Life Isnt a Dress Rehearsal Lessons on Career Growth From a CIO

Life Isnt a Dress Rehearsal Lessons on Career Growth From a CIO Ten years ago, Brooke Forbes was on the brink of a major life change. After an eclectic career that had taken her across 14 companies and lines of business from sales and absatzwirtschaft to business development, operations, and software development Forbes and her family were preparing to move to Singapore, where shed be next in line for a role she considered a bucket-list opportunity. With little more than a week before the move set to take place, however, something happened that led Forbes to completely alter curse. She took an interview at Nearly a decade after going with her wohl and shifting career paths, Forbes now serves as Chief Information Officer and Head of Technology for Fidelity Investments Personal Investing division. Although she says she now can recognize that everything Ive done professionally has sort of culminated in this moment, earlier in her career, she never wouldve anticipated that shed choose to stay with the same organization for 10 years.What I had found previously is that if I wanted to change or grow, I had to change companies, she recalled. I think the really unique thing about Fidelity is that we have associates whove been here 20 to 30 years, which I didnt see in the other companies Ive worked for.The reason for that, Forbes added, is that its possible to have 10 or 15 different careers in a 10-year period here.One thing thats constant about Fidelity is change, and our ability to move and change with markets and opportunities in a way that creates an incredible amount of job opportunity, growth, and mobility for our associates. For me, I found that every six months, my portfolio was always changing, people were changing, and new initiatives were always coming up. It constantly feels fresh.Of course, a culture of continuous innovation is essential for an organization thats as focused on technology as Fidelity. When people ask Forbes if Fidelity is a financial servi ces company or a technology company, shes able to answer that, truly, its both.Before joining Fidelity, I had no idea how much innovation actually happens here, Forbes explained. In my role, Im overseeing about 2,000 of our associates worldwide who are helping support and transform the digital tech ecosystem every single day. We have an incredible team where their full-time focus all they do and all they work on is specifically the technology tools our associates use to be productive in any job role theyre in, whether theyre a frontline financial advisor sitting in our Investor Centers with customers, in our contact center, working as a software developer or as an executive.Technology touches all parts of life at Fidelity, whether its being used to support the careers of its global network of associates or to help customers actualize their financial planning goals. In the end, it all comes back to the companys unique position at the intersection of the human experience and the dig ital experience, Forbes says, which shes ultimately able to use in a way that empowers others.Life isnt a dress rehearsal, and financial planning is really critical for anything in life that we want to achieve, Forbes said. Money is a very emotional thing for all of us and certainly for our customers. The heritage this company has of helping others plan for their future I would tell you that almost every single associate here feels a direct affinity to that mission and that cause.Forbes herself certainly does, which is one of many reasons she looks forward to seeing how her career path and impact continues to evolve at Fidelity. Im incredibly excited about the work weve got ahead of us over the next couple years to digitize our business even further, she said. And I hope to be here another 10 years, if not 10 years after that.Considering a career move? Click here to learn more about opportunities at Fidelity--Fairygodboss is proud to partner with Fidelity. Find a job there today