In Japanese, Rakuten stands for optimism and that is also the perfect word to describe their General Manager for Canada, Jennifer LaForge.\u00a0 LaForge has a strong digital background.\u00a0 She worked in the online travel space for ten years before joining Ebates, which was eventually bought out by Rakuten, in 2012.\u00a0 Never one to shy away from a challenge, she was thrust into different roles almost annually.\u00a0 While on maternity leave from her role as Director of Operations and Product, her own GM was promoted to COO of Rakuten Americas and asked her if she wanted to take over her role in 2018.<\/p>\n
We spoke with LaForge in April in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0 A big topic of our conversation was about the differences in people\u2019s experiences. Some have been busier than ever before, \u00a0while for others, it has felt like one long day.\u00a0 As a leader, she is trying to understand the differences in these experiences and help bridge them together. \u00a0While listening to her talk about her own career path and success, I was reminded of a quote from \u201cThe Last Lecture\u201d by Carnegie-Mellon professor Randy Pausch.\u00a0 He said, \u201cLuck is where preparation meets opportunity.\u201d\u00a0 Looking at Jennifer LaForge\u2019s career path, truer words have never been spoken. \u00a0She is refreshingly humble and candid.\u00a0 She is also this week\u2019s subject for #WomenInspiringWomen<\/a>.<\/p>\n What is surprising to a lot of people is that I have a diploma in computer programming.\u00a0 I started this career thinking that I was going to be a web developer, that I was going to code. I have not really coded a day in my life.\u00a0 After getting my diploma, I decided that I don\u2019t want to do this, I\u2019m not a coder \u2013 I\u2019m far too social.\u00a0 My first job was at Fairmont Hotels and Resorts on their acquisition and development team and I created an internal website and database and began organizing and digitizing all of their files into a database for the team to be able to access.\u00a0 That digital programming experience led me into travel and to a sales role at Expedia.<\/p>\n I started my career with an education that I wasn\u2019t using, but it got me in the door.\u00a0 Then it was 10-12 years of understanding that there is a ladder, really working my butt off and being scared most of the tie.\u00a0 It was taking on challenges and being courageous. It was hiding and managing imposter syndrome and saying nobody else knows that I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 As long as you can prove it and learn it, you are going to be okay.\u00a0 It was a lot of hard work, a little bit of luck and having the right people as my advocates to support and challenge me.<\/p>\n Reflecting back on this, I couldn\u2019t have got anywhere without courage.\u00a0 I think there is a fine line between confidence and courage and a lot of people thought that I was very confident person, but a lot of the times I wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 I was just really courageous, and that\u2019s how I got there.\u00a0 I supported people, I learned from people, I made a ton of mistakes but I didn\u2019t let that hold me back, it propelled me forward.\u00a0 It was a combination of things aligning, but they didn\u2019t align on their own.\u00a0 There was also a methodical part to this by accepting opportunities but also positioning myself for those opportunities with that courage.\u00a0 In my 20\u2019s I had a mantra, and when I went for interviews or had a new project thrown at me, I always said that I am young enough to fail.\u00a0 What I took from that is that if I fall down completely, I\u2019m 27 years old and that is not how my story is going to be told.\u00a0 That\u2019s changed now that I am older and have a family.\u00a0 To get to this point, I had to think, I might not make it, I might fail, I might screw up and look stupid, but it was better to me than doing nothing or feeling safe.<\/p>\n What\u2019s most relevant, especially moving into this role, was being more humble and thankful for the experience of those failures and disappointments.\u00a0 It\u2019s also gratitude for all of the people that I have worked with throughout my career, whether it was good, bad or really ugly.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had awful working relationships and awful bosses.\u00a0 At the time, you think that life is throwing you this unfair, awful period of time and you won\u2019t take anything away from it.\u00a0 That\u2019s where you learn and grow the most. I had to think that I\u2019m glad you are teaching me where my weaknesses are and how I can be better to get through it.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad you are opening my eyes.\u00a0 That\u2019s been my biggest takeaway and helped me to fall more gracefully.\u00a0 It also taught me to be kinder to myself and others. It\u2019s realizing that we are all human and that you need to trust yourself and others perhaps more than you would like to.