Moderator, Telva McGruder, continued the conversation on how to take obstacles and turn them into opportunities to grow. The session included how to overcome obstacles and fears and bridge the gap between the two.

Panelist Lt. Jaleesa Harrigan is a nuclear-trained Surface Warfare Officer (SWO-N) in the United States Navy. She began with an anecdote about Olympic gymnast, Simone Biles and talked about the criticism Biles faced withdrawing from the Olympics due to her mental health.

“I’m not sure about you, but the word vulnerability screams being uncomfortable. That means you’re going to have to discover your boundaries and determine what you’re willing to share,” Harrigan said. “Remember, you don’t have to share every part of your life but be prepared to break down some walls because minimizing the hidden area improves your interpersonal relationships in both your personal and work lives.

Abir Sassi is a Tunisian textile Engineer and Founder of Abir Sustainable Advisory, a start-up consulting company for sustainability and quality. She discussed overcoming fear when facing new obstacles.

“By facing your fear, you can transform and change into your highest potential and become a version of yourself that you are meant to be meaning to become stronger,” Sassi said.

Sassi said that fear is a human emotion which is hard to overcome but turning obstacles into opportunities is the key to succeeding under pressure. She emphasized the importance of being comfortable being uncomfortable, meaning that looking at fears as opportunities will allow you to grow your skills and experience.

When facing fears, acting too quickly may actually be holding you back, according to Sassi.

“This isn’t to say action is bad, but this moment of reflection is much more important and can have a great effect on overcoming fear in the future in a way that is productive, deliberate and effective,” Sassi continued.

Sassi said there are ten steps to overcoming fear: Identify fear, recognize that fear can work to your advantage, create goals that are a must, accept that failure is an inevitable part of success, eliminate the excuses, surround yourself with success, adopt a growth mindset, find valuable insight in pain, and visualize your goals.

Jennifer Giannoulis is the Technology Business Services Executive at Wells Fargo. She has been with the company for 18 years. She has held several leadership roles across Wealth & Investment Management Technology and currently is the Chief Operating Officer, leading the Business Services organization.

Giannoulis discussed bridging the gap between you and your obstacles. She said it is important to know what tools are in your toolkit, leverage growth models and online tests to further understand yourself, be specific and realistic, and make the right choice for yourself.

“Many times, we overthink and overcomplicate,” Giannoulis said. “I really would suggest you thinking through the problem, and really narrowing it down to what is within your control and what can you solve? You are not going to be able to solve everything so be realistic.”

McGruder closed the conversation by saying that creating opportunities from obstacles takes practice.

“In the end, what you’re going to do is apply those skills and apply those tools and act in order to actually move the team in the direction that you need to go,” McGruder said. “You’ll see along the way that things will reveal themselves and so you want to capitalize on those opportunities.”