Favorite Parts of Being a Supplier Manager at Cisco Systems
Christina's favorite aspect of her Supplier Manager role at Cisco is its relationship-focused nature, contrasting with her initial perception that careers must be "super technical, super analytical, or super scientific." This role allows Christina to leverage and further develop skills in "influence, learning negotiations, learning how to...be persuasive," skills valuable throughout life and a departure from the initially expected medical career path.
Relationship Building, Influence and Negotiation, Project Management, Communication Skills, Career Exploration
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Christina Marone
Supplier Manager
Cisco Systems Inc - San Jose, CA
Michigan State University
Arizona State University
Industrial, Supply Chain Management
Technology
Operations and Project Management
Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Relationship-focused work is valuable and transferable: Christina highlights that her role emphasizes relationship building, influencing, and negotiation—skills applicable beyond her specific field. This challenges the notion that only technical or scientific skills are valuable, encouraging students to consider their strengths in interpersonal areas.
2. Importance of self-awareness and trust in one's abilities: Christina shares her experience of initially feeling pressured to pursue a medical career that didn't align with her strengths. Her journey highlights the importance of self-reflection and trusting one's intuition about career paths that leverage individual talents and interests.
3. Real-world applicability of soft skills: Christina's experience demonstrates the high demand and value of soft skills such as relationship building, influence, negotiation, and persuasion—skills that are often transferable across various professional fields and are crucial for career success.
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about being in your current role?
"Ooh. So I was actually just talking to one of my colleagues about this this morning. When I was growing up, I thought that all jobs had to be either super technical, super analytical, or super scientific.
My job is very relationship-focused. It's about being good at navigating relationships and influencing people. Being able to work with people is fundamentally important.
Often, this can appear devalued, especially if you're going into something more technical. There's definitely value in technical skills, but relationships are what really run the world.
So if you're skilled in that, don't shy away from investing in that skill. Learn influence, learn negotiations, learn how to be persuasive. These are skills that will be valuable for your entire life.
Lean into what you're good at. At the same time, if someone wants to go down a path, trust yourself in terms of what you're good at. I was pressured to go the medical school route initially, but I just couldn't do it in a lab.
I found a lot more joy in business. I realized that some of the skills I had in terms of relationship building and project management were valuable in my current field."