"I have a totally Type A personality. I've always wanted to do more, and do it better," Virginia Albanese said. "I had a development plan for myself: How do I get to the next level at FedEx? What is the next thing that I want to do?"
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Virginia C. Albanese, president and chief executive of FedEx Custom Critical, the largest critical shipment carrier in North America, once prepared for a meeting with her boss by doing what some might consider unthinkable: She asked how to go after his job.
"If your job was available today, what would you say I would need" to be considered the top candidate, Albanese asked. "In your mind, what tools do I need to add to my toolkit? What skills am I missing? What am I doing right and what am I doing wrong?" She also reassured him that "Whatever you tell me, I own my own career development."
View full sizeFedEx Custom Critical President and CEO Virginia Albanese"We had the most terrific conversation, and he gave me some of the best feedback I've ever had," she told the audience at the recent Flourish Cleveland Conference for Women in Leadership. Her conversation was moderated by Marcy Levy Shankman, director of Leadership Cleveland and Strategic Initiatives at the Cleveland Leadership Center.
Albanese's boss went over the company's top managers and asked her whom she knew and who knew her well. He told her, "You need to get to know this person and that person better, because they're very influential," and finally, he said: "These people like you, so you need to continue those relationships."
And suddenly she had a game plan. "He's helping me get in front of these people, but when I get in front of them, I've got to do something with that," she said. "There are so many people who come to a meeting and just sit there without saying anything," and miss the opportunity to make an impression.
Women who want to get ahead need to be more strategic and assertive about their career goals, Albanese said. "It really is about networking, building relationships, and taking accountability for your career."
"I have a totally Type A personality. I've always wanted to do more, and do it better. I had a development plan for myself: How do I get to the next level at FedEx? What is the next thing that I want to do? What tools do I have in my toolkit? The day that that job is posted is not the day to start working on those skills."
While climbing the ladder to her current role, "I worked every shift, I worked every day of the week" to better understand her company and its business. She made a deliberate decision to stay on the operations side of the business, because all of the people whose jobs she wanted had gone that route. "I think it's really important to look at the careers leading to the jobs that you aspire to. Go and talk to the people in those jobs. What was their career path?"
Albanese earned an Executive MBA from Kent State University in addition to her bachelor of science degree, so that as she went on in her career, no one could say she was under-qualified or didn't have enough business acumen for her role.
"I've been very, very fortunate to have great mentors," she said. "You definitely want mentors that you can sound things off of, and I'm really bullish on having men and women mentors, both inside and outside the company." She encourages women to cultivate key relationships with those who can speak up on their behalf when they're not in the room.
After watching one promotion she thought she was perfect for go to someone else, Albanese realized it wasn't enough to work hard and be great at her job; she also had to work at building alliances at work.
"If you don't take the time to do the relationship-building, to go out to play golf, to go to that event or accompany somebody on that business trip," you miss opportunities to have conversations that could help your career, she said. "We got so much work done on that jet." Simply chiming in via videoconference isn't as productive or powerful as actually being in the room, she said.
Even in her current role, Albanese said she still aspires to improve and keep growing. Success is meaningless without good health, and money doesn't make people happy, she said. "You need to be a lifelong learner. Just because you have an MBA or a PhD or this or that credential doesn't mean you can't learn more about economics or your chosen career," she said. "To get my team reading, we would pick a book, hand it out and read it together."
Their most recent book was "Three Impossible Promises: The Inspiring True Story of Olympic Gold and How Organizational Culture Means Everything," about how the 1996 U.S. Olympic team won the gold medal in gymnastics. "It's incredibly easy to read but really powerful," she said.
She said every year she goes skiing in Vail with other women executives, and if one of them has a crisis, they all mull it over and offer solutions.
"When somebody invites you to go out to lunch, go. When you're not communicating, and you're not doing that networking, people might say you work hard, but they don't think of you for the next level. People say, 'Well, I just don't have the time.' I say, 'You don't have the time not to do it.' I never eat breakfast alone, and I never eat lunch alone."
"Stretch yourself to also get involved in the community," she said. Albanese serves on the boards of Kent State University and Akron Children's Hospital and chairs the board of the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Western Reserve.
She tells her own children, ages 16 and 14, that "they can do anything they want to do, and they should not allow anyone to tell them that they can't. Everybody should do what they're passionate about."
Albanese said that because so many have helped her, "I really try to be there for my own people," trying to help them achieve their career goals as well. She said whenever she gets a promotion, she emails the person who hired her at age 22. "I always say, 'Thank you. I really appreciate what you did for me. Thank you for being a champion for me and really supporting my career.'"