On September 6th I completed 4 months working at Zoetis. So much has happened during this time - both in my mind and in the real world, with many things unfolding - that even though it hasn’t been too long, it feels incredibly fulfilling.
I was surprised with the nicest team - kind, hardworking, smart, generous, mature, happy people. They have such different backgrounds, profiles and expertises - but one thing they have in common: all of them come to work with their best attitude (and they all also pretend that I don’t speak Portuñol every now and then 😂). They welcomed me, my ideas and my personality in a very natural, positive way which I am so grateful for.
I travelled a total of 26 thousand kilometers and went to 3 different countries. Had about 65 hours of onboarding and 1:1 sessions. On my 7th week I presented a budget session for the countries I am responsible for - a great challenge which helped me accelerate my learning curve. I got to know colleagues from around the globe - Brazilian, Argentinian, Chilean, Uruguayan, American, Irish, German, Belgium, Canadian, Mexican, Colombian - with whom I had not only technical discussions about work but also great laughs over dinner or inside a car discovering new bands, stuck in Mexico’s traffic jams. People are definitely this company’s most valuable asset.
I was also lucky enough to start a mentoring program with one of our leaders - someone who I instantly admired and who has been generously sharing with me insights on the company’s culture and her ideas on what leadership is. On our last sessions we talked about personal branding and the legacy we want to leave behind - and after giving it a lot of thought I came to the conclusion that I want to be recognized both by “actively caring” (about people, about work, about work life balance, about doing the right thing, about passing on what I know, about learning, about improving continuously etc etc etc) and by providing positive results. I asked her what she thinks is the best way to reinforce the pillars of your personal brand - she gave me lots of great advice, and so I asked her one of my constant doubts: “What do you think about LinkedIn?” (because I think it is such an interesting media, but I don’t always think highly of how people use it to promote themselves, if I must be honest). She had me rethinking it when she said: “Well you love writing, you have nice things to say, you care about passing on yourself to people.. why can’t it be a good platform for you to write on?” …and that is such a simple way to approach it - and by “simple” I don’t mean “oversimplistic”, I actually mean: a down-to-earth, straightforward, great way to think about it.
... Well, here I am. And that’s how 4 amazing months have gone by. Hard work, authenticity, positivity and great connections. Looking forward to the next ones :)
Semi retired
3moAmazing