Letter to my younger self
Last week I visited my hometown and delivered the alumni speech at my high school’s end of year awards night. The brief was simple, share the why of my success. I’m not one for writing out detailed speeches, I’m more for a few key points jotted down and speaking in the moment. It wasn’t until afterwards that I realised that those few key points and the speech that then laid them out was a letter to my younger self.
Writing a letter to your younger self is a powerful exercise in reflection and a great life hack for thriving. It can help to gain closure, gain clarity, and can remind you that what has led you to here may well be sound advice for leading you forward too. Here’s my letter to my younger self, it’s not perfect, but that’s a big tip to my younger self too, perfection is a crazy thing to strive for.
Let me share how the 12 year old girl in this photo went from Ballarat High School to Buckingham Palace to meet HM The Queen.
I graduated from Ballarat High School, then Federation University and still hadn’t worked out what it was that I wanted to do. My graduate position was with a computer manufacturer and retailer in Sydney. My first weeks of work were spent building computers, repairing them, answering customer calls for help, and selling them in the retail stores. It was at a time when Bill Gates’ prediction of every home having a home computer was becoming a reality. I fell in love with technology, and it’s potential to help people & to change the world. I’ve had a 27 year career in technology since that very first day & loved every moment. Tip #1 – find your passion.
I spent years as an IT consultant, working all around Australia and around the world. Lots of different countries, companies, cultures, problems to solve, teams to join, challenges, and more. Those experiences were the making of me. It takes some effort to so often be the new girl and to find your place, not just in new countries, but in new teams at home too. The temptation to avoid the discomfort is real, but the benefit is worth it. To take that first grad position I moved from Ballarat to Sydney, I’d never even been to Sydney before, I was so scared that I was sick in the airport carpark before I left. I was scared before my first international assignment too, a day before leaving for Germany I became ill and had to delay my departure. I’ve overcome all of that now, I know that the risks and discomfort are exactly what leads to the very best moments, so I lean into them at every chance. Tip #2 – use your courage.
Technology is an ever-changing industry. I’ve had roles that didn’t exist when I started out and ones that I had to make up as I went along. Leading a digital team in banking at a time when internet banking was only just overtaking over-the-counter in customer interactions, and when mobile apps were first introduced. Today I’m the Chief Data Officer at AGL, leading teams of data scientists and engineers that are working with artificial intelligence and machine learning, which is all new and ever changing. These roles, that expand my understanding and indulge my curiosity and love of learning, have made for the best challenges and for the best outcomes. You can never know everything in any industry, but curiosity on how things work, what’s new, & what’s possible leads to the continuous learning that is absolutely necessary. Tip #3 – indulge your curiosity.
When I joined AGL 2 years ago, I had no experience in the energy industry, but I did have years of experience in doing the role that I was employed to do, just in different industries. Putting those strengths to work while learning a new industry, new business, new people, new ways of working and a new corporate culture, enabled me to perform while I developed. That was not the first time I put my strengths to work. Years before when I was being interviewed for a role in digital, the interviewer said, this team is expecting a digital technology expert and that’s not you, so why are you the right person for this role. I explained the strengths that I would bring & I got the job. You might have heard the term “fake it until you make it”, I don’t think that holds true, but using your strengths will enable you to succeed while you develop certainly does. Tip #4 - embrace your strengths.
But none of that is what got me to Buckingham Palace. In one of my first senior leadership roles my manager asked me whether I realised that I was a role model for other women in technology. I hadn’t at the time, but it quickly became part of my purpose to help others. Working out how I could use my knowledge and experience to encourage, inspire and support others to work in tech, to progress into leadership, to start businesses and to achieve their dreams has become part of what I do. Last year I was invited to be a pathway tutor at Cambridge University as part of The Queen’s Young Leaders program, coaching and teaching award winning young leaders from across the Commonwealth on how to build scalable and sustainable businesses. Working out how to teach what I have learnt from years of experience is tricky, but seeing people succeed & knowing that I had a small part in making that happen, is more rewarding than any of my own successes. It was my dedication to passing on my experience and helping others that resulted in that invitation to the Palace. Tip #5 – pay it forward.
Lastly, dream big. That 12 year old girl could never have imagined the reality that lay ahead.
