Stephanie Kramer ranks from Chanel Head to the L’Oréal corner office. On paper, it reads like the kind of glamorous fashion-industry promotion most twentysomethings dream of. But it all started with coffee runs, photocopies, and arriving before everyone else.
Say yes to the small, tedious tasks, she said—especially The ones that no one wanted—the secrets that would eventually lead her to the C-suite of the largest beauty company in the world.
“Early in my career, I often trusted it to be able to say yes to very, very small things,” Kramer said exclusively wealth. “Who’s going to make the copies and go get the coffee? Me. Who’s going to be there early to set up the meeting? Me. Who’s going to watch which door the consumer comes in to determine the best bay or window for the sack we want? Me.”
Cramer, who established a can-do attitude before entering the workforce, credits her grandparents with teaching her to show up with an “open mind, a willing heart, and a ready hand.” But when it comes to her career, now Fortune 500 Each “yes” opens the door to a bigger challenge, the CHRO said.
“Sometimes you say ‘yes’ and then you think, well, who could go abroad and take on this really weird project in previews?Olympic Games China, where we did the etymology of perfume, the market there was very small at the time? I’m willing to get on a plane, not speak Chinese, and take these risks. “
Another big career “unlock”: What are your “yes,” “no,” and “yet”?
As Kramer’s career and personal life expanded and the responsibilities on her shoulders grew, she had to learn to say yes less often, or rather, to say yes strategically to the right opportunities.
“I would say the biggest epiphany or unlocking in my career has been when I intentionally needed choices,” Kramer said, adding that her “Achilles heel” is saying yes to everything because she doesn’t want to let people down.
Now, while juggling two young children and tens of thousands of employees, she’s learned to be more cautious. Her advice to those moving from early career roles into management: Be honest about what you actually have time to do, know what you can delegate, and don’t feel guilty about saying no to things you can’t take on yet.
“Being very aware of when you can or can’t do something, or when someone else is better suited to do the job, I think that also requires a lot of humility,” she explains.
“So, what are the things that you should do? What are the things that you say no to? And then what are the things that you don’t? I think that’s a really important way that I developed in thinking about the career decisions that I make.”
One framework that helps Kramer decide what to take on and what to pass on is to follow what fuels her energy, rather than what drains her energy.
“I have all these different parts of my life. I flip that paradigm on its head instead of feeling like I’m just one person and you have to pour a little bit of yourself into all these different cups and they’re never full,” she added. “Now, I really try to think about all of these things to make my day count.”
CEO of WalmartPret and Kurt Geiger got their big break by saying “Yes”
Walmart’s top boss has followed a similar path. In the summer of 1984, 17-year-old Doug McMillon began unloading trailers for $6.50 an hour and worked his way up through the ranks. Since then, he has risen through the ranks of the retail giant, becoming the company’s youngest CEO since founder Sam Walton. He said the secret to his success was Say “yes” to opportunities While his boss was out of town.
Like MacMillan, CEO Kurt Geiger got his big break while his manager was on a business trip. Neil Clifford confirmed as CEO Get career advice— and immediately accepted it, agreeing to move to a brand new city for a promotion.
And there’s Pret A Manger CEO Pano Christou, who went from working a $3-an-hour job at McDonald’s to becoming the owner of a British sandwich chain making millions a year. His move into management was all because he agreed to step up — even though he wasn’t quite ready.
“Someone was going to take a course to become a shift supervisor. For one reason or another, they were made redundant,” the London native previously said Tell wealth——So he took up the vacant seat. “I was 16 and all of a sudden I was managing the guy who had trained me two or three months before and he was almost 30.”
“Whenever new, bigger opportunities are presented to me, I always take them – I never say no – even if it does make me stand out,” he added. “I probably wasn’t ready for a while, but I always wanted to take it and give it the best chance, and it worked out well.”