Leaning into the Uncomfortable: 5 Tips to Excel as a Young Female Leader in Packaging

By: Allison Wagner, Business Strategy Manager, Morrison Container Handling Solutions

It’s 6 a.m. on a Saturday and I’m sitting next to my dad as he drives me into Chicago’s Southside. As a business and shop operations manager, he rarely took a day off, let alone a Saturday, and he usually needed office help. So, for years, on many Saturdays, that was me.

“You need to learn that it’s not where people come from that matters, it’s how they are treated and how they treat you,” he would always remind me. “Be respectful. Ask questions. And remember, everyone coming into this shop today is paying to have something done they likely do not understand, but they deserve to, and we’ll explain it.”

I huffed, but he was right. Instances like those began to shape the professional I am today.

My story might be interesting, but it is not unique. As a woman, I never thought I would find myself in manufacturing or packaging. But we get to build things that never existed before, and who wouldn’t want to do that for the rest of their life?

We often discuss what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated industry in 2022, and how to continue to overcome challenges together. We have inherent strength in being listeners to leverage but have conditioned notions to correct along the way. As someone rather early in my career, here’s five simple things I try to remind myself daily, no matter who I’m interacting with, and they all come from what I learned on those Saturday mornings. I’m hopeful they can be of help to you too.

1. Take Up Space.

Women often subconsciously try to take up less space, make ourselves small. We do this without even thinking. When we let someone talk over us in a meeting; cross our legs and sit with our hands in our lap; decide to not say something of value in a group setting. All of these things make us small, and we have been conditioned to do it from a young age.

The best piece of advice I can give any woman in any industry is simply do not be afraid to take up space. Men have done it for generations, and it has allowed them to get where they are today.

If there are any “Ted Lasso” fans reading this, you’ll recall a scene where the female owner of the soccer team, Rebecca, is giving advice on how to command a room of all men where she owns – literally – a seat at the table. She goes into a bathroom, makes herself into a ball, then rises up to the tips of her toes, reaches for the sky and roars.

Find your roar. It starts by stopping prefacing thoughts with “I think” when you know. Follow that up with kindly reminding someone you weren’t done speaking yet. Take up space in the room, even if it is just to listen. And when you have an opinion, it’s valid. Speak up.

2. Fight Imposter Syndrome.

Do you sit in a room and doubt your abilities or feel like a fraud when stating an opinion? If you answered yes then you, like many of us, have imposter syndrome. You wouldn’t be where you are if you didn’t have a qualifier to be there. Now, this isn’t to say don’t come prepared with your research to back any thoughts you may have, but also, don’t hide behind imposter syndrome. Fight it actively. Just knowing it is there is helpful.

As women in the packaging and processing industry, we must use our voice to continue to grow and bring new solutions to the forefront. And as young women in this industry, we bring a unique value proposition, rooted in technology and a digital world. Leverage both!

3. Be the Person Who Listens.

People around you have things to say. Be the person they know will listen. I keep a candy bowl at my desk for one reason – it invites people throughout their day to stop by, grab a piece, and say what is on their mind. I protect these conversations fiercely, but it gives me insight into how my coworkers are feeling and perhaps where I can be a partner to them.

If you’re the person who listens, you’ll not only learn more and grow, but you’ll be a better coworker and a member of any team.

4.  Ask Questions.

You don’t know what you don’t know. That’s perfectly ok! Lean into and embrace what you don’t know.

No matter where you are in your career, it’s valuable to find that one person who knows more than you in another area and become allies. Find two. Find three! Ask each other things to support larger needs in your daily to-dos. Be vocal resources to one another so you can learn and grow. Then, you’ll be the person who can explain something to your customers that they deserve to know. Set up one-on-one meetings every couple of weeks with these allies so you can check in and learn from each other’s areas of the business. You’ll have a go-to person who is an expert, and you’ll make a friend. Most importantly, you’ll learn so much more.

5. Try New Things.

This might be one of the most important ones for anyone in the first 10 years of their work journey. Early on in your career is the perfect time to try your hand at anything and everything. Learn different facets of the business, not just your area of expertise.

Packaging is such a perfect industry to do this. It’s growing rapidly as are the needs of each business. Look around your organization and you’ll likely find a handful of roles that aren’t filled simply because they never had to exist before. Offer to take on some of those tasks – learn along the way!

When you do take these things on, find others in your network that perform similar roles and ask them how they do it. Lean into this advice, bring it back to your organization, and you just might find a new path you love.

I speak from experience. Restless, I decided to move to a different company. Later understanding I was just restless in marketing, Morrison offered me a special opportunity to come back and leverage my strength in strategy. In the end, I left packaging for six months to find out there is simply no other industry in the world that can offer this much opportunity as the packaging and processing industry does for young people. We are encouraged to make things better, and I’m convinced you won’t find that anywhere else.

This is an industry comfortable with the talent of young people and those willing to question the status quo. We get to be impact makers and be rewarded. For women right now, packaging is the perfect place to be.