Significant Career Lesson From A Founder At Coach Lauren Wong
Lauren learned the importance of resilience and proactively creating and pursuing opportunities throughout a career, and this lesson became particularly significant after losing a job during Covid. Instead of giving up, Lauren took "every opportunity" available through an MBA program, including virtual events and coffee chats, ultimately discovering a passion for business development and consulting and realizing "that's what life is about."
Resilience, Opportunity Creation, Networking, Career Development, Business Strategy
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Lauren Wong
Founder
Coach Lauren Wong
UC Berkeley
UCLA Anderson
Communications, Economics, Political Science, American Studies
Coaching, Speaking & Writing, Education
Education
Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member, LGBTQ
Video Highlights
1. Resilience is key: View failures and difficulties as opportunities for growth and learning.
2. Actively create and pursue opportunities: Don't hesitate to take chances, even if it's just joining a waitlist. Attend industry events and network to learn and discover new paths.
3. Embrace continuous learning and adaptation: Be open to advice and insights from others. Use opportunities to identify your strengths and interests, which may lead to unexpected career directions.
Transcript
What is one lesson that you've learned that has proven significant in your career?
I know I mentioned the word "resilience," but I think it's one of the most important things I learned. I've been through a lot of stuff. With every step that was a failure or difficult, it was an opportunity.
I learned that in life, we all get opportunities. It's really important to create those opportunities. For my clients, sometimes they'll ask me, "Should I go for this? Should I even go for the waitlist?" And I tell them, "Yes, it's an opportunity."
So, I learned to try to take every opportunity. This really came true during COVID. When I lost my job, I was luckily still doing my MBA. That gave me something to distract me or at least to work on.
What really helped was taking advantage of my MBA. Even though events were only online, I went to almost every possible event related to my field at the time, entertainment. I would do coffee chats and learn so much from each one.
I learned about the industry and what I was better at. They gave me advice, and I realized that business development and consulting made more sense for me. I loved working with clients and helping businesses develop their strategy.
In those experiences, I learned to take every opportunity and try. If sometimes they don't work out, stay resilient and keep going for opportunities, because that's what life is about: creating and pursuing opportunities.
Advizer Personal Links
https://linkedin.com/in/lwong89, coachlaurenwong@gmail.com, instagram.com/coachlaurenwong, facebook.com/coachlaurenwong