Taking Care of YOU while Taking Care of your Career
Leasa Neaves, Global Alliances Leader
I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. It’s a great place to connect with other professionals (of course!) and I also find that it’s a great place to LEARN. Recently, I started following and therefore learning from an Executive Coach and Stanford PhD, Senia Maymin. Senia’s posts are often very insightful and relevant, and one of her recent responses to an Ask the Experts question really struck me. Paraphrased:
Senia’s coaching sessions focus on three areas – Career, Connection, and Health. She encourages her coaching clients to ask themselves the following questions:
What will you do as a Career Action this week?
What will you do as a Connection Action this week?
What will you do as a Health Action this week? Senia went on to explain that her clients know that health actions are focused on sleep, exercise, food/water, and meditation.
I love this framework and its simplicity. I love the fundamental idea that self-care goals are just as important as professional growth goals. And mostly I love that this framework connects professional development goals and self-care goals with three simple questions.
But does it really work? I know that a lot of women struggle with achieving or even setting Health and self-care goals… but I also know there are some who do it really well, while simultaneously managing to consistently devote time to Career and Connections.
I talked to some of these women, and to quote my favorite TV show, Law and Order:
These are their stories.
Early Career: Molly McIlhinney, University of Texas, Austin, student and 2024 Archer Fellow
Molly is spending Spring semester 2024 in Washington, DC, as part of the University of Texas Archer Fellows program. She and an elite group of 50 students from across the UT system participate in a full semester of classes at the Archer Center in DC, and work full time as interns at a variety of government-related entities.
Molly is law-school bound post UT graduation, and she’s making the most of her internship in a DC-based law firm. She is leveraging the internship to (1) connect with people higher up in the organization who can share their perspectives on different areas of the law and (2) seek experience within the law firm working on different types of projects that will help prepare her for both law school and a future legal career. Molly has tapped into something very special: the willingness of people more advanced in their careers to mentor and guide people early in their careers (more on this later!). While Molly is doing this through her internship, I’ve seen the same pattern at many companies and organizations. What is Molly doing that’s extra special? She’s fearlessly taking advantage of people’s willingness to help grow young talent and simultaneously accessing significant development on the Career and Connection aspect of the framework.
Molly has a lot going on, but she manages to focus on her Health and wellbeing. Even as a busy college student, where socializing is a normal part of the equation, Molly has to plan social engagements along with the rest of her calendar. She ensures that she is taking time to rejuvenate with her friends, even if only an hour at a time. She also enjoys yoga classes and has the self-awareness to realize that she personally suffers when she doesn’t have the physical and social outlets.
Mid-Career: Anusha Aneel, Global Channel Program Leader, VMware by Broadcom
Anusha spent 6 years at Dell Technologies leading product marketing for client peripherals and displays attach. Then, almost two years ago, she made a significant career change by joining VMware in a hybrid sales and marketing role focused on selling software via channel partners. New company, new product, new route to market – lots of new for Anusha all wrapped up into one career move. Anusha is undoubtedly a mid-career go-getter. Yet in working closely with Anusha, I see that she manages to be a go-getter while also striking the same balance in her life that Molly is developing at an early stage.
Anusha is the person who always knows what’s going on. How? She focuses on Connection by investing the time to build deep relationships with a small number of key people. According to Anusha, “…investing in nurturing and maintaining these strong relationships can lead to more trust, friendships, mentorships, and professional partnerships that enrich my life and contribute to long-term success and happiness vs just a short term gain”. Anusha goes further by setting goals for skills development and career advancement, and often leverages the network she’s bult through Connections to help with these two facets of Career.
Finally, Anusha takes a “double dose approach” to selfcare through meditation and yoga, and ensuring that she drinks plenty of water (which is so important yet so easy to overlook!). Anusha knows that meditation helps manage stress, improves sleep, and provides a sense of calm and peace, while yoga tunes her body alongside her mind.
