Overcoming Career-Path Challenges

On the 10th anniversary of NJBIA’s annual Women Business Leaders Forum, three female executives interviewed below share secrets to their success and provide advice to fellow women in business to help them overcome challenges ranging from self-doubt to achieving a better work-life balance.

By Jennifer Lesser, Contributing Writer On Sep 5, 2024

While New Jersey’s women in business continue to grapple with unique challenges as they pursue and advance their careers – not the least of which is how to balance professional responsibilities with family life at home – they have continued to overcome obstacles and achieve success across all industries. 

Although issues revolving around a lack of confidence, ongoing inequity in high-level positions and striving for that elusive work/life balance still exist, female executives and entrepreneurs alike are now finding the support they need to be successful in the business world. 

That support can be found at NJBIA’s 10th Annual Women Business Leaders Forum. Held in Atlantic City this month (Sept. 25-26), the event offers networking, speakers, breakout sessions, C-suite panel discussions and more to help women face challenges head on and find success in their chosen industries.

“One of the most valuable elements of this type of event is looking around and seeing that you aren’t alone – and recognizing that others have gone through similar challenges and are now thriving in their careers,” says Renee Rhem, vice president of customer advocacy for Subaru of America, Inc. and a speaker at WBLF.

After joining the corporate world as a customer service representative, Rhem took on numerous roles in four different industries and spent nearly 14 years at MBNA/Bank of America in areas such as HR, insurance service, customer satisfaction and learning/leadership development. After a decade with Independence Blue Cross and then moving on to Prudential Financial, she most recently joined Subaru of America in 2020 as the vice president of the customer advocacy department.

“The insights I gained working in credit cards, health insurance, securities and investments – and now the automotive sector – helped me learn how to build organizations centered around the customer experience,” she says. “It’s my hope that by sharing my story and lessons learned [at the conference], someone will hear it, take it to heart and recognize what’s possible for themselves.” One crucial point that she hopes conference attendees take away is the importance of having confidence in one’s abilities. 

Imposter Syndrome

“Imposter syndrome is a challenge for women who are feeling self-doubt and inadequacy even though they are highly competent and successful,” says Deborah Visconi, president and CEO of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, the largest hospital in New Jersey and the fourth largest publicly owned hospital in the country. “Women often struggle with confidence issues, which can lead to a fear of failure that may inhibit them from taking risks or pursuing goals … and, inevitably, this leads to some women not reaching their full potential.”

Visconi started her career as a phlebotomist, moving through the laboratory ranks to become a medical laboratory technologist. Wanting to do more to serve the industry and the community, she pursued her master’s degree in health administration and went into hospital administration with a focus on clinical programs, business and service line development. 

She espouses the value of mentorship when it comes to women pursuing their careers: “Mentoring is as unique as each individual, and understanding people’s growth potential and aspirations gives me and my leadership team the ability to nurture and provide guidance, teach and support individuals in a kind and genuine manner.”

That’s precisely why events like the WBLF exist, to provide such valuable opportunities for women to network and form relationships. “Relationships are key in life and events like this one, beyond the learning opportunities they provide, create an environment that helps connect people,” Visconi adds.

Work/Life Balance

Many women in business also face external pressures, such as juggling motherhood with their professional responsibilities in the workplace. “When it comes to work/life balance, there will always be challenges. … I work with a mindset that with some creativity and perhaps some sacrifice, you can overcome them,” Rhem says. “At one point in my career, I knew that I could not be the mom who attended all of my kids’ athletic events, but I did make a commitment to show up for at least the first one of each season. Learning how to accept the tradeoffs for excelling at work is necessary at certain points in your career.”

On top of that, women are still often underrepresented in leadership positions, which can lead to feelings of isolation and make it harder to advance, Visconi notes. “Women often feel pressure to excel in all areas of their lives, leading to burnout,” she adds. “They may also struggle with being assertive and advocating for themselves in the workplace, which can hinder their ability to advance in their careers.”

Cathey Haigh, CFO for Hussmann Corporation, a Panasonic company, also encourages women to take the initiative to pursue opportunities that might be outside of their comfort zone. That often requires developing a thicker skin and not downplaying your abilities just because you’re a woman, she says.

“We shouldn’t focus so much on the idea that ‘I’m a woman, so nobody will think I can do this’… just move forward as if you don’t notice the difference,” she says. “When you keep an open mind and remain open to opportunities that maybe weren’t originally part of the career path you envisioned, those are often the opportunities that will push you outside of your comfort zone and open the right doors.”

“I believe in never shying away from making a change or doing something you haven’t done before. I never saw change as a risk so much as finding a way to differentiate myself and gain a unique perspective,” Rhem agrees.

In her current role, Haigh fosters analytics-based strategic planning across Hussmann’s leadership team to drive corporate growth and instill profit and loss accountability. She champions her finance and accounting organization to build cross-functional partnerships across operational business segments and corporate functions to drive process transformation and productivity improvements that optimize corporate health.

She says that ensuring the right people are in the right roles is something that she does within her organization to help quell the struggles that female employees may face when trying to “do it all.” 

“I always focus on my team and ensure that everyone is held accountable for what they need to do, because that creates a better work/life balance for everyone,” she says. “We all have this group of tasks we think are so important and that we have to do ourselves, but you’re not doing anyone any favors by trying to take on too much and do everything on your own … in fact, you may be depriving someone else of a learning experience and opportunity to develop new skills.”

Haigh began her career in public accounting before moving to Hussmann/Ingersoll Rand; she has been with the company for more than two decades and serves as only the second female CFO in Huffman’s history – despite the fact that the company has been in business for more than 100 years. 

“To say that I’m in a very male dominated industry is probably putting it lightly,” she says. “But because I’ve been fortunate enough to work for mostly men, I’ve been able to learn how to handle myself in certain situations – and I’ve discovered that if you carry yourself as part of the team, then your colleagues will treat you as part of the team.”

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

Related Articles: