Release:
November 2, 2022

Women of NATE Today Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 11

I sometimes get the question: Do you feel successful? Before I answer the question, my mind starts thinking: What exactly is success? The meaning and measure of success for each person varies based on each person’s beliefs. Your answer may be different than mine. Success for a businessperson will be dissimilar to success for a blue-collar worker. Possessing a home, a nice car, decent bank balance as well as being able to pay for your kids to attend college may be success measures for many families. Passing with all “A’s” and getting admission to a renowned Ivy League University may define success for a student.  

Speaking for myself, when you are an immigrant coming from another country where you may be middle class and privileged in many ways, you lose that status after moving to the U.S. I started over from nothing and even joined the “English as Second Language” class in my very first semester. It was always challenging to stay legal while upholding immigrant student status. There was a sensation of being locked in; you can’t move, you can’t breathe or otherwise, you will fall out of legal status. At that time of my life, success was getting high grades in every class to maintain my scholarship and student status. On top of that, there were challenges to pay tuition, learn to drive as well as be able to own a vehicle -- and teach others to pronounce my foreign name correctly.

If we look at a dictionary to discover the definition of success, we will typically get four different definitions: 1) the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, 2) the attainment of fame, wealth, or social status, 3) a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains fame, wealth, etc., and 4) the outcome of an undertaking, specified as achieving or failing to achieve its aims. Basically, these definitions can be divided into two main categories: prosperity and achievement.

Being a woman engineer in a male-dominated industry, obtaining my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with very good grades, debt-free graduation, and progressing my career in well-paying jobs makes me feel successful. Coming from a minority group to a foreign country and achieving what I have makes me feel successful. Success is not just about hard work; it is about understanding our own beliefs and goals and then charting our own path to achieving them. Ask yourself: What does success mean to me?

WON Profile: Megan Reiffenberger

In 2019, only a few months before the pandemic hit, she moved back to South Dakota to be closer to family, where she took up a job as the Student Activities Coordinator at Lake Area Technical College. Now, she works as the Member Services Coordinator at NATE and is excited to get back to using her business degree.

Megan spends her free time reading and writing books, going for long runs with the members of the Watertown Area Run Club, and exploring the great outdoors with her boyfriend, Dan and her pup, Dobby.

Where will you find the Women of NATE?

Take Women of NATE with you!

Are you traveling for work or taking a leisure vacation?

Take a creative photo holding a Women of NATE (WON) logo in front of a landmark that lets us know where you are. 

(Above) Attendees of the WIN Regional Conference and Advanced Rigging Principles Course take a tour of the Newport Aquarium. The aquarium is located in Kentucky and has 16 unique exhibits to explore.

(Above) Women of NATE Committee member, Marianna Kramarikova displays her WON pin at the IEC General Meeting in San Francisco during the last week of October.

Upcoming Events

Recent Event Highlights

Women of NATE Announces 2023 Education Scholarship

Women of NATE (WON) is pleased to announce the 2023 WON Education Scholarship. The scholarship was designed to encourage and inspire more women to enter the tower and communications infrastructure construction, service, and maintenance industry or advance their current roles within the industry.

Women play a prominent role as leaders and visionaries in the advancement of wireless and broadcast communications. Through the establishment of the WON initiative, the Association is delighted to recognize the vital contributions of women in the diverse tower and communications infrastructure industry. Two scholarships valued at $1,000 each will be awarded to two different applicants.

Women of NATE Chairwoman Andy Page Lee of Lee Antenna & Line Service, Inc. stated, “Women of NATE is proud to offer women a platform to help further their educational goals. We are happy to support these future leaders as their contributions are critical to our industry’s continued success.”

“The circumstance that you are not yet where you want to be should be enough to drive you to achieve what you aspire. The WON Education Scholarship will assist women with their educational means to ultimately accomplish their goals,“ added Women of NATE Committee Member Jyoti Ojha of CommScope.

Application documents must be received in the NATE office by January 20, 2023. In addition to the one-page application form, applicants must provide an essay describing how the WON Education Scholarship will help them achieve their goals, a high school transcript, a letter of acceptance from the college or technical school the applicant will be or is attending, and a letter of nomination from a current NATE member company.

To find out more about the WON Education Scholarship, please visit http://natehome.com/women-of-nate/won-education-scholarship/. Award recipients will be announced on February 20, 2023, in conjunction with the annual NATE UNITE 2023 event in Orlando, Florida.

(Above) NATE's President & CEO Todd Schlekeway and Member Services Manager Jill Rethke meet with NATE Member companies during WISPAPALOOZA in Las Vegas, Nevada.

(Above) Leticia Latino van Splunteren of NEPTUNO USA, Corp., Jessica Cobb of MDTS, Neera Singh, and Todd Schlekeway of NATE attend the Wireless History Foundation Event in Washington, D.C.

(Above) NATE Member Companies NEPTUNO USA, Corp, Ontivity, MDTS, and ATC catch up at the Wireless History Foundation event in Washington, D.C.

A Respected MIT Professor Said Your Success Will Be Determined by 3 Things. Here's How to Get Better at Each of Them

The quality of your ideas is important. Even more important: being able to communicate those ideas effectively.

Before he died, beloved MIT professor Patrick Winston regularly gave a fascinating and deeply compelling lecture to university students about the value of good communication. In his introduction, he drew attention to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which calls for court martial for any officer who sends a soldier into battle without a weapon.

Winston says there ought to be a similar protection for students--and I might add that protection should be provided for entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, too. Namely, that no one should go through life without being armed with the ability to properly communicate.

Because, as Winston puts it:

"Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas, in that order."

The ability to speak.

The ability to write.

The quality of your ideas.

Winston, a brilliant professor who taught thousands of students and was himself a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, also knew the power of emotional intelligence. While he recognized the value of brilliant ideas, he placed even higher importance on the ability to communicate those ideas in an impactful manner.

Let's break down each of Winston's keys to success, along with how you can hone your abilities.

The ability to speak 

The best speakers know how to inform, persuade, and direct their listeners. They speak with confidence and conviction. In turn, they motivate their audience to take action. (Just imagine how less successful Apple may have been if Steve Jobs didn't know how to give an effective presentation).

So, how do you improve your ability to speak?

Here are three quick tips that can get you started:

1.       Ask: How much does my audience know?

If you know a lot about a subject, it's easy to talk over your audience's heads. In contrast, if your audience is well-informed, it's easy to bore them.

So, ask yourself: How much does my audience already know about my topic? If you can tailor what you say specifically to your listeners, you'll maximize your impact.

2.       Get excited.

No one will get passionate about what you have to say unless you're passionate about it, first.

So get to know your subject well. Clarify for yourself how it's helped you in your work or life, and what value it holds for others. Practice speaking about it out loud, to anyone who will listen. And if you're the type to get anxious when speaking to others, try to channel that nervous energy into enthusiasm.

3.       Slow down.

The problem with passion and enthusiasm is it causes you to speak faster. But again, you have to remember your audience: That means slowing down to a pace they can absorb. (If you watch Professor Winston's lecture, you'll see that he speaks at a very slow, very deliberate pace--yet the audience hangs on every word).

Deliberately practice slowing down when you speak. Record yourself in meetings or when presenting; then, listen to it later. If you find you're speaking too fast, try taking more pauses when you speak. For example, if you ask a rhetorical question, you can pause and count silently to three before continuing. Or, if you're asking a direct question, force yourself to wait until the person gives you an answer.

Finally, use phrases like "in other words" and "to put it simply" to repeat main points in a way that's easy to grasp.

The ability to write

Jeff Bezos runs executive meetings based on written, narrative-style memos that take several collaborators a week or more to write. Jason Fried, the founder, and CEO at Basecamp, says that they make all hiring decisions--from programmers and designers to marketers and receptionists--based on the applicant's writing ability.

Why?

Because clear writing indicates clear thinking.

The written word has special power. It can be done at one's own pace. It can be continually refined and improved. It influences and motivates. And as more and more work gravitates to remote, it becomes even more important to be able to communicate via writing in a concise, easy-to-understand manner.

So, how do you improve your writing skills? You have to write. 

Many experienced copywriters got started by transcribing writing from other great copywriters, as an exercise. This works because when you write, you can't help but slow down and think. Doing so helps you to internalize what you've written, while simultaneously increasing your own skill. In time, you create your own style while borrowing from the best practices of others.

You can do the same thing. Do you see a website or landing page that you really love? Transcribe it, word for word. Then, try doing it again--this time with your own product or service in mind, but using the same writing style. (You can do the same thing when trying to emulate any types of writing, from emails to reports).

Another tip: If you have a question you want to ask someone, write it down first. Think about the person you want to ask, and what questions they might have; then, incorporate the answers for these in your writing.

The quality of your ideas

The ability to generate high-quality ideas begins with consuming high quality ideas, first. Start by studying great thinkers and pondering their findings. Make connections between what they've discovered and what you've learned in your own life.

Next, focus on ideas that solve real-world problems. Rather than waiting for inspiration to strike, strike when the iron is hot: When you have a problem that you've just solved (or are trying to solve), write down your process, and your progress. Doing so will help you to build on previous foundations of thought and increase the quality of your ideas.

Now you need to set aside time for deep work. That means regular, dedicated time for creative thinking and brainstorming, as well as fleshing out those brainstorms. (Deep work also means you need to stop multitasking, so turn your notifications off and put your phone away). Focus on one task or idea at a time until it's complete, or until you've made significant progress.

Finally, don't underestimate the power of going for a walk, which can boost your brain's dopamine levels as well as your creative thinking abilities.

So, if you want to increase your chances at success, remember the advice of the late Patrick Winston: Don't go into battle without your weapon. Practice speaking, writing, and thinking, and use the process above to help you do so.

Because developing the ability to share your ideas effectively will benefit you in ways that are impossible to measure.

Article previously published on Inc.com on May 19, 2022. https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/emotional-intelligence-mit-patrick-winston-how-to-communicate-effectively-how-to-write.html