Bonus pro-tip from Anusha:
“One of my most beloved tools to manage all these goals is to write down my goals in a journal and go back every 1-2 weeks to see how I am progressing. My personal favorite journal that I use is this one. It has dedicated spaces to create my vision board, my yearly goals (by category) and then use the weekly planner to track my progress towards these goals!
Senior Leader: Jenny Lucas, Senior Vice President of Operations, The Loews Hotel Company
Jenny and I met at James Madison University, where we were students together in the College of Business pursuing majors in Hospitality Marketing and Management. Jenny built her career in hospitality and has enjoyed amazing success as she’s grown from managing restaurants inside of hotels to the Senior Vice President of Operations at the luxury Loews Hotels chain.
Given all she’s accomplished, Jenny no longer focuses her Career efforts on her own next steps. Instead, she has shifted her goals to focus on opening doors for others. Jenny serves on the Advisory Board of the Hart School of Hospitality, Sport & Recreation Management at James Madison, and was inducted into the Hart School Hall of Fame in recognition of her accomplishments and her commitment to developing JMU hospitality students into the future generation of leaders. The skills that Jenny developed at Loews to enable the learning and growth of team members scale directly into her efforts to help the emerging generation of hospitality leadership. There’s a unique juxtaposition between Jenny’s Career and Connect goals as she continuously looks for ways to focus on the next generation of leaders. Jenny actually Connects in reverse – she seeks to make connections with young hospitality talent that will give them a head start in to their careers.
Hospitality businesses often run 24/7 and there is pressure for leaders at Jenny’s level to be available – 24/7. Jenny also travels extensively in her role and admits that she has struggled along the way to set specific goals for Health and well-being. However, she does ensure that mental breaks are a part of her routine. Each of Jenny’s travels represent an opportunity to carve out personal time to connect with family and friends around the country. She takes mental breaks by truly unplugging during vacations, spending time in the mountains, and sometimes just riding the NYC subway and watching the city go by with no distractions. Jenny considers her ongoing Connection with family and friends and these mental breaks as a unique kind of therapy, and this focus on her Health allows her to keep up with her demanding Career and her commitment to developing young hospitality talent.
Retired – or not in the workforce by choice: Vicki Matthews, retired FBI agent
Even in retirement, Vicki still considers Career, Connection, and Health – although perhaps with a twist. For Vicki, Career no longer meets traditional definition, but it does involve growing her skills and continuing to lead and learn. She is heavily involved in her community, leading two neighborhood clubs and learning to manage the website for another. She leverages the organizational and management skills that she learned in her career to navigate neighborhood politics and secure volunteer help that she needs to run the clubs. These clubs also serve Vicki as a strong Connection to her community. Vicki stated, “When you’re not working outside the home, it’s easy to find yourself with alone time on your hands. Being involved in the community allows me to make connections with people with shared interests and contribute through my roles in the various clubs and organizations”.
Vicki also makes time to focus on her Health and selfcare by playing golf regularly and taking daily morning walks. In retirement, health can become a different level of concern than during earlier stages of your career journey. Vicki’s philosophy is that there are elements of your health that you can and cannot control. She focuses on the ones she can by maintaining an active lifestyle and proper nutrition. This philosophy is one that truly scales throughout our lives, no matter what stage we are in.
Four women, four different approaches, four different kinds of balance, sharing perspectives centered on the three focus areas: Career, Connection, and Health.
At each different stage, each of these women balances these three areas in ways that work for them and their life. The framework allows them to see the natural fit of combining selfcare through Health with Career and Connection.
My personal Health focus is on running. As a runner I see the journey to the pinnacle of your career as a marathon, not a sprint. In this marathon, connections are your cheerleaders and self-care is your most reliable pace-setter. Giving all three areas their due ensures that you cross the finish line - not just successfully but joyfully and healthfully.
Leasa Neaves is a 20+ veteran of the tech industry. Over the course of her career, Leasa has developed a passion for helping women to grow and feel empowered. Follow Leasa on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/leasaneaves/