Computer.
Hello, and welcome to another session with Career Conversations.
Today I'm talking to Megan, and we are going to talk about
surprise, surprise career Conversations. Megan, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Janice, for having me. Can you just let us know
a little bit about yourself before I dive in on the first question? So I
guess when I say that, because that's such a loaded question, I would like name
and what you currently do, and if you wish to tell us which company you
currently work for. Sure. My name is Megan Bazuto. I currently
serve as the president of the International Association of Women. I also
just stepped into a new role that will kind of combine what
I do at IAW with heading up marketing for our parent
company professional diversity network,
because I just, like, adding more on my plate.
She's laughing because my face is like, what are you doing? What? I just spoke
to you months ago. Okay. I saw you in person.
Yeah,
we might talk about this. When opportunities
present, I feel like you have to go for them. And there was an opportunity,
and I raised my hand and said, yeah, I can help there.
It has put me in a place where I will be leading more
brand initiative and strategy for our parent company, but I will not be
stepping away from what I love doing here at IAW. And so
it's kind of the best of everything. Gives me a
career advancement play while also still getting to do everything
that just fills my soul. So it's good.
Back to a previously scheduled programming.
Are you an introvert? We're coming back to that. Don't you worry.
Are you an introvert? So I
like to say yes. Like, when I do all the online
assessments, whatever, I score very introverted. But I'm
also a people person. I do enjoy being social. I enjoy
being in places where I'm surrounded by people. But I
think a lot of it is energy levels. And when
I'm out and about and mingling and constantly around
other people that are loud and vocal, I have
to come back to myself and spend time alone. I need quiet space, and I
think that I'm refueled by the quiet space I'm refueled by
when I can spend time alone. But I
kind of like to say I'm kind of an extroverted introvert. Like, there's a little
bit of both. Okay. And so the follow up question always
is, so what does introversion or being an introvert mean to
you? So that's a good question, because I
think that a lot of people have some preconceived notions
of what an introvert is. And to me, it's really
the person who wants to spend time alone that needs that
alone time, that needs the quiet time, that is not the loudest voice in the
room, that isn't necessarily the one throwing the
party all the time, being out and about all the time.
And I think that for me, it's sometimes
feeling like I need that space to just be alone.
If I don't find time to recharge by
spending some time, whether it's outside on a walk or just
a day at home in my office with no meetings, I'm very particular about
buffering my schedule so that I get that time to recharge.
All right, so I'm going to just dive straight into that. So as part of
buffering your meetings, tell me what your calendar average calendar day might
look like all week? Yeah, I mean, it really
varies depending on the week. I used
to be really good about blocking Monday morning and Friday afternoon
so that I had space so that I wasn't.
I find if I show up in my office at 830 Monday
morning and I have a call at 09:00 A.m., that overwhelms
me. So I have blocks of
space that allow me
I i do a number of things through IAW, where I have to
be on camera doing interviews or hosting webinars.
So those I always have buffer before and after. So if I have
to be on and being super polished
and super professional, I buffer my space around that so that I have breaks
before and after. So I'm not just run from one meeting to one meeting to
one meeting. I also with my team calls.
I tend to stage them in one day so that I can kind of knock
everything out one by one. But then I
guess week to week, it's not always
predictable. And so some days I get to the
end of the day and I think, oh, that was a bad day. I didn't
protect my schedule, but I'm
way more intentional usually, about making sure there's
time blocks that give me space to get outside for a walk,
to give me space to prep for a meeting, to give me space to actually
get tasks done, because if you're on calls all day long, you're not getting things
done. And so you said you used
to be really good about blocking off Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.
What changed? I took on more responsibility,
and I traveling. So the month of April,
I traveled with my kids. I'm currently going through a divorce, so there's
been lots of crazy stuff with that and just having to be places I don't
usually have to be. One of my friends got married,
so I was away for that and helping with that. And so I find that
during the week, if I'm out of the office for other things,
I open that space on Monday and Friday so I can accommodate the
people who need me, so I can accommodate getting the work done. And so now
I just finished a season of, like, April to early
May, was crazy busy with family obligations, and that the
last event was this past weekend. And now I'm right back to, okay,
what's my calendar going to look like, for the next six weeks because I'm realizing
that I've overdone it and I need to make sure I have that space back.
Yes. Okay. That is great. So with
the work that you do and the business that you work with,
can you tell me some misconceptions about your
industry, if there are any?
Yeah, it's interesting
because the International Association of Women, we support women,
so we're a membership organization where we provide resources and
benefits and tools and programming to women all around the world.
