Significant Career Lesson From A Product Manager At Education Non Profit
Ashley's most significant career lesson, learned after transitioning from a "perfect scores" academic background, is the necessity of embracing failure. The experience of working with "hundreds of variables called children" taught the professional to process failure constructively, viewing it as crucial for growth, a lesson still being implemented a decade into their career.
Resilience, Overcoming Challenges, Project Management, Problem-Solving, Motivational Stories
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Ashley Michelson
Product Manager
Education Non-Profit
University of Southern California 2012
Loyola Marymount University, Urban Education
Business Management & Admin
Education
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Video Highlights
1. Embrace imperfection and learn from failures. Success in this field involves managing many variables and accepting that perfection is unattainable.
2. Continuous growth and learning are vital. The speaker highlights that daily failures are opportunities for improvement, pushing one towards their best potential.
3. Failure should be viewed as a learning process, not a personal setback. It's crucial to analyze failures constructively and move forward rather than dwelling on them.
Transcript
What is one lesson that you have learned that has proven significant in your career?
When I was in college, I was quite the perfectionist. I graduated as valedictorian of my graduating class and was used to not making mistakes, used to getting perfect scores.
When you enter an industry where there are hundreds of variables called children in front of you, it's no longer possible to be perfect. You have to accept some level of failure each day in order to grow and learn.
That's actually how you know you've put yourself in a position to become the best version of yourself. If you're constantly getting perfect grades or scores, are you really pushing yourself to the greatest heights you could?
So, I think learning to process failure, learning to grow from it, and learning not to take it personally or let it stick with you for too long, and rather just think about what we can do about it, has been my greatest learning throughout my career. It's something I'm still learning a decade later, for sure.
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