On March 24, 2015, FLY and its Professional Development group hosted its first Executive Panel on Career Advancement at Yale with Linda Lorimer, former Vice President of Global and Strategic Initiatives; Michael Peel, Vice President for Human Resources and Administration; Susan Gibbons, University Librarian and Deputy Provost for Libraries and Scholarly Communication; and Stephanie Spangler, Deputy Provost for Health Affairs & Academic Integrity and Clinical Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Janet Lindner, Deputy Vice President for Human Resources and Administration moderated the highly energetic and enlightening panel with these senior University leaders.
Below are some significant recommendations and advice from each panelist to young professionals, specifically at Yale:
Stephanie Spangler began the panel discussion and detailed her own career trajectory and path at Yale University. She started out at Yale as head of OBGYN and was not expecting to be a part of the administration but she grew in her career and was recruited into her current position. She advised young professionals at Yale to continually acquire more skills. Developing skills can span a variety of areas, she noted, including pursuing more education, finding a mentor, and to networking and learning from other peers.
Susan Gibbons spoke about the strengths of higher education. In the past, whenever she felt like she was coming against a wall in her career, she found a path in going back to school to do a formal education. She was able to do her MBA and her PhD part-time which helped her continue to work and also balance her family life. Susan also talked about her first experiences managing people. She realized she was not an effective manager but grew to becoming effective as she learned to view managing and leadership as a service. Susan also advised to “manage up” by understanding the needs of supervisors as well as to “manage down” by hiring great people empowering them to make their own decisions.
Michael Peel relayed that he has about 40 years of experience in Human Resources, including in large corporation such as PepsiCo and General Mills. He then provided some common characteristics that he has noticed in successful people over his career in human resources. Successful individuals:
1) Perform at the “exceptional” level
2) Take every opportunity to lead, including volunteer and community outreach initiatives
3) Figure out how others perceive them and have self-insight
4) Build relationships broadly
5) Continue to learn and grow
6) Have a plan to grow their careers
7) Take care of their health
Linda Lorimer discussed her 22 years at Yale – she recently retired from her current position. Overall, she had 14 different titles at the University. She started at Yale in 1978 at the Office of the General Counsel and although she left Yale to be president of a women’s college in Virginia, she was recruited back by former president, Richard C. Levin. Linda emphasized that one of the reasons she was drawn back to Yale was because she knew she would be working for an excellent boss and that Yale was the place where she could make the most impact at the time. Along these lines, Linda recommended to young professionals that they should try to work for an “excellent boss” if it is possible depending on family and personal responsibilities. She also provided additional advice to young professionals, including not to be afraid to ask for help and to come to terms with admitting mistakes.
The panel was open to the entire Yale community and it was received well by all young professionals. FLY was pleased to host the first panel of this kind at the University and its members look forward to hosting more panels with similar topics in the future.
Notes submitted by Asia Neupane, FLY Steering Committee member; Co-chair, Mentorship Program; Chair, Community Outreach