Medtronic treasurer Sheila Quintus says overcoming doubts that undermine confidence requires introspection.
In the view of Medtronic treasurer Sheila Quintus, not all the obstacles to advancement faced by women in the workplace are external. In a new NeuGroup Insights video you can watch by hitting the play button below, Ms. Quintus says that in her experience, “inner voices” that plant the seeds of doubt are the biggest impediment to taking risks. She believes it’s a trap many women fall into.
- “I think it’s common for anyone who’s part of a nondominant group—believing that you have to be 100% qualified to do something in order to take on that responsibility or take on the role,” she says in the video.
Self-awareness. In a finance career spanning three decades, Ms. Quintus says she has learned that the key to confronting those undermining voices is first listening to them and being reflective, introspective and self-aware. Then it’s about reminding yourself that if you lean on your intellect and offer what you can, “it’s ok that you don’t know every single thing, that you haven’t done every single thing to be in that spot,” she said.
- “I think it’s been a lot of coaching and remembering that things can be figured out,” she says in the video. “I have a lot of resources: my peers, my advisors, my team—all of which that can be called on when needed.”
- This aligns closely with the mission of Women in NeuGroup, which met this week in Menlo Park, California. The group aims to foster networks between women in treasury and finance, connecting current members, NeuGroup alumnae and supportive colleagues.
Personal and professional. Ms. Quintus—who has a deep belief in service and philanthropy—also discusses a related challenge, the expectation that women often feel they have to excel in every area of life. “That’s across the spectrum, professionally and personally,” she says in the video.
- The answer, she says, is “learning how to give more time, energy and mind space to the areas that demand it, and being okay not giving so much in others.”
