20 things I have learned in 20 years

Today marks my 20th anniversary at Microsoft. I joined Microsoft on Monday, September 30, 2002 with a few years’ experience at a large consulting firm in New York City. Not much longer before that I had graduated from Cornell with a degree in Finance. Why Finance? Well, because I’ve always loved math, was heading down a path to major in mathematics, and suddenly realized that my future did not lie in quietly puzzling out complex unsolved problems (joke is on me – that’s exactly what I do, just not very quietly), so I pivoted my degree from pure math to practical/applied math. After some time at PwC, where I learned a ton about working with clients, building and leading small teams, and the joys of complex modeling in Excel, it was time for me to relocate to Seattle. I decided to look at Microsoft as a second or third option to the interviews I was doing in my field. I showed up for an interview day and was blown away by the engaging, bright, thoughtful and interesting people I talked to throughout the day. I had a hunch I had found people and an industry I was meant to work in, and started shortly after that day.

I started my career as a Financial Analyst at Microsoft, and stayed in role for just long enough to truly appreciate the scale and complexity of supporting a global public company – and to have the opportunity to manage a team and start to learn about how to be a positive and clarifying manager. I was approached by a sponsor who had a good sense of my capabilities, who asked me to move into a planning and business model role for an emerging server technology (now known as “cloud”). From there, I moved into an engineering team, and happily stayed put in product engineering teams for 15 years with the opportunity to work on product categories ranging from Windows to Xbox games to IoT, HoloLens and mixed reality, computer vision, and Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. I am so grateful that Microsoft is built on growth mindset and provides an infinite number of opportunities as long as I was willing to work hard, learn, be uncomfortable but persevere through change, and be creative about how I solved problems. It was through this process that I found how I could have the most impact at Microsoft, and learned firsthand that the Microsoft landscape of opportunities is much broader than I would have imagined in 2002.

On that note, I’m excited to roll out a blog series about the 20 things I've learned in 20 years. Below is the first installment.

Learning #1: Power of the network

I dedicate about five hours a month to explicit networking. I’ve learned over my career that “networking” is not “attend a professional cocktail hour when you wish you were home in sweatpants.” It’s actually a personal collection of some of the most important relationships you will ever have – professionally and personally. A network is like a garden. Sometimes, you meet someone and start from scratch. You’re planting seeds – “It was great to meet you today! I’d love to keep in touch and learn more about your work/team/ideas/career. How about I set something up next month?” You might also have what gardeners growing vegetables call “starts,” or small plants. Someone spends some of their social capital and introduces you because you have something in common with the other person, so you start with more than a seed, “Hi Lorraine, I’d like to introduce you to Person, who leads Thing. I recommend you two get some time in the next few weeks to think through how your team could both help and benefit from Thing.” It’s important to keep in mind the connector’s social capital investment in you. Thank them and return the favor whenever possible.

One of the best ways to grow a garden is to be around other people growing their gardens - making friends within your professional circle. Joint experiences make a huge difference, whether it’s happy hour, an intense deadline, or a team event. Some of the strongest connections I have around the company come from friendships I made early in my career at Microsoft, and others from incredible people I’ve met in the past 3 years. What’s important for early career talent is to realize that right now, while you may not feel like you have a huge network, you’re investing and building your long-term network every day. This organic part of your network can become harder to cultivate the older you get, as the number of personal, family, and time commitments increase. Grow and maintain these evergreen plants, even if you may not even realize their complete power and value for another 5, 10, or 15 years.

Your industry-wide network is the gardening store where you can wander around, ask all kinds of questions, inspect plants, and build more technical or specific knowledge.  I’ve always looked for opportunities to connect with people that have a similar role to mine at other companies, or customers and partners. Getting to experience my network from the larger, industry perspective is a force multiplier that leads to unexpected outcomes. These loose connections can sometimes catapult you to something completely new and different. I have cultivated this part of my network by speaking at conferences, where I am guaranteed to leave with 10+ new people in my network, and often new team members! Another way I accomplish this is through developing peer mentoring relationships with my counterparts at other companies. I’ve learned a ton in the past couple of years about the CTO role from CTOs at other companies and organizations.

I’ve mentioned different types of networks, how to acknowledge investments of other’s social capital in you, the value of an industry network and loose connections – but network maintenance is a skill onto itself. I’m writing this on LinkedIn which has been a huge boon for me in maintaining my network. Keep a perspective on your entire network and time invested. The relationships that you most value need attention and cultivation (like plants in a garden) – hence my personal commitment to at least 5 hours of networking time a month. Next week, for instance, I’m going on two walks with people in my professional/personal network outside of my day job. I’ll come out of those with refreshed connections, new ideas, and almost definitely new network “starts” – we’ll each connect each other to new people.

Look out for my next installment of 20 things in 20 years, in two weeks!

20 things I learned in 20 years

1. Power of the network – this article
2. Stay tuned…