Mentors and sponsors are often critical for professional success, and many of the research studies on mentoring have proved that. But what about professionals who prefer to go it alone, figure out things for themselves, can they attain professional success? They can, but it’s more difficult. Senior level retail executive Jo Ann Langer likes to figure things out for herself. Read an excerpt of her interview.
Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
Jo Ann Langer: I’m self-motivated almost to a fault. I’m not a half-full glass but a three-quarters full glass kind of person. Anything that’s a problem or has a creative aspect to it becomes a challenge for me and I love challenges. I basically take on anything, so I’m hyper, type Triple A I suppose. I’ve been told that too, but I’m very easily motivated by the things that are most creative, and that’s where I spend most of my time.
Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
Jo Ann Langer: If I could pick a place, I’d probably be in the exact same place. I have been very fortunate. I wouldn’t want to be the King of Siam or anything like that. I enjoy what I do but I would get to where I am a little differently, and the difference would be having more confidence in myself earlier in my life because that came with time, experience and age, and I wish that had happened earlier in my life because at times it was painful, tortuous and just frustrating, and at other times it was great. There is no other place I’d rather be right now.
Jo Ann Langer: I was working for a company and I was in an EVP type position, and I took a new job and the gentleman gave me the opportunity to be CEO and a president and that was my big break because it was the most encompassing responsibility I had had and he had the courage to let me do it and it was great for me, and it took me to the next level for what I wanted to be when I grow up. It wasn’t just being a president, it was more about being better rounded, having more things to do, more depth in my life, and a different outlook based on the breadth of the responsibilities.
Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?
Jo Ann Langer: I’m not a mentor person. I grew up trying to figure it out myself so I was not very much influenced, other than by Madeline Albright who is an amazing women, but I really didn’t have mentors. I’m the type of person when the computer breaks down, instead of calling for help, I’m the person who has to figure it out myself. All I have to do is pick up the phone and dial seven or eight digits and they’ll tell me how to fix it but no, no, no, I have to figure it out myself.
These questions are interesting because they make you think about yourself. But when I thought about this question, I never aspired to be someone else. I never looked to someone else to solve things for me, so that by itself made me “mentorless” if you know what I’m saying.
Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?
Jo Ann Langer: You have to look straight ahead and you cannot look backwards too often. Don’t rely on history too often, you have to keep that creativity, and you cannot go back to the well too many times. You have to look to the left and to the right but in the end you come back to looking straight ahead. You don’t look behind because you get caught in history, and in the past, and you can’t go forward by dwelling in the past.
What are five takeaways from Jo Ann Langer’s interview? Please add your thoughts in the comments section.
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