By Pamela Dyar

As the new executive director of the Indiana Conference for Women, my efforts focus on helping women build careers, create companies and experience lives that are rewarding, healthy and fulfilling.

Although there are different ways to handle advancement in specific careers, there are general strategies to help you stand out and advance your career. Here are 10 ways to manage your career to propel you upward. 

1. Define goals that matter to you 

Establish goals relevant to the career path you’ve set for yourself and then work toward achieving them. If something you’re doing isn’t directly or indirectly contributing to the accomplishment of your short- or long-term goals, ask yourself why you’re spending your valuable time doing it. 

2. Stay organized

Lack of organization in one’s professional and personal life is a big reason why many employees can’t do what’s necessary to advance. Are you filling out your planner to make yourself feel good, then never looking at it again? Find meaningful organizational strategies that save you time instead of wasting it.  

3. Keep learning 

Don’t be satisfied with learning just enough to do your job well. When you feel like you’ve gotten the hang of your own responsibilities, learn more about what others around you, and even above you, do. This will leave you more prepared to move to a higher position. 

4. Seek feedback 

Employers would rather you admit that you don’t know something in an attempt to make yourself better at it, than have you pretend to know it, only to mess it up later. Don’t be afraid to ask people how you can improve. Be prepared for constructive feedback.  

5. Manage your time

Time spent is not equivalent to time well spent. If it took you four hours to finish something you could’ve done in one hour, you don’t deserve a pat on the back. Focus on the task at hand and accomplish it. Congratulate yourself for hard work, not for long work. 

6. Foster your network

Your network can take you far, if you cultivate it. Keeping in touch with people, even if it’s as simple as sending them a photo or article that reminds you of them, keeps you out of the parasitic relationship realm and safely lands you in the acquaintance realm. If you’re not putting collaborative effort, don’t expect effort from others.

7. Take care of yourself 

It may sound silly to think that keeping yourself healthy could have any impact on how quickly you reach your career goals. But getting sick all the time means taking days off, which also means getting less work done. Exercise regularly, eat healthy and get enough sleep to keep yourself running on all cylinders. 

8. Develop conflict management skills 

No matter where you work, you’ll experience conflict at some point — if you haven’t already. Learn to manage it effectively and to use it in a way that fuels innovation rather than stifles workplace relationships. Avoid grudges and try to start each day with a clean slate.

9. Ask for what you want 

Don’t be afraid to be open with your manager about where you see yourself in the future. Your manager can’t read your mind and may often not even know all you’ve accomplished. Maintain an open dialogue with him or her about what you bring to the table and how you’d like to develop yourself to get where you’d like to go. 

10. Trust your gut

If it feels wrong, it probably is. Whether it’s the “fit” of your job, a decision you made on a project or colleague behavior in the workplace, don’t be afraid to speak up or take action when something doesn’t agree with you. Facilitating change builds confidence and confidence inspires great work. 

No matter what your career goals are, have confidence in your ability to perform and show your boss and colleagues why you deserve to move ahead. Make yourself a clear choice for that promotion or that important assignment, and leadership will have no choice but to select you for the job. 

Join us during the ninth annual Indiana Conference for Women on Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Indiana Convention Center. Be inspired and empowered to advance your career while hearing from speakers including Rachael Ray, Miki and Radha Agrawal, Dr. Tererai Trent, Joy Bauer, Sheri Salata and more. For more information and tickets, visit IndianaConferenceForWomen.com.

Pamela Dyar is executive director of Indiana Conference for Women.

By Jeff Magginnis

Most small business owners want to focus their time and energy on growing their company, but it takes a team of advisors working together to really make a business successful. One of those includes a bank and applying for a loan can be intimidating and difficult. The Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 to assist banks making loans in certain situations where they might not otherwise. While the SBA cannot overcome a lack of repayment ability or a poor credit history, it can help many companies obtain the capital they need to be successful. Here are four scenarios that, if applicable to your business, could indicate an SBA loan is a viable option.

