It’s All About the Career Journey

Nov 15

Webinar with Emilie Aries and Tiffany Dufu

On today’s Power Lunch webinar, our guest Tiffany Dufu, the Chief Leadership Office of the Levo League, had many incredible words of wisdom to share.

From the story behind her rise to leadership to the abundance of ways she’s advancing women and girls, this boss’s high-impact career inspires us all.

Watch the full webinar replay below, and here are my top three take-aways from our conversation:

1. “If you want something that you’ve never had before, you’re going to have to do something you’ve never done before.”

It’s common sense, and yet so hard to remember: if you want to go where you’ve never been, you must be courageous enough to start down a new path.

Tiffany’s drew this lesson from her parents, who risked losing everything they knew to uproot their lives when their daughter was born. In this process, Tiffany says they “broke a cycle of poverty, addiction, and violence in one generation.” All to transform the future for their children.

2. It’s all about the journey.

Big dreams are great, but what matters most is your day-to-day action. Tiffany could have never predicted that she would be serving as the Chief Leadership Office of the Levo League, on the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts of America, or that she would serve as the President of the White House Project.

But what she did get clear on was her purpose. “I am on this planet to help advance women and girls,” says Tiffany, “and frankly..I’m pretty good at it.”

You can say that again, boss! With a rock-solid mission rooted in her values, Tiffany didn’t need a crystal-clear career path. Instead, she could focus on managing her next steps – one boss move at a time.

3. You have power over your perception

A brand is “the conversation that people have about you when you’re not in the room.” It took Tiffany some time, she says, to realize that she has power and agency when it comes to controlling that conversation.

As a black woman leader in particular, Tiffany says she’s learned to hone her communication style to help people move past unconscious assumptions and “feel comfortable with me in a position of power and authority.” Because the more comfortable they are, the more she can further her cause.