And I think when I tell
a lot of people what I do,
there's two things. There's one like, oh, people,
how does that work? Do people actually show up? I think they think
that women just kind of hide in the corner, and they don't ask. They don't
raise their hand and ask for help. And we coach a lot of women on
how to do this because women are notoriously bad at raising their hand and asking
for help. And so I
think a lot of people think, oh, well, do women really need the help
and support? And I think if you look at statistics,
women are more likely to have confidence issues. They're more likely not to ask for
what they want from a salary. They're more likely not to negotiate things. And so
I say yes, women really do need the support, and we're here to provide that
support. And so it's funny conversations sometimes
with people who question, well,
do you find that women show up authentically? Do they actually show up and ask?
And I'm like they do. Once we've created an environment that
fosters that community and comfort, where we're
here to do exactly what we say we're going to do.
Also, the idea that we're very much a circle,
that anyone is welcoming, that we
foster that environment where no matter who's coming into the room, whether it's a virtual
room or in person room, they're going to feel welcome. They're going to be supported.
They're going to find people who will help them get to the next level.
Okay. And so with those misconceptions
and things that you think about, and you mentioned with your calendar
that you try and put buffers, but you also mentioned you got a new job,
and when opportunities arise, you say yes. Is there anything you say no to?
Yes, there is.
This is something I've struggled with my entire life because I'm a people pleaser,
and I have a really hard time saying no.
I've gotten really good about using my team at work to do
things that so I used to think emails would come through,
and I'd just respond. There's a perfect example. You sent one the other day,
and instead of responding, I forwarded it on to Tracy, who could help you more
directly. And so it's not that I'm saying no to you.
I'm just reallocating the work somewhere else because I hate
saying no. Right. I do say no socially
from time to time, if everyone's like, hey, let's go out on Friday night,
and I need time to
refresh myself. And if I go out and have dinner and drinks and social,
I know that my energy isn't going to it's just going
to drain me more. Whereas I have a group of friends who thrive on
going out and catching up and sometimes I really need that, but sometimes I
don't. So I say no. There's been
times throughout my career where things have come across my plate, opportunities have
come across my plate. There was an opportunity a few years ago
and I had to say no because things within my personal life just
weren't at a place where I could take on more from a career perspective.
I just knew that I wanted to say yes. I wanted to
say, yeah, give me a new role, give me more responsibility. But my husband
at the time was very ill. We were having a lot of changes in our
house, and I said, you know what? If I do that, it's going to overwhelm
me and I have to do what's right for me. And at that
point in time, it was prioritizing my family and my kids and making
sure everything in my house was operating efficiently, even though I had to
say no to the really cool opportunity.
And so follow up question to that, how did you let the organization
know that it wasn't them and it wasn't the right time to
say yes? Yeah.
I'm usually pretty transparent with the people I work with and the people
I work for without being overly
sharing too much, but being pretty open
about what's going on personally. And I encourage this with my
team as well, the people I manage. I think that in order for
us to show up at work as our best selves, we have
to know what's going on personally as well. You don't have to
know every single detail. You don't have to know every little story, but if
there's big themes that are emerging, it's important information.
At that point in time, it really was, hey, I love this
idea. I want to support as much as I can, but I don't have the
capacity to give that role the attention it needs right now.
Let's revisit this in a year or so.
I'm respected at work. I do a great job, and I think that's
a big part of it is that if they know the reason
behind it, I realize, hey, there's a role that needs
to be filled and you're probably going to go find somebody else and I'm okay
with that. But just so you know, I'm not saying no to
this entirely. I'm just saying no right now. Okay? Yeah.
And you were lucky enough to have the option to do that because I feel
some people might feel that if they say no, that opportunity will never come by
again. And the what if the different things. That people might think
about it? Right? And so
what is something that you have done regularly
that has improved your career?
Networking, really building
relationships and spending time getting to know people and understanding
what other people need, adding value to other people's career stories,
even if it doesn't directly benefit me, but keeping my network really
tight and close. I think that there's people
I worked with when I started my career has gone.
You talk about nonlinear career plans. My career has been this wavy
line all around. I started in accounting and finance with a piece
of technology. I went from working at IBM to working at a video
game company. I then pivoted into marketing.
I was a freelancer for a period of time. I had my own business and
then ended up at IAW. And there's themes like I still stay in
touch with people I worked with 20 years ago when I started my career,
and I still support them in ways and they still support me in ways.
And by regularly showing up and just checking
in, it doesn't have to be every week. You're investing hours
and hours in networking. But we stay connected on
LinkedIn, we comment on posts, we check in from time to time.
And the job I started
at IAW like eight, nine years ago,
and that opportunity presented itself
because of my network. And I was in New York City
visiting with friends. I mentioned what I was doing to somebody.
She said, oh, I think I might have a role for you.
She brought me in part time as a consultant and that's how
it happened. And so I think about that one moment
where I just mentioned what I was doing and she
gave the opportunity. And that has expanded into more and more
and more. But really networking is something
I've done consistently. And so would you say
that your network is broad or
very specific and niche? Broad? My network
is so broad and sometimes I wonder, sometimes I think,
oh, maybe it's too broad. But because I've worked so many
different places and I spent five years living
overseas in Shanghai and Dubai, and so my network
spans global, but it's also people from all different industries
and all different jobs. And in some ways that's really great
because I can find anybody to do anything. But when
I think about kind of like the, well,
do I have the specific enough network to actually benefit my
day to day job right now that needs improvement?
