“If we can find places where we share values, that gives us permission to show up as our authentic selves, and then it opens it up for our teams to do the same.” - Mary Piontkowski
Welcome to the Inspirational Leaders Series, a collection of short interviews with sharp, impactful leaders that I know and respect—because the business world needs more refreshing people like them.
Meet Mary Piontowski, VP and Head of Product Design at Cisco Meraki. I've been working with her team, including at an off-site, and have had the privilege of seeing what an amazing leader Mary is.
(Note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.)
I'm curious if there is an experience or two that shaped how you're leading today.
There are so many, and many of them are mistakes that have helped me move in a better or newly inspired direction.
A few jobs ago, I was doing a pretty decent job building a team that was going to have strategic impact, informing service design from the ground up. I was building relationships as I went, and I would gravitate toward certain relationships, because we shared a common approach. I had a lot of ideas about how design could shape the product strategy. I wanted to prove my value, and it was satisfying to keep moving. What I realized is that I had some blind spots.
There were some key people I was leaving behind. We had a different approach. But they were really critical people to have buy in on this journey. I talked to my boss, the CEO, and I was looking for a promotion. He could see the impact my team was having. But, upon 360 feedback, it became clear the folks I didn't bring along were going to hold me back; they didn't feel great about how their voice was left behind. I realized I had to slow down. I had to take the time to rebuild some bridges. I didn't get promoted in that role, but I was able to take that experience to my next job and my next job.
Relationships are really the core of everything we do: all of our successes, the quantity of them, and the quality of them. What I walked away with was: I need to be thoughtful about slowing down and bringing the right people along.
One of my favorite metaphors is Brené Brown's “jar of trust.” Even between us, Teresa, we have this jar of trust; it's filled with marbles. Everything we do is either adding to the jar or taking away. When we did our off site together, we filled the jar really full. And we probably took a few out when I rescheduled with you a few times. I've embraced this so deeply because relationships and trust are the core of our successes.
We both know influence is incredibly important for leadership. If you're going to enroll folks into a vision, you have to influence up, down, and across. What have you learned about influence?
Having a vision that folks can rally around is first, and wherever you go, your vision is going to be different. Just because you created a great vision at one company with one design org, you can't just plop it into another org. [It’s about] taking time to get to know people, bringing them along, listening, being curious about the space, and coming up with a vision that that organization is going to be excited about. That's going to be really important when it comes to influencing.
The second thing is hiring talented people. If we're showing results, we're going to start opening up that permission to do even more and ask for the next thing. The concept of sponsorship seems to be coming up a lot in various conversations right now. If you're out there doing great work, there are outcomes people can see. You're going to have people showcasing your work and singing your praises. So, hire a team who can deliver those outcomes.
The third one is relationships, where we started. I'm very intentional about stakeholder mapping, influence mapping: who should be engaged to make this work stronger [or] to get sign off for the budget? There are so many subtle things we can do when we're showing up with people, [like] a smile, that can aid you in influencing the outcomes you want to drive.
I have had the opportunity to witness how inspired and motivated your team is. A piece of that is how you are showing up as a leader. Do you have any secrets to share around enrolling and motivating them?
We have this engagement pulse survey we send out every quarter, connecting the dots between the work and the strategy. There are exciting things happening at Cisco right now. I want every person on my team to understand how what they're doing ladders up to that strategy. It can be easy to get stuck in the daily grind and forget how meaningful it is to produce something that is going to help make a bigger thing happen.
Secondly, I show up as my authentic self. Sometimes I'm a little long winded, sometimes you might strike a chord in conversation and I might start tearing up, [but] just being ourselves is so valuable. If we can find places where we share values, that gives us permission to show up as our authentic selves, and then it opens it up for our teams to do the same.
People show up every day cross functionally, and it's a huge reason why my team is motivated. It's not just because I'm doing all these things [as a] leader. It's what we're all doing. The values are so strong in their practice every day.
How do you manage your energy, so you can show up as the excellent leader you are?
I’m very intentional about it: how I'm showing up, where I'm drawing energy from, keeping tabs on the energy level. Carving out the time for the strategic work is critical. I do really great work at 5 am, and I’m a morning person. I need this deep thinking time [when] nobody’s going to bother me. That’s the first thing: how, when, and where I do my work.
The second one that’s really important is self care. It’s so important to talk about even though it seems really obvious. It’s critical to make sure we’re getting sleep, exercising, eating good food, and that there’s some fun aspects to our lives. All of this is really hard. Every week, there’s some calibration I need to do.
And then, who I spend time with. We can’t control everyone who we are working with, but we can identify individuals in the org (and in our personal lives) that we draw energy from.
I do a few intentional things. Every week I make sure I'm meeting someone new. I [also] scan for an opportunity to infuse my week with something that might be missing. There’s one person who I draw so much energy from—every time we talk we figure out something we can do that’s impactful in the org. There’s another person who, when we meet, is so calm and grounding. I leave with that every time, and I think he leaves with hope and energy.
Finding these connections that help me manage my energy. I just learned about Organization Relationship Systems Coaching, and it helped explain what’s going on. Every two people have a relationship that is a third identity. The deeper your relationship goes, that third identity can be so powerful in an organization. I think that’s what’s happening with these folks. We show up as a more balanced leadership team. There are new opportunities all throughout your org; hopefully it will help you find your energy.
