Amy Waninger is the Founder & CEO of Lead at Any Level, where she helps organizations transform their STEM professionals from reclusive nerds into inclusive leaders. Amy offers assessments, advisory services, and training on essential skills for inclusive leaders. She is the author of eight books, including Network Beyond Bias: Making Diversity a Competitive Advantage for Your Career. Amy spent twelve years working in the insurance industry, where she achieved the CPCU designation in 2016 and the Certified Insurance Data Manager (CIDM) designation in 2018. She also holds associate designations in Management, Claims, Insurance Data Analytics, Information Technology, and General Insurance. On this episode of In The Know, Chris Hampshire and Amy discuss building a business, learning how to sell yourself, and strategies that can help anyone overcome external and internal barriers.

Key Takeaways

• Amy's journey from small-town Indiana to CEO.

• Getting to the jumping point and then making the jump.

• Amy's decision to leave her job and build a business.

• Learning how to sell yourself is a continual process.

• How to get started on the process of writing a book.

• Panic can be reframed as fuel.

• Strategies for facing internal and external barriers.

• Amy's far-reaching advice to her early career self.

In the Know podcast theme music written and performed by James Jones, CPCU, and Kole Shuda of the band If-Then.

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Quotes

• "We spend a lot of time in the industry talking about barriers to inclusion. What if we spend some time talking about solutions?"

• "Enjoying the process, in addition to the results, is key."

• "If you want to do something so badly that you are willing to be bad at it, and get better, then you know you're doing the right thing."

• "I am still surprised by the depth and breadth of the impact that I've had. I had no idea global impact was even possible."