Stepping Up as a Confident Leader

As promised, here’s part 5 of my story around stepping up as a Leader early in my career. 

A reminder that I’m sharing this story not for the sake of you knowing ‘my’ story; but rather so you can relate through it to reflect on YOUR own life story and step through to become the best version of YOU and create your best life! Thanks for being with me on this journey. 🙏

Part 5  - Stepping Up as a Confident Leader

As the search for Truth was deepening within me, it was also present within my quest for meaningful work. 

In college, I transitioned from Ernst & Young to Intuit where I initially started out working in finance. Those were early corporate years where I learned a lot about the business world and I’m grateful that I was able to do that at one of the best companies in the world. 

After a few years in finance, it became clear that it wasn’t my path. I felt like I was stuck on a hamster wheel with repetitive financial cycles and very little room for leadership or creativity. In 2011, after many months of contemplation, I mustered the courage to have the difficult conversation with my boss. He liked my work and supported my transition. 

Around that time I read the book, ‘The Art of Non-Conformity’ and it opened my eyes to self-determination. I realized that I didn’t just have to conform to a particular career just because I had studied it or spent a lot of time in it. 

Life is an evolutionary process. We go through a journey and shift when something fundamentally doesn’t feel aligned anymore. That’s how we keep growing. Our past experiences can serve more as tools in a toolkit vs. shackles to a particular path, if we choose. 

The book encouraged me to ask big questions. If I could have the ultimate business mentor, who would it be? If I could learn from anyone, who would I choose? 

Who has been a key mentor in your life?

I thought of some of the greatest leaders in the World at the time. From Steve Jobs to Warren Buffett and more. After some consideration, I realized that the leader I admired the most was right in front of me. 

It was Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit. I was intimidated at the thought of reaching out to him but  decided that I would. The worst that could happen, I thought, is that I may not get a response but I must not say no to myself. My spirit nudged me to go for it!

Have you ever said NO to yourself when you really wanted something?

In my email to him, I wrote about what I saw in him, why I wanted to learn from him, what I felt on my own career journey and how having him as a mentor would be priceless. To my surprise and delight he agreed to meet with me! 

When I met him for the first time, I told him how grateful I was and that I knew I was meeting someone great. I’ll never forget when he replied and said ‘so am I’. Brad saw in his people what they often struggled to see in themselves. He would become my first coach. 

Over the next 10 years, I had the opportunity to be coached by Brad and it changed the trajectory of my confidence and career forever. Today, I’m grateful to be able to call him both a coach and a friend! 

At Intuit, I eventually made my way from finance into marketing and eventually product management where I worked with engineers and designers first hand to create products for customers. 

In my early years as a product manager, I often held back. I didn’t have the full confidence to show up and lead. I didn’t direct the team proactively and often looked to the seniors to make important decisions. After one of the product reviews, I was called out by my boss for not fully showing up. Though it felt devastating to receive this feedback at the time, looking back, it was one of the best pieces of feedback I could have received! 

It was just the nudge I needed to take full ownership and lean into my potential as a Leader. This led to me forming Sunkulp #3  i.e. Heart and Mind aligned determination to show up as a TRUE leader. 

When were you challenged to step up to your potential?

I met with every single person in my team 1:1 and read everything I could about leadership. Please give me your candid feedback, I said. What could I do better? What can I change? After the 1:1’s, I wrote thank you letters to every single person on the team. I learned a lot from that experience and formed some great friendships as a result. 

Within six months, I went from someone who was going to be put on a performance improvement plan to becoming a respected product leader in my org and getting promoted! 

Instead of being branded as someone who didn’t show up, my brand quickly became someone who showed up with 100% accountability and ownership. My leaders could count on me. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I grew tremendously as a leader during this time. 

I invite you to take some time to reflect on the following questions and note your reflections -

• What have I learned from my own leadership journey? 

• When have I denied myself an opportunity?

• Where am I holding back in my own evolution?

With love,

Nitin