Aspiration and impact in and outside of the office with Emily Tsitrian
Emily Tsitrian’s debut book, Make Me the Boss: Surviving as a Millennial Manager in the Corporate World, takes on more than just office politics. She takes on systemic societal issues and offers hands-on approaches to making a shift in the right direction.
Tsitrian is changing the world in and out of the cubicle one boss at a time with more than just her book. Her podcast, manager.flow, shares advice and stories from leaders across the career spectrum. What they all have in common is one thing: embody the change. Hear more about Tsitrian’s book, podcast and cross sector advice below:
Q. Your debut book, Make Me the Boss, and your podcast manager.flow, both edge current managers and employees to think outside the box. In our ever shifting landscape in and out of the office, why is it even more important now to do things differently?
A. We’re experiencing a tectonic shift in workplace dynamics and norms on the scale of the mass industrialization and organized labor movements a century ago. This shift is happening in parallel with massive technology advances that fundamentally change how we live and work. To name a few: the shift towards cloud computing, mobile phone proliferation, social media’s presence in our daily lives, and now, potentially blockchain and AI. While we don’t really know what “jobs” will look like over the coming decades, one thing is clear – it’s critical for front-line managers to re-think what good management looks like in light of what future leaders will need to do to usher in the future. As such, the generation that is largely in these positions - my fellow Millennials - need to step up and leverage our experience and unique perspective to be the change that is needed.
Q. Your book tackles handling societal issues like racism and sexism in the workplace. It's not just the corporate world that struggles with representation and equality, arts organizations big and small have the same hurdles to jump, in your podcast have you talked to leaders who are taking the right steps to portray the world we should live in instead of the flawed one we currently do?
A. I agree that these systemic challenges are omnipresent no matter what sector of the economy, whether it be the arts organizations or corporate America, to your point. On my podcast, I am lucky to have spoken with forward-thinking people-leaders across multiple sectors, from agriculture to construction, and the prevailing wisdom has been similar, and that is to BE the change ourselves. As managers, we are in an incredible position of power to determine how we build our professional networks, who (and how) we hire, promote, and coach into future leadership positions. If diversity and inclusion isn’t thoughtfully and intentionally woven into every aspect of how we operate, we perpetuate the problem.
Q. One of the aspects that I found most useful in your book was the constant focus on communication. With email and Slack being the biggest modes of communication in the workplace, what are your top do's and don'ts?
A. The modern workplace is constantly plugged in and connected - in fact I bet many of us can’t imagine how we used to function at work without tools like Slack!
As Millennials ascend into leadership positions, we are uniquely suited to utilize such technology to communicate with our teams – but we should remain mindful of what we use for what purpose. For example, older generations will not necessarily vibe with use of emojis and memes to share information, and your Gen Z team members may not enjoy the “casual catch up” phone call, as just one example. Modern leaders will be most effective by meeting folks halfway according to an individual’s style and preferences, but also staying mindful of “the right time and place” for certain types of communications, like giving feedback and having more formal conversations about serious topics, which are always best in face-to-face or live, camera-on Zoom conversations. That said, Slack and other similar technology are important tools to leverage and communicate more informally and build team rapport. So, don’t be afraid to use these for more casual, warm communication touch points frequently - like sharing photos, conducting silly polls about favorite pizza toppings, or chit chatting about what Netflix show your team members are binging.
Q. In your book you discuss career growth outside of the title ladder and more centered on influence and impact, I found this to be a very inspiring shift of thinking. Can you describe this to readers and give them insight into why it is so important to view career moves this way?
A. Absolutely, I think the whole idea of “climbing up the career ladder” is such an outdated idea of progress. Even the visual image of a ladder itself is really unstable and completely linear – ladders can go high quickly, but they have to lean against some much bigger structure. Instead, I encourage young people to think about building more of a pyramid, focusing initially on a solid foundation and building up over time. In order to create a pyramid, there are many pivots and lateral moves, and it takes longer to achieve the height, but they are much more enduring and built on a multidisciplinary foundation. Plus, they’re more fun to build!
Q. You talk to leaders who are focusing on motivating employees, you write about your own experience of being a good boss and creating a beneficial and enjoyable environment to work in, but what happens when you encounter the opposite? What are the red flags to look for in potential new jobs that the culture is toxic?
A. The prevailing wisdom here is to ensure as a job applicant you can ask hard-hitting questions to your future hiring manager, and have a trove of questions to identify red flags through up front questioning. While I absolutely agree with this advice, even the most problematic of hiring managers can be hard to identify during the hiring process, as they have probably gotten to some level of career success by putting a good face on when initially meeting new people. Furthermore, with the uncertain economic times we’re in, hiring manager relationships change frequently, and it’s not uncommon for an employee’s reporting relationship to change several times in a short period, so who knows if the person who hired you will still be your boss in six month’s time! For that reason, I strongly recommend having conversations with members of the team you’re looking to join, who will probably be more transparent about the day to day reality of working on a particular team and for a particular manager. Future peers, in my experience, will be much more honest about their experiences.
Q. What is the best piece of advice you gave or received that you can share with readers?
A. I’ve always loved the quote “I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change…I’m changing the things I cannot accept.” — attributed to Angela Davis. This quote reminds me of how important it is to live a life I’m proud of and to use whatever power and influence I have to enact change. I don’t want to have to set aside my values and moral compass as a human in order to achieve career success — and I don't think anyone else should have to, either. Therefore, we should all aspire to change the things we cannot accept, in every aspect of our lives.
