned more, traveled across the country and to other parts of the world, and the walls around my understanding expanded. I was recently invited to address the commencement speech for the 2024 graduating class at the university where I studied marketing as an undergrad. Forty years later, my box had grown to encompass such titles as CEO of a technology company and a 2023 national winner of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Looking back, I see my path to leadership more clearly, not as a line, but as a series of navigating increasingly bigger boxes. Every new experience can be scary at first, but as we learn and explore that space, we grow more confident within it and more prepared to navigate the next one. There is always a bigger box of knowledge to open, and the moment we recognize one, we face a choice: stay within the safe, smaller space we know or familiarize ourselves with the larger space and grow.

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Stay the course

My first job out of grad school was at a software company, and I was hooked — nothing moves faster than technology, and I knew it was where I wanted to grow a career. Still, I had never intended to go from cows to computers and had a lot to learn about such a vast box of knowledge with little experience working in the field. I thought my boss would appreciate my initiative when I went first to my peers and then my boss’s boss for support when I ran into a problem. Instead, I lost my job.

Undeterred despite this rocky start, I went on to work for years at another software company as a marketing manager. By all accounts, I was next in line to run the department when I overheard company leadership say a woman could never run marketing because women only knew how to spend money. The next day, I was fired.

I could have gone after that company for what happened, and maybe I should have so that women who came after me might have faced a better opportunity, but I was in a relatively small town and a relatively small industry. I had to navigate this smaller box before I could get where I wanted to go, and speaking up felt like too much of a risk to the course I had set for my career. So, I did my best to learn from disappointing moments and move on instead of letting them discourage me from finding my next opportunity.

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Adjust to passing squalls

Even the best plans need course correction along the way. Like the rudder of a sailboat, setting core career goals can guide us in the right direction, but there will be bad weather and the sea is constantly changing. In my next job, an engineer was unwilling to work with a woman or believe they had any place in technology. When I went to him with issues, he would attempt to talk in circles around me rather than help me understand. I adjusted, going to his staff for support so I could still succeed in my role.

When I got promoted and became his boss, we needed a better solution. I was moving into the box of leadership and had to recognize that while I objected to his behavior, he was a great engineer whose work benefitted the team. So, we agreed on exactly what I needed from him and I gave him a lot of rope to do it. I may not have won him over completely, but I made the most of that relationship while I was adjusting to a bigger space.

An obstacle for today is not necessarily always an obstacle moving forward. There will be bullies, bad bosses or ex-husbands that might stand in the way, but men are not invariably barriers. At my next three jobs, I discovered some of them could be my biggest champions. By staying curious to learn from everyone, my box of understanding grew. I learned to identify supportive, self-secure people, nurture those relationships and decide when to compromise or settle for a learning opportunity and move on.

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Make time for care and celebration

We started Clearfield at a time when big manufacturing companies were designing for the largest broadband service providers and we saw the advantage of creating modular, scalable products for the smaller companies building in rural areas. After Covid-19 sent everyone home and high-speed internet became a necessity, public and private investment in fiber deployment skyrocketed. Sales exploded. The industry was moving faster than ever, and I was racing to keep up with its new challenges, right up until the moment I needed back surgery.

Driving to learn more and take on greater responsibility can carry us to the heights of leadership, but we limit ourselves if that ambition causes us to sacrifice celebration and self-care. Taking the time to show appreciation to others for their efforts assures them that we see their value and fuel their continued contributions to the team. In the same way, regular self-care rejuvenates our spirit and dedication as we work through the heavy lifting of moving into bigger boxes: overcoming apprehensions, learning from mistakes and developing confidence.

From the box where I sit now, I can see that self-care and celebration are how we sustain ourselves and our team members long-term and set ourselves up to achieve. That’s the great thing about moving into a bigger box: Each time is an opportunity to look back on our previous worldview with greater clarity and learn to do better.