MY CAREER IN SIX SPOTLIGHT

AMANDA DE VOGEL

 Director Business Development

Scotiabank

Sharing her career journey by answering the six questions below.

Who or what has been your biggest source of inspiration throughout your career?

 My dad. His career path was quite different from mine (he was a Toronto police officer for 30 years and served in the military), but his advice and feedback were very applicable. My dad was never focused on upward promotion, and instead moved around to different units throughout his career: he was a detective, a sniper for the emergency task force, and a teacher at the police college. He taught me that careers are long and that you need to keep yourself interested and challenged. Discipline and hard work are always important. People and relationships matter and you need to be true to yourself.

Would you say your success is primarily due to luck or hard work?

 Hard work has been the key to my success to date, but there’s been some luck at play as well. The key is, when you get a stroke of luck, you have to work hard to continue building on it.

What is the driving force behind your career aspirations?

This might be a bit unconventional, but I would say my lifestyle vision has been the driving force in my career. I am a person who works to live, and early on in my career, I started a vision board for myself that captures what I want my life to look like. My vision board includes the kind of person I want to be, the challenges I want to tackle, and the experiences I am looking to cultivate. I regularly review that vision board and take stock of where I am and what I want to tackle next, which continues to be a driving force in my career path.

If given the chance to do one thing differently in your career, what would it be and why?

There are two things. First, I would have moved around more in the early part of my career. I was more focused on moving up. Looking back, this part of my career was the time I should have moved laterally and broadened my work experience. Second, I would have been more deliberate in maintaining some of the professional relationships I built early on. The fact is people are busy and relationships take work – personal and professional ones. Life happens and we lose touch with people over time. I’ve had a couple of mentors who were formative for me early in my career who I have lost touch with, and now, mid-career, I am working to rebuild those relationships and realizing what I missed.

What was your most favourite job/role and why?

The first Director role I had at Scotiabank working in Customer Experience. I get really motivated by making an impact on the client, mapping experiences end to end, and working to improve them. Small changes can have big impacts! I was also doing this with a team I loved and with colleagues who were great people who brought unique skill sets together to make change happen. I was working for a truly visionary leader who was  tough and a real driving force, but I became really excited about her vision, and I learned a lot.

Do you have a favourite motto or quote that guides your professional life?

This may be another unconventional answer: ‘fake it till you make it’. For me, if you are not at least a little uncomfortable at work, you are not growing. A move is a good one if it makes you feel a little ill that you might not have what it takes. It is those feelings that push you to work harder, study more and usually come with a bit of faking it while you figure it out.