#21: The Inspirational Leader Series: Mary Piontkowski

<blockquote> “If we can find places where we share values, that gives us permission to show up as our authentic selves, and then it opens it up for our teams to do the same.” — Mary Piontkowski </blockquote> <h2>Meet Mary Piontowski, VP and Head of Product at Cisco Meraki. I’ve been working with her team, including at an off-site, and have had the privilege of seeing what an amazing leader Mary is.</h2> (Note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.) I’m curious if there is an experience or two that shaped how you’re leading today. There are so many, and many of them are mistakes that have helped me move in a better or newly inspired direction. A few jobs ago, I was doing a pretty decent job building a team that was going to have strategic impact, informing service design from the ground up. I was building relationships as I went, and I would gravitate toward certain relationships, because we shared a common approach. I had a lot of ideas about how design could shape the product strategy. I wanted to prove my value, and it was satisfying to keep moving. What I realized is that I had some blind spots. There were some key people I was leaving behind. We had a different approach. But they were really critical people to have buy in on this journey. I talked to my boss, the CEO, and I was looking for a promotion. He could see the impact my team was having. But, upon 360 feedback, it became clear the folks I didn’t bring along were going to hold me back; they didn’t feel great about how their voice was left behind. I realized I had to slow down. I had to take the time to rebuild some bridges. I didn’t get promoted in that role, but I was able to take that experience to my next job and my next job. Relationships are really the core of everything we do: all of our successes, the quantity of them, and the quality of them. What I walked away with was: I need to be thoughtful about slowing down and bringing the right people along. One of my favorite metaphors is Brené Brown’s “jar of trust.” Even between us, Teresa, we have this jar of trust; it’s filled with marbles. Everything we do is either adding to the jar or taking away. When we did our off site together, we filled the jar really full. And we probably took a few out when I rescheduled with you a few times. I’ve embraced this so deeply because relationships and trust are the core of our successes. <a href="https://medium.com/@TeresaBrazen/21-the-inspirational-leader-series-mary-piontkowski-97348273b79">Read More</a>