Not that long ago, I made a mistake that essentially turned out to be a publicists’ worst nightmare. I sent an e-mail in confidence to an editor, and it happened to have a careless typo in it. The e-mail (typo and all) was published very publicly accompanied by remarks about how no one should ever hire me again. At the time, I was mortified (I still sorta cringe when thinking about it) because it was a classic case of doing things too quickly.
My mind immediately went to the worst case scenario: it was going to go viral, and all of my clients would fire me. The reality was far less dramatic, no one saw it, and I apologized to the people involved, and we moved on.
It is a fact that we all make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes really do feel like career suicide. Jessica Bacal, director of the Smith College Wurtele Center for Work and Life, wants to change that attitude. In her book, MISTAKES I MADE AT WORK (A Plume original, on-sale April 29, 2014), twenty-five high-achieving and influential women across a variety of career fields—from writers to doctors to engineers—share their worst on-the-job moments, and how they used those missteps as learning experiences to build a successful career.
This week, we are happy to have Jessica shares her “3 Things” with us. See what she has to say below:
Aim high: I considered applying to pre-med programs and then to medical school, but didn’t – partly because I wouldn’t have become a doctor until I was (in my mind) so old: Thirty-five. But thirty-five is actually pretty young! You have, like, thirty years of work after that, thirty years to build and ideally love your career. So when thinking about grad school, don’t cheat yourself.
Stop comparing: I always secretly thought my friends were smarter than I was. I know that’s ridiculous, because what does it even mean? Smart in what context? But when I came to work at Smith College, I heard a speech in which an influential woman confidently told the audience that she’d succeeded because she was “smart enough.” I liked that because she was saying she’d had the intelligence and wherewithal to find and pursue what was meaningful to her uniquely. That’s what every one of us needs to do.
Think broadly: I worked in magazines for a couple of years but left because I thought, “I’d never want the job of editor-in-chief, and that’s where this would be headed if I climbed the ladder – so I should leave.” Whoa, sister! Hold up. I could have made excellent writing connections and gotten published. There’s something to giving yourself time to investigate multiple paths and opportunities within an industry.
This seems like an absolutely fabulous book idea. Wish I’d had it when I was in my 20s. I will give it to some young women I know. The workplace has been male driven for so long that women really really need this kind of guidance.