We had an amazing time at the latest Customer Success Network breakfast event. The event was lead by Nina Cummins - Telecoms Public Policy Manager at Facebook. 

The overarching theme of the morning was driving success by leveraging your personal brand and using those key characteristics that make you unique to drive success in your career and your relationships. 

Nina gave an excellent depiction of the impact that following your intuition and allowing your core values and passions to drive what you do can have. Her professional journey has been filled with change, growth and development.

This journey was not without its obstacles. It came with many difficult decisions and risks. By following her intuition and trusting her instincts she discovered that being authentic and by using her unique characteristics she could build a strong foundation for her career as well as for her personal relationships. 

A few key takeaways from Nina's presentation:

1. Clear the space and listen to your instincts - this is important, it can often be difficult to drown out the noise of other people's opinions. By allowing the opinions of others to impact how you position yourself, you relinquish the control that you have over your success.
2. Always have a plan B - things may not always go according to plan and it's important to be prepared for that. Ensure that you are taking calculated risks and be prepared to accept all of the potential outcomes. 
3. Be open to new opportunities - view your career as a book with multiple chapters as opposed to a single journey up the ladder. Nina made a massive career change after climbing the legal ladder and discovered how passionate she could be about her career. This all stemmed from an opportunity that may not have been the next logical step had she continued on the straight and narrow.  
4. Don't try and emulate other people in hopes to replicate their success - always communicate honestly about what drives and inspires you. This is key in opening the doors to do what makes you happy.

Many thanks to Nina, Sidd and the  Customer Success Network team for an excellent and insightful event.