How to Build a Strong Voice as a Woman in Customer Contact Leadership

We live in a world where women often have to fight to get to the table.

Although we are talented, successful, ambitious, and ultimately have the power to move mountains, it takes practice and support to develop a strong voice and show up in our power every day.

So, how do we begin moving in confidence to take up space and make our voices heard?

In attempts to answer this question, CCWomen has built our 2023 programming and content around a central theme: "Exist Loudly." We want to knowledge share with you and empower our community to "Exist Loudly" together.

At the recent CXO May Exchange, CCWomen had the honor of creating a stage for Jill Wallace, Vice President of Customer Experience & Engagement at Mastercard, to share her story. In this tell-all Fireside Chat, Jill shared her best practices for existing loudly in various contexts, including leadership, coworker relationships, personal relationships, and more.

Sandy:
Jill, thank you for joining us. It is a pleasure to have you share your story with us. How do you exist loudly?
 

Jill:
Well, number one, I'm not afraid to share my voice and I am a lifelong talker.

When I thought about living loudly and boldly it resonated with me because when I was a little girl, I lived in a strict household where children should be seen and not heard.

Throughout my career, there have been opportunities where I saw things that are going on and wondered, what should I do? Should I say something? And I've learned through the years that yes, I should say something. 

Sandy: 
Why does existing loudly resonate with you?

Jill: 
It resonates for me because I am a woman in technology.

As a female in the tech industry, your voice is already dampened. You really need to fight with others. But I learned throughout my career that you need to take chances and be bold.

In my career, I've seen areas where women are pushed to the side. In the tech industry, men take the forefront. It's important that we as women advocate for women because we have a unique point of view.

With Mastercard, that's especially important because Mastercard is a technology company and women spend all the money. We as women know what we like, we know how we want to be marketed towards and we know the tools that we need. So it's important that we use those unique perspectives to make our company successful. It is important to bring that extra voice to the organization.

We've all been in situations where we hear how an idea will come out of a company and it turns out it's a horrible idea. Why? Because the company never got a unique set of voices in order to form an opinion and say, “Does this sound okay to you?” If companies had only taken that extra moment to do that they could have been so much more successful than then they are.

When I was in leadership training there was one thing that stuck with me. I had this little nugget of knowledge - what makes you unique makes you valuable.

All of the skills and opportunities that I've acquired over the years make me valuable because I'm the only one who has this unique set of skills, this unique view. So, I think that makes me incredibly capable of existing loudly, sharing my voice, and sharing what I want to see for the organization to be successful, to make sure that I'm successful in what I do, and to make sure that I'm paving a way for others to be successful in their endeavors as well.

Sandy:
What led you to your career at Mastercard? 

Jill: 
A career at Mastercard was a result of the bold choices I made.

Anybody who knows me knows that personally, I don't like to be cold. I was in nice, warm, sunny Florida and very happy with my life. One of my former co-workers had gone to Mastercard and he called me up one day asking me, “Jill, do you want to come to Mastercard?”

I said, “It's cold in St. Louis. It snows in St. Louis. No, I don't want to do that.” 

But he kept asking me every couple of months, “Do you want to come?” and I kept saying no. 

Then an opportunity came up and he told the hiring manager, “I know someone who would be perfect for that. But she won't move.”

The manager asks for my phone number and we have a conversation. She says, “Well tell you what, why don't you just fly out here? Check it out. See if you like it.” 

You know what happened next right? I flew out there. They offered me a job that I couldn't turn down.

It was to start a department for a Fortune 500 company. That doesn't come along in your career very often so of course I said yes. And that's how I ended up here with Mastercard.

I was audacious enough to pick myself and my family up and move halfway across the country to work for Mastercard to build this team for them. I'd never done that before so you don't know if that's going to be successful or not but it was an opportunity that I had to take.

Sandy:
How has your career at Mastercard given you the power to unleash your voice?

Jill:
Now throughout this career, Mastercard afforded me many opportunities. But one of the larger opportunities that I've had is at a point in my career where I've been working in this operational support role for many years: 24/7, nights, weekends, all the time, and quite frankly, had reached the point of burnout.

I went to my manager not knowing how this conversation was going to go, but I told him I need to change. I need to do something different. I told him I really don't care what the opportunity is, but I do want to not be on call 24/7.

I told him I was open to a short-term assignment. At Mastercard a short-term assignment allows you to step outside of your role and take an opportunity somewhere else in the country or around the globe. This perfect opportunity came at a perfect time because my youngest had graduated from college and now it was time for this single mother to spread her wings and fly.

A few months later my manager's manager called me up and says, “Hey, Jill, we need to talk.” 

I said okay. Because I was the only one working during the Christmas holidays, I was thinking that he was going to tell me about an escalation or whatever was needed. But he tells me about a short-term assignment opportunity and it was in Poland.

Of all the places, why Poland? But I said yes. He asked me if I want to know what the job is. I said, “No, I'll take it.” Because number one, who gets a chance like that? Right? So it was a fantastic opportunity. 

