Three Valuable Career Lessons Inspired by Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones

By Lindsey Plewa-Schottland, Associate Director, 

Graduate Career Management Center

Last night I caught up on episode 4 of season 6 of Game of Thrones and I can’t get that last scene out of my head.  It also doesn’t help that every one of my social media feeds is overflowing with comments about the episode and interviews with Emilia Clarke, the actress that plays Daenerys Targaryen.  So with all the reading I’ve been doing about this character, I started to connect some of the things I’ve learned to my everyday work as a Career Coach.  Here are three valuable career lessons inspired by the Mother of Dragons.

She has trusted advisors. 

Tyrion Lannister, Jorah Mormont and Grey Worm, are just a few of the people in her inner circle.  She selects loyal people that she trusts to give her advice when she needs to make tough decisions.  Whether making a career change or negotiating for a higher salary or new title, think of who you want to be in your circle of trusted advisors.  Just as commanding an army and overseeing dragons is a tall order for Daenerys at times, the changes that come with our career can be challenging.  Having another point of view to help you sort through difficult decisions can make a huge difference for your career in the long-run.

 She promotes her brand wherever, whenever. 

“I am Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen. Daenerys Targaryen: The First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khalisee of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons.” (You would think after six seasons I would’ve had this memorized by now, but I had to look it up.)  There are two parts to this lesson.  The first is knowing your personal brand; what are the character traits and skills that you are known for by colleagues?  What is unique about the way you do what you do?  Once you’ve identified these traits and skills, promote them through various channels: your email signature, your social media profiles, on your business card, when being introduced.

She trusts her instincts and doesn’t give up. 

Whether negotiating and ultimately securing 8,000 unsullied soldiers in season 3, or confronting a large group of Dothraki leaders in season 6, Daenerys always exudes a quiet confidence despite some major setbacks along the way. Searching for a job or navigating the next chapter of your career is hard, and sometimes scary as we often don’t know where a path will lead.  The main thing we can do is trust our instincts, follow leads, be open to conversations with new people, attend industry events we find intriguing.  By taking these small steps each day we can eventually end up where we want to be; we just have to start somewhere. 

Lindsey Plewa-Schottland
Associate Director, Graduate Career Management Center

Lindsey Plewa-Schottland has coached thousands of students on how to successfully navigate a job search for over a decade. She is currently the Associate Director of Career Advising at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College where she ensures that MBA and MS students' needs are met through effective coaching sessions and innovative programs.  She holds an MA and two professional certificates, one in Adult Career Planning and one in Leadership Skills, from NYU.

FULLBEAUTY Brands Site Visit

By Aakanksha

(MS Digital Marketing ‘17)

It all started on the breezy morning of April 8, 2016, when a few MBA and MS students had the opportunity to get an inside peek into FULLBEAUTY Brands. We were not only warmly received by the company’s team, from the directors to VP of HR, Baruch alums, Rabail Chowdry (HR Generalist), Alice Yang (HR Coordinator) and Ana Coronell (Marketing Manager), but we had the opportunity to learn from the insights they shared with us.

Being a first year Digital Marketing student, my takeaways from the company visit were many, but a few that I related to most were:

• Samantha Ayala, Director, E-Commerce of Women Within, talked about how the company competes for its customers digitally. She took the conversation to another level by discussing how people coming from varied backgrounds have done well in the company. The company functions with many sub-brands under its umbrella, but still maintains cohesiveness in communicating its message and reaching customers. The unified effort of staff across the distinct brands is one of the strongest reasons that keeps them positioned as number one among the other players in the market. Specifically, she underlined the indispensable role of the marketing team in their work to identify trends, needs and different segments of its customer base.

• Besides being a Baruch alumna, Ana was an inspiration in terms of her story of joining the company as an Analyst and then making her way up to Marketing Manager. She spoke about how important it was for the company to rely on data and number crunching. They need to really know their customers and what they do, and that can’t happen without using analytical tools. Anyone with a proclivity towards collecting, analyzing and making sense of data would be very welcome at the company. Coming from a market research and non-fashion background, I was happy to hear that.

• Bob Biel, VP - Talent and Employee Engagement, Rabail and Alice shed light on how important networking is to be successful at any company. They emphasized to us that staying in touch with people we meet was important to be top of mind when a company has an internship or full-time opportunity open. It’s easier to select someone you have met and are in touch with than having to go through a long procedure of looking for a candidate from scratch. This way, a company can be relatively sure about the experience and background of a candidate, which saves time.

After the knowledge sharing and Q&A sessions, we had the opportunity to tour the office and see where the actual work takes place. Rabail and Alice showed us where the various teams worked, as well as the layout of the company’s new office space. Apart from the brilliant workflow, the river view from the office was amazing. The floors had all of the teams working under one roof and it was very organized. The colors, designs, apparels, shoes and accessories were in sight, and it made the company look even more exquisite as a fashion apparel firm.

Considering this was my first site visit to a US firm, it was a learning experience and FULLBEAUTY Brands made it even more special. Thanks to the entire team of FULLBEAUTY Brands and the Zicklin Graduate Career Management Center who made this event possible and so enriching for me!