Let's Talk: Embracing Who You Are w/Anne Marie Squeo, Chief Communications and Brand Officer at Xerox

"It took me until the last few years to realize that I didn't have to make myself into someone else to "fit in" at various places where I worked. It was exhausting. Today, you get me, and if you don't like it, you don't get me, and it's a shame for you. It is absolutely liberating." Anne Marie Squeo

For those with the "need to please disease," this Let's Talk is an important one. 

Join us for our next Let's Talk: 

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As humans, we are hard-wired to stick with what's safe. 

Organizational anthropologist Judith E. Glaser writes that people fear rejection in human interactions. People may suppress who they are because they fear rejection - it can be physically painful — feelings of fear activate the same pain pathways in the brain as burning your hand on an open fire. Perhaps it's a survival mechanism — we have such a strong desire to fit in, run with the pack, be accepted by the tribe, and we don’t speak up, or we go with the crowd for fear of being isolated or ostracised.

This is the thing: if you care too much about what others think, you'll never fully realize who you are. How can you reach your potential when you're afraid of what people think? When you stop caring what others think, everything changes. You can experiment with a new career, a new hairdo, a new relationship, and a myriad of other experiences that lead you to find who you are truly meant to be.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is from American businessman Bernard Baruch is commonly attributed to Dr. Seuss, he said:

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

Anne Marie Squeo is the Chief Communications and Brand Officer at Xerox. In this role, Ann Marie oversees all aspects of global communications and marketing. Before Xerox, Ann Marie was IBM's vice president of Watson, Cloud, and Technology Communications. She also has held senior positions at Netflix, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin. Before transitioning to corporate communications, Ann Marie spent nearly 15 years as a journalist, including more than seven years at The Wall Street Journal. In this role, she won the Gerald R. Loeb Award in 2004 for Beat Reporting and was part of a small team that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2000. 

Join us on Let’s Talk as with Ann Marie to hear her story  

Let's Talk is a bi-weekly conversation with leading executives, thought leaders, and changemakers. There are no presentations or talking heads, just people having a conversation about career, family, and what matters the most to them.

It doesn't have to be lonely at the top.