I was now going to fly halfway across the globe to a country that's primary language was not English, it was Polish. I understand it's one of the hardest languages to learn, but I was going to do it and lead this team of men in a completely different culture. I was supposed to go there and do integration work, which I was very comfortable with. We had acquired this entity that needed to integrate itself with Mastercard’s operations, standard procedures, tools, etc. So I go there and was there for a few months and then came home back to the States.

But when I was back home I got a phone call from my manager in Poland.

He said, “Jill, we had to let our Operations Manager go. You're going to be the Operations Manager.”

I'm like, say what now? And I'm also thinking oh my gosh, I'm in the United States.

Now I have the largest team I've ever managed in Poland waiting for me to give them direction and guidance. And if that wasn't enough, they've been working on this major project for months for their largest client which was based out of Portugal. I had no idea what was going on, but he told me, “Jill, it's your job to make sure that this goes off without a hitch.” And I thought oh, great! This is great. This is so great.

I went back to Poland and quickly had to organize the team. I had to be loud, I had to exist loudly. 

In fact, my HR manager says, “Jill, you have such a beautiful soft voice. What you need to do is make it heavier when you're talking to these guys.”

I had to lead this team of people who probably were wondering, “What's this woman from the United States doing over here telling us what to do?” 

But I am happy to say that the integration went off so wonderfully. It was a lot of hard work and a lot of effort but this opportunity gave me a line to our executives. This was a very important line of business for them.

It gave me an opportunity to really run the show and gain that inner confidence that I needed. When this opportunity was done, I was really sad to go because I'd made such great friends and connections in Poland, and I'm very close with them, even today. 

Once my opportunity was done in Poland, I had to find my way back into the organization. Which meant I had to find a job. My manager presented me with an opportunity, and I was just bursting with excitement because I had gained all of these skills, and I could flex all of these new muscles. 

But I was asked to be a technical account manager.

I was kind of underwhelmed because it wasn't even a managerial role which I felt I really, really just excelled at. I love people development. I love change management and organizational effectiveness. None of these things would allow me to flex those muscles in this new role. 

I said, “No, that's not the role for me.” At that time it was a dangerous thing to do because what if I didn't find another opportunity?

Well, that turned out to be the right thing. 

I knew what was right for me, and I had to advocate for myself. Eventually, a position opened up – a Global Customer Care role which I am in today.

The role came with a promotion so I actually got a promotion out of me saying no. In the new role, I am confident, and I am able to flex all those skills that I learned because of my success. And in the end, it was the right thing for the organization too.

Sandy:
What is your advice to other women who are afraid or feel uncomfortable voicing their opinions at work?

Jill: 
The times when I would voice my opinion, even if it wasn't asked for it – I felt comfortable doing it. 

One of my colleagues actually asked me once, “How do you feel that you mouthed off to the EVP?”

I replied, “I didn't see him as an EVP. I saw him as a colleague.”

I had an opinion that mattered and he needed to know that in order to understand the customer's perspective and how we could make that experience better. Your opinion matters especially when the right decision will help your company grow. 

Mastercard has allowed me these opportunities and the ability to exist loudly so I can make better choices for the company and our customers. I'm extremely grateful for that. 

Sandy:
At CCWomen our purpose is to support, celebrate, and connect women and allies.

As women, how can we support other women? How can we do more to help others and lift them up?

Jill:
I am so glad you asked that question because I believe part of existing loudly is being quiet and being able to listen to others' voices and having empathy.

One of my colleagues said to me, if someone isn't lifting their voice, it's probably because we haven't created a safe space in order for them to do so. I think it is so important that we create that safe space for women. 

I mentor women in our organization. It's one of the things that I love to do. I love for them to have someone to bounce ideas off of to elevate their careers.

I let women know that they can share their voices and share anything with me because I want to see them blossom. I am empowering them on how to share their voice and have them understand that what they bring to the table matters.

We also have to keep in touch with our allies. Make sure that we're making those connections on a regular basis and encouraging women to reach out to their network.

But more importantly just to be there for each other and lift each other up and ensure that we are the conduit that they can use to share their opinions and matters and live authentically. 

Sandy: 
Speaking of allies, as women we can also be mentors, allies, coaches, sponsors, and an advisory board to other women. With men and allies, those relationships can help women grow and create progress in the workplace. Like the saying “it takes a village,” it really does take a village to get things done.

Of course, women are powerful. We are capable of moving mountains and getting things done without help. But with a little bit of help from your tribe, community, or sounding board you can move those mountains a bit quicker and easier. I know that surrounding myself with a community has helped me in my own career. 

Jill: 
There have been several times in my career when someone's come to me and said, “Jill, you inspired me to do X, Y, and Z.”

What? Me? I'm just chill. I didn't have any idea that someone was looking to me for that inspiration or looking to me to empower them. So these things happen when you're not even trying it. 

Just remember that somewhere along the line you being who you are and presenting your best self is empowering some other young professional in the organization.

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