#10 Tricia Smylie

Meet Tricia Smylie, Director of Human Resources at Live! Casino & Hotel.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?

Being a working wife and mother of 3, there is one lesson that guides my daily thoughts and actions: There is no such thing as balance, so stop trying to divide your time up perfectly among all of the various people and causes that need you. Instead, align your time and energy on the tasks that matter most at that moment. This could mean that one week, your family gets 90% of you. The next week, your work requires more, and you have to stay late at the office a few nights. Let go of the idea of perfect balance. Embrace alignment.

Let go of the idea of perfect balance. Embrace alignment.

What’s the best piece of career advice ever given to you?

I have been extremely lucky to have many incredible mentors throughout my career, so I’ve received a lot of great advice that has made me the person I am today. However, one moment shines above the rest. Years ago, I was asked by our General Manager (and someone I greatly admire) to fill in on Fox29 Good Day Philadelphia for two quick 15 second segments. I had less than 24 hours to prepare and I was most definitely not experienced talking on live TV – so you can imagine how nervous I was. After reluctantly accepting, I tried to play it cool and I asked our GM, “Is there a script? How do I know what questions they’re going to ask?” Her answer was not only applicable to that moment but applies to most situations in business. She looked me right in the eye and said, “Tricia, it doesn’t matter what they ask you. You already know what you want to communicate, so get out there, put on a big smile and go tell them what you want them to know.”

In moments of self-doubt, how do you build yourself back up?

The truth is, I doubt myself often, maybe daily. Probably hourly. As leader, an HR professional, a wife, a mother, a friend, a runner, a softball coach... pretty much anything I do in life, I question whether I am making the right choices. I don’t see it as a weakness – it is my strength. I am very much in tune with how situations make me feel and how other people perceive me. If I sense a negative vibe (whether it is internal or external), I first accept it. Then, I let myself work through it by focusing on the part of the situation that I could control and how I could have adjusted for a better outcome. I learn. Finally (and most importantly), I move on.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?

Being in Human Resources, I have made many job offers to all levels – hourly team members and middle management, and right up to executive leadership. Companies typically have a range they’re willing to pay and they make a salary offer somewhere between the low end through the middle of the range. After hundreds of times initiating offers, I can tell you the one lesson I have taken away: women don’t negotiate. I often sit on the other end of the phone trying to send telepathic messages to the other side begging her to negotiate with me. SHE never does. HE always does. I have made a vow to myself to ALWAYS negotiate (and I hope every woman reading this does the same). Ask for more. The worst they can say is no. The best you can do is help narrow that pay gap.

After hundreds of times initiating offers, I can tell you the one lesson I have taken away: women don’t negotiate. I often sit on the other end of the phone trying to send telepathic messages to the other side begging her to negotiate with me.

Do you have a quote, a song or a person that inspires you?

Since I was young, I have been drawn to a Maya Angelou quote. I had it hanging in my teenage room for years and I often repeat it when I find myself at a roadblock or stuck in a valley. It always gives me the surge of inspiration that clears the path to help me move forward. “Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.”

When I repeat this to myself, even at the worst of times, it immediately creates a blank canvas in my mind. It forces me to ask myself what I would do if I could start from scratch. What if there were no rules, no boxes, and no paved roads? It refocuses my thoughts on the most creative and compassionate way to get to the goal.