Rubber Division workshop offers keys to unlock potential

CLEVELAND—Authenticity matters. When it comes to your career, it may even be the beginning of everything else.

Finding success in the rubber industry—building the kind of career that reflects your ambition and complements your greatest strengths—means finding the courage to be exactly who you are.

The day before the ACS Rubber Division's recent International Elastomer Conference in Cleveland, the association conducted its first Women of the Rubber Division professional development seminar, WORDs Matter. Designed to empower women by giving them the resources, know-how and networking opportunities that would allow them to grow in their careers, the one-day seminar was led by communications expert Leslie Ungar.

The program included a panel discussion with prominent female leaders from around the industry and a workshop that offered networking opportunities and professional development tips.

Woven through every aspect of the session, however, was the message that authenticity is critical. Knowing who you are, being who you are and trusting who you are, is key to achieving your biggest goals.

Kim Dempsey-Miller, who will serve as Rubber Division chair in 2021, was one of five panelists for a discussion about the unique challenges women professionals face within the rubber industry. It was during that discussion that Dempsey-Miller, who works for Pilot Products, encouraged those attending the session to trust themselves and their abilities.

"Don't try to be anything you are not," Dempsey-Miller said. "Just know what the heck you are talking about."

Nobody, she pointed out, has the experiences you have, or the research and technical expertise that you do. That unique combination is valuable to the industry and to your company. When you know how to precisely and accurately communicate your knowledge and ideas with confidence, she said, you will gain the respect of your co-workers and supervisors.

"I have never adapted my style," Dempsey-Miller said. "I think the thing that has helped me the most was I tried to always know what the heck I was talking about. People respect that. If you have knowledge about something, and if you can back it up with data or by showing them on the floor, then you start to gain respect."

And in learning to trust what you know and how to present it, you begin to build confidence in your abilities as well.

"Personally, I believe confidence is a skill you don't learn," Dempsey-Miller said. "It's in here. It comes from knowing what you know. No one knows what you know as well as you know it."

Confidence may be innate, but it also can be conjured. And that's good news for those who feel their confidence doesn't come naturally.

According to Ungar, confidence is a mindset. When you know what confidence looks and sounds like, you routinely can present yourself with confidence, even in those moments when doubts or nerves threaten.

"What I am here to say is that women of rubber can be more empowered in how they communicate," Ungar said. "I call it your inner brilliance: How you identify your value, how you communicate your value, and how you protect your value."

Verbal, vocal, visual

Communicating your value means presenting yourself with confidence, according to Ungar.

"In communication and in life, we control three things and only three things," Ungar said. "We control ourselves, what comes out of our mouths and our environment to some degree. … The more we work on who we are, what we say and our environment, the more we influence."

Ungar contends that there are three key components to communicating confidently:

• Verbal: What you say;
• Vocal: How you say it; and
• Visual: How you present yourself.

Communicating your value, your ideas and your expertise requires clear, concise language. More than that, Ungar said, it means clearly articulating how all of your ideas and abilities will move the project or the company forward.

Communicating your value is not just about what you can do, it's about what you can do for the company. When you learn to confidently communicate your value by presenting your ideas and accomplishments in the context of benefiting the project or the company, you also prove to be irreplaceable.

"I want you all to be seen as the one person your team, your employer, your family, your profession cannot do without," Ungar said.

But saying the right thing isn't enough. How you say it matters, too.

One mistake many women make is with voice inflection. Often, Ungar said, women's voices will go up when they say the last word or phrase of a sentence. Because of this, the sentence sounds like a question and will strip your statements of their strength. Instead of portraying confidence, higher pitched voice inflections may inadvertently indicate weakness.

When it comes to communicating confidently, however, the way you present yourself matters more than anything else. What you wear, how your desk looks, how you carry yourself, your body language—those are the things that matter most.

"Visual kicks verbal and vocal's butt," Ungar said. "Visual counts everything. It counts your office, it counts your car, it counts your shoes. And here is the thing: The more complex the issue, the more your audience goes with the visual."

Why me? Why now?

There also is an art to knowing when to speak.

Ungar contends that the insight you have to offer is important, but knowing exactly when to speak is more so. The big meeting may be the place to share your big idea or insight, but you have to know for sure before you jump in to the conversation.

To know when your statements could have the biggest impact, Ungar suggests asking yourself three question:

• Why me?–Am I the one that needs to address this issue?
• Why now?–Is this the right place to speak up?
• What matter?–How are you going to present the information?

"When you ask and answer for yourself the three (questions)," Ungar said, "you are obligated to speak. If you cannot answer, then you are obligated not to speak."

In doing this, Ungar said, you not only demonstrate an ability to discern the moments when you can have the biggest impact, you also ensure your statements carry weight.

A change in perspective

Every job will present challenges and opportunities, both of which will offer chances to grow in your career. Learning to see and embrace those opportunities may be difficult at times, but Ungar said that a change in perspective may be all you need.

For instance, she said, tasks that force you outside of your comfort zone—public speaking, for instance—offer a chance for you to hone needed professional skills. Yes, there may be many hurdles to overcome, but the very act of overcoming those hurdles makes you stronger.

During the panel discussion, Tina Darnell of Struktol Co. encouraged those attending the seminar to embrace every challenge.

"Any challenge you have is an opportunity to grow," Darnell said. "You are going to learn and you are going to grow, or you are going to be able to apply (what you learned) in the next project that you work on or in your life. So it is very important that you take it with that attitude that this is a challenge, but it is not a negative.

"It's a positive experience for you to grow and learn and share with others if you learn something."

Taking advantage of those opportunities, though, requires that you take risks. It means stepping outside the box, taking on projects, speaking engagements and professional development opportunities that arise.

"Opportunities," Ungar said, "have a shelf life. Say yes to anything. There is no such thing as a small opportunity or a big opportunity. They're all big."