<\/p>\n I think that communication has to be consistent, it has to be clear and very genuine.\u00a0 Nobody wants to hear that everything is roses when you know that it\u2019s not.\u00a0 I make sure that I communicate at all levels whether it\u2019s with the entire team and being very frank, open and honest about how things are going, where the challenges are and what we need to do.\u00a0 I\u2019m also having meetings with individual teams to see what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not.\u00a0 This is without their managers so that they have an open forum.\u00a0 It\u2019s about giving them the opportunity to express what they need.\u00a0 On an individual level, I have a list of people and every day, I am checking in with a dozen of them.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about how that project is going; it\u2019s about how they are doing.\u00a0 It\u2019s about knowing who they are, the situation that they are in and the disparity of experiences.\u00a0 It\u2019s letting them know that I care about them and understand what they are going through.\u00a0 A lot of my time is being spent at all levels of communication.\u00a0 What I found is key during this unusual, emotional time is being vulnerable.<\/p>\n We had a team meeting and traditionally we are going through our numbers, presentations and doing learning sessions.\u00a0 They always start with silence \u2013 no one wants to say anything.\u00a0 As a leader, I felt that it was my responsibility to say, \u201cGuys, I\u2019m having a hard time, this is what I am feeling, this is a really hard point for me and this is where it got better.\u201d\u00a0 By leading the conversation and letting people know that I\u2019m not doing so great all the time, everybody started opening up.\u00a0 It is difficult to communicate feelings and emotions, particularly with your team when not everyone has the same relationships. So, we developed a way to communicate without using emotion.\u00a0 It\u2019s saying, \u201cHey guys, I\u2019m at a 20% today. \u201c or \u201cI\u2019m at an 80% today, how can I help you?\u201d The team really adapted well to that and are now telling each other when they need help.\u00a0 It\u2019s a way of letting people share but also finding a safer way to share without a personal and emotional dialogue. When leaders don\u2019t have vulnerability, it leaves you thinking that you cannot share, that you have to struggle alone and start to self-doubt and self-question.<\/p>\n One thing that really resonated with the team was when I said that you need to know that you are enough and that you are doing enough.\u00a0 I know that everyone is concerned about feeling like they are productive, feeling like they are contributing and feeling like they have things under control.\u00a0 No one does.\u00a0 When I said that, there was a collective sigh with everyone, including the men, which is important because they need that outlet too.\u00a0 As a female leader in a situation, men may not have the emotional skills here that they may have controlling a boardroom.\u00a0 This is where women have to step up.\u00a0 For women in leadership, this is our time to shine and show why we are important. This is why we bring value and this is how we manage situations like this.<\/p>\n I have no role or place in a Lean In Circle.\u00a0 The reason is that I am a leader and people are different when there is someone in a leadership role present.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t create the same atmosphere, so I purposely do not join in and I let the team experience this without me.\u00a0 What this does for them is it gives them a safe environment to be unabashedly, unashamed of their ambition and open to expressing how they feel amongst their peers.<\/p>\n They can talk about leadership and what they like or don\u2019t like without fear of that reprimand.\u00a0 That\u2019s given them so much confidence.\u00a0 You see them stepping up more.\u00a0 You see when they have to give presentations \u2013 there is not that shakiness, and their thoughts are more organized.\u00a0 They become bolder.\u00a0 The best part of the Lean In Circles is allowing people to become their true selves as a woman without reprimand or apologies.<\/p>\n This is not the first time that I have had a mentorship.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been blessed with people, both male and female, who have mentored me.\u00a0 One mentor taught me formal etiquette like how to eat at a formal dinner. I come from a small town and my family were farmers.\u00a0 Having someone to take me aside and say you licked your butter knife at a formal event was important.\u00a0 My style developed from that, and a lot of the time, it\u2019s informal and situational.<\/p>\n With the CEO Global, this is the most structured mentoring opportunity that I have ever had.\u00a0 The reason I joined it was because at the top where I am now, it\u2019s very lonely.\u00a0 I was new in this role as General Manager and I was acutely aware of just how much I had to learn.