The 2022 Women Leaders In Technology: Joanne Taylor

Joanne offers a unique combination of hands-on strategic, operational, and sales and marketing skills to the businesses and clients she has worked with during her career. She specializes in overall strategic direction for businesses, focusing specifically on how to structure and drive greater profit and improve operating effectiveness through the use of IT and digital transformation as key levers. As a business leader, Joanne has experience in establishing digital transformation strategies and delivering results across multiple business segments while improving the customer experience and driving retention. Joanne's expertise in sales, operations, and technology gives clients unique insights into operational value both internally and client-facing.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

I feel the biggest factor in my success so far has been evolving my passion for learning, seeking, and connecting as I have grown in my career. Early in my career, I was a team player, persistent, and interested in gaining a broad base of experience to build expertise and elevate my career. As I matured and became wiser (read got older), while I remained driven to elevate my career and live my purpose, I used these traits to extend my focus and definition of success to include helping to build those around me. Throughout my life, I have been a person that others seek for advice and guidance. Helping others to achieve what matters most to them is something that I find to be extremely rewarding. A career in consulting is well suited to who I am at my core. While I am able to help others in their personal and professional pursuits, I learn from them and gain knowledge about how others experience life, relationships, and areas that I need to evolve my thinking. It is this expansion to focus on and to be accountable for the development of others while I pursue what is important to me that has made me a better leader, advisor, friend, mom and aunt.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

The best advice I have ever been given is to be open to everything and attached to nothing. It has been a lifelong evolution for me to understand the power and importance of this advice. Early in my career, I was open to just about any opportunity that came my way because I wanted to learn new things, gain knowledge and experience, and apply my learning, all with a passionate attachment to a position that I was striving toward. Reflecting on my journey, while I was open to gaining knowledge and experience, I was attached to an outcome that kept me from opportunities that could have accelerated my career and better aligned with my purpose. I believe goals and aspirations are valuable to help with general direction, but it is important to remain open and unattached to a path and destination so that you can recognize new, unimagined opportunities.

Following this advice takes practice, and some days I am excellent, and other days I stumble and have to remind myself that to live my purpose, I need to be open to paths that I haven't thought of and courageous enough to take them.

What does being honored as a Woman Leader in Technology mean to you?

I am blessed to have been afforded the opportunity to mentor many women and men throughout my career and to have been able to extend this into the nonprofit world. Today, I, directly and indirectly, mentor colleagues at AlixPartners and continue to mentor women I have worked with at other companies and clients. While others have hobbies outside of work, business is my hobby, and I help mentor women founders with their business plans and advise on accelerating their early-stage funding.

To me, this recognition validates that leaders who measure their success to include the development and elevation of others are valued. Additionally, it affirms that I am making a positive impact on others and remind me that I have a responsibility to continue giving back. It is through my engagement to mentor and learn from others that have proven to be key to my success and the growth of my career.