Lack of collateral

The most common scenario is lack of collateral to fully secure the loan. With so many service businesses these days and banks discounting the value of the collateral they obtain, many companies simply do not have enough collateral to meet the bank’s policy. A bank can use the SBA to obtain a guaranty on the loan to cover the collateral shortfall. For example, a consulting company may need capital to fulfill a contract but has no significant assets as they rely on human capital. By backing the loan with an SBA guaranty, the bank is able to make the loan. 

Start-ups and ownership changes 

Another scenario for a bank to use the SBA guaranty is for a start-up company or one that is changing ownership, such as a business acquisition. Typically, these scenarios are considered high-risk loans by the bank due to lack of history of cash flow or new ownership has not proven its ability to run the company yet. For example, here at First Financial Bank we were able to help an owner who recently purchased an overhead door company secure financing through an SBA loan. 

High-risk nature

Banks also avoid certain types of industries due to their high-risk nature. For example, restaurants are considered high-risk due to competition and low profit margins. This scenario is pretty common. In fact, we recently helped a gentleman purchase a franchised restaurant through an SBA product. The SBA helped cover three main issues: the type of industry, the change of ownership and the lack of collateral support. 

Term flexibility

An SBA loan often grants longer repayment terms than a bank could offer in many cases. Perhaps a client wants to complete leasehold improvements on a rented space for their business. Most banks will do a max of five years for the loan, but an SBA loan for this purpose could go up to 10 years. The difference in cash flow could be a game changer. 

Banks use SBA loans in many ways to support small business and often have preferred lender status with the SBA to make the process more efficient.

To learn if an SBA loan makes sense for your business in Indiana or Kentucky, please contact vice president, SBA specialist Mark Schoettmer at mark.schoettmer@bankatfirst.com or 317-237-1511. In  Ohio, please contact vice president, SBA specialist Angelica Johnson at angelica.johnson@bankatfirst.com or 513-389-3315.

Jeff Magginnis is the SBA sales manager for First Financial Bank. He has more than 19 years of experience advising small businesses on the use of SBA loans to achieve their goals.

By Rupal Thanawala

Erica worked for a utility company and received a racial slur as the temporary password for her online account. She clicked the “forgot password” link and her temporary password was “n****.” The energy company took corrective actions and provided a public apology.

Google has the ability to tag images, using photo comparison, big data and artificial intelligence methods. Mr. X’s African American friends were incorrectly labeled as “gorillas.” Google has made multiple changes to the algorithm to fix the error. 

In May 2016, Microsoft launched Tay, a software bot that can chat with users and provide responses to the questions or make comments, on Twitter. Within 16 hours of its launch it was pulled down for automatically posting unrelated discriminating and hateful responses. Tay was decommissioned for good. 

Mr. Y waved his hand unsuccessfully multiple times under an automatic hand soap dispenser whereas another machine would work for a Caucasian patron. The poor-quality sensors were replaced to sense people with all skin colors. 

There are over four billion social media accounts. And there are over five billion mobile phone users, and that number is growing at a faster pace than any other consumer products. From registering for the grocery membership card to applying for a job, we interact voluntarily or involuntarily with so many gadgets and share our personal information such as name, location, picture, gender, race, income and so much more. It is a new way of life and often it is the only we can access certain privileges. 

Similar discrimination cases are identified in unethical human resources hiring practices or disproportionate rate for insurance based on a person’s gender, race or zip code. 

So, what is the underlying issue here? Machines do not have intelligence. They are powered by human intelligence, and the individuals designing the systems are not taking into consideration the requirements from all the demographics, do not adequately test the product broadly and do not have a diverse design team. To develop an unbiased technology product, we must have an inclusive workforce in the entire lifecycle of the product starting from research, design, development, testing, support, sales and marketing functions. 

The