The best leadership / professional advice I ever received was when I was a translation intern.

Translators are not exactly known for being loud and boisterous.

But we had this Director who was always playing music while working, ranging from top hits to the most obscure versions of songs. He would dance down the hallway on his way to pick up his creation from the printer. Crack the most eye-roll-worthy puns and laugh uproariously at his own linguistic cleverness. And… his work was some of the best written word you’ve ever seen. Even at this high level, he was still constantly learning. Constantly working on improving.

One day, when the team was enjoying lunch at an outdoor patio, he turned to me and said: “Always take your work seriously. Never take yourself seriously.”

His words and example resonated with me. It was possible to be at the top of your game and still have fun.

I carried this philosophy with me throughout my own career.

We didn’t have a term for it then, but this was an early example of a people-centric approach. Bringing your authentic self to work.

In my own leadership, I’ve chosen to apply this same philosophy. I’m a hard worker who cares deeply about the quality of her work. I put in the effort. I put in the time. I role model the behavior. When I collaborate with team members, we focus, we know where we’re going, we push to achieve or exceed our goals. And we also laugh. A lot. And I remind them of the importance of taking our work seriously, but never ourselves.

I never pursued becoming an executive.

But whatever I do, I give it my all.

And so it’s my skills, my hard work, my deep desire to help and lead others that pulled me into that position.

As a child, I became fascinated by the stock market and law and business, and I’d watch the Nightly Business Report (it pairs well with the Jetsons!).

In an odd way, I’d say it wasn’t until I left my stable, well-paying public service position -- and sold our home and almost all of our possessions -- to go cruising on our sailboat with my husband even though I had been "warned" this would ruin my career that I really started down this path. That led us to the motorhome life and a five-year nomadic adventure. I took positions of convenience, freelanced as a writer.

And I joined a software company as an executive assistant (I was only going to do that part-time while growing my writing business), but then became Director of Accounts and Content, then COO, then CEO because they could use my skills and past experience and I kept butting in with my advice. I genuinely wanted to make a difference in everyone's lives by ensuring the organization was efficient, growing, and profitable.

The more I became involved, the better I wanted to be and do and I just read and took courses and learned by doing and offered to help with pretty much everything. It was exhausting but seeing my strategies work really fueled me and pushed me to see what else I could do. How much better I could make things.