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t do it on my own and I couldn\u2019t rely on my leadership team to do it for me.\u00a0 I was at a level where I should be able to find additional resources to help me grow \u2013 that\u2019s my responsibility.\u00a0 There are a lot of men in the CEO Global Circle.\u00a0 There is also Elevate which is exclusively for women\u2019s networking, but I wanted to sit at the table with men.\u00a0 It\u2019s given me a very structured opportunity to lean on experienced people who have a very different perspective than my own.\u00a0 Oftentimes, it\u2019s with men who help me remove the emotion from the situation, which I need to work on, and helping me figure out what I want to say a lot of the time.<\/p>\n We are holding out for a really exciting ride and it will be our time to shine.\u00a0 The majority of retail sales are still coming out of brick and mortar stores.\u00a0 There is a disparity in how retailers think of online shopping.\u00a0 There are still some who don\u2019t play in that arena at all and there are some who consider digital their bread and butter.\u00a0 Now, with the millennial generation and smaller companies coming out, we are seeing that they are completely online.\u00a0 I think what\u2019s going to come out of this is that you are going to see much more importance come to the digital world across all retailers.\u00a0 They are going to have to place more importance there.\u00a0 You are going to see more sales coming from the digital side and away from brick and mortar.<\/p>\n I also think that we are being forced to diversify our online shopping experience.\u00a0 For example, there are people that call themselves online shoppers, but they only shop on Amazon.\u00a0 Now, we are being forced to shop at different places because there is an out of stock or you can\u2019t get delivery so you are forced to go to a different retailer.\u00a0 As consumers, we will diversify which is beneficial to all retailers. I have been fascinated by online grocery delivery. \u00a0They are in the very early part of their digital journey and they are going to have a hay day.\u00a0 We will enjoy the convenience and there will be big growth in this category.<\/p>\n My female inspirations are Helen Keller and Anne Frank.\u00a0 They always have been. I\u2019ve got their books from when I was a little girl. They are taped together and falling apart.\u00a0 They have been my foundation of inspiration. Obviously, Adrienne Down Coulson, the former GM of Ebates and the COO of Rakuten<\/a> America has been a great source of inspiration.\u00a0 The respect that I have for her is limitless.<\/p>\n I find inspiration from every single woman that I work with whether they are just coming in the door and I see that hunger, ambition, the bravery, mistakes and the reactions of people who are at the top with me and growing.\u00a0 I find that inspiration from everyone because everybody has something that will inspire you.\u00a0 No one should be held on a pedestal.<\/p>\n Success used to be very personal.\u00a0 It was about what is my title, how fast I moved up, what do I know now and what have I learned.\u00a0 The common denominator is \u201cI\u201d and \u201cme\u201d.\u00a0 Now my success has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the people that I am leading. \u00a0Are the people under me thriving?\u00a0 Are they growing?\u00a0 Are they developing? If they aren\u2019t, then I\u2019m not successful.\u00a0 That is the shift \u2013 it\u2019s not about me anymore.\u00a0 My success will come naturally, if the people that I have been given the responsibility of leading are successful.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine thinking the way I used to anymore.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Women are not always considered for leadership roles at tech companies, and yet you are the GM for Rakuten.ca.\u00a0 What steps did you take to get your seat at the table?<\/h3>\n
Everyone who has made it to senior leadership roles has had to deal with some disappointments and failures along the way.\u00a0 What have you learned from your own?<\/h3>\n
We are living in unusual times with the pandemic.\u00a0 How do you keep your team motivated in this new world?<\/h3>\n
Rakuten, as a company started using Lean In Circles.\u00a0 What has this meant to your office which is 60% female?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
You are being mentored through the CEO Circle.\u00a0 At a senior level, why did you pursue this mentorship opportunity?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
You are known as a change-maker in the world of online retail.\u00a0 Online retail is more important to business now than ever before.\u00a0 Without having a crystal ball, what changes do you see coming our way once life normalizes in terms of the user experience?<\/h3>\n
Women who can break the glass ceiling and get those senior leadership roles are inspiring.\u00a0 Who inspires you?<\/h3>\n
What does success look like now versus when you first started out in your career?<\/h3>\n