I would definitely say my network is broad at this point.
And so a lot of people might think that introvert
can't have networks and don't like networking because
people ill people and
some people might find it overwhelming because you said your network is broad,
which implies that there might be hundreds or maybe thousands of people that
you know. So what is one thing you do? At least once a month that
helps you grow and or nurture your network. And can you be
really specific about it? Yeah.
So one thing I do every month, and we've done some
content around networking for introverts because it's not impossible. I know
it's overwhelming and I know it's hard. So one thing I've started doing
every month, and I do this as part of an accountability thing I run through
IAW is I'm very intentional about
identifying five places I can network and
it doesn't have to be. So maybe we'll attend one in person
event during the month. I will find a Facebook group. I can go
engage in a LinkedIn group. I'll find a virtual event.
I the also make a list of at least five people I
want to have a touch point with. And a touch point doesn't necessarily mean we're
going out and having coffee, but it might be go look at their LinkedIn and
see what they've been up to and see if I can just drop a message
or if I've read a good book recently, I might
recommend they read the book. Just little touch points like that.
And then I look to add at
least ten people to my network every month. So I'll go
through and find opportunities at the events I'm attending.
I try to walk away going, okay, I'm not just showing
up to have a cocktail and mingle, but who can
I actually meet and walk away feeling like I have a relationship where
we could follow up and collaborate in the future?
So I try to be intentional about instead
of just kind of showing up and seeing who falls into my LinkedIn.
More intentional about where I'm showing up, when I'm showing up,
and how I'm gathering those contacts and nurturing them.
So a slightly different question. You mentioned the non linear
path that your career has had. Would you
consider yourself to be a leader?
Yes, I would.
This is a loaded question and you're laughing. I love
the pause. It was like yeah, because I've
struggled. So I've struggled with Impostor syndrome
because I took time. When we lived overseas, I did not work. So I
found out I was pregnant. My husband was offered a job in Shanghai and I
said, Great, let's go. I can take some time. I can have the baby.
I can figure out this being a mom, I can step away from my career.
It was supposed to be 18 months overseas, so I could take
that time to figure out mom and what am I doing from a career perspective.
So 18 months turned into five years total
overseas. Another kid, we moved home, we had another baby.
I'm still not back to work. So I ended up with this eight ish
year gap on my resume. And I really
struggled to come back and feel like a leader because I felt like I had
this gap and I hadn't stepped up in the
same way that other people around me had.
And when I reflect now,
I've earned the respect of others around me. Some people I
work with don't even know I have a gap on my resume, which I find
hilarious. Why would I? Right?
It's in my head. Right? It's in my head. And so I struggled
with the am I truly a leader? And I believe I am.
I believe I lead the community of IAW. I lead my
team at IAW. I lead others around me.
And I try to lead by showing good
examples. Right. I try to foster environments where people can
trust me and people know my decision making process.
I would say, yes, I'm a leader. But I struggle with that question
because my path to being a leader,
I've doubted myself. And so I
sometimes sit here and question, like, do I deserve to be here?
And I've come to accept that I do. And I've done
a lot of work in this area,
but I think
we can lead without a title. We can lead with a title. And so I
do believe I'm a leader. I've just sometimes
struggled to accept that along the way.
All right, thank you so very much. This has been an interesting conversation.
I have one final question for you before
you let the people know where to find you, and that is is
a hot dog a sandwich,
in your humble opinion?
No. And could you walk us through your thought
process? I mean, technically,
if I say a sandwich is something between bread, I guess, yes. But I just
look at a hot dog, and I don't think sandwich.
I suppose you could call it a sandwich, but I call a hot dog
a hot dog. To me, a sandwich is two separate pieces of bread, and a
hot dog bun is connected. All right,
thank you very much for that. I appreciate it. Everyone has a different viewpoint,
so it's wonderful to be like, wait, and the walk through it.
Yeah, that's a great question.
It has sparked debate over the years. I've led a lot of online
co working, and that question has stopped
anything work related, especially it's been, like, engineers or UX designers or
anything. Just, of course, the whole rate.
Oh, that must be fascinating.
Thank you for joining us today. Please let the people know
where they can find you should they wish to connect and be part of your
growing, expanding network. Absolutely.
So LinkedIn is the best place to find megan bazuto. It's B-O-Z-Z-U-T-O.
If you just search that, it should show up. I'm also on instagram
and facebook, but not quite as active in those places,
so LinkedIn is best. All right, thank you so
much. I really appreciate you being here today. This is janice
at the career introvert, helping you build your brand and get hard. Have a great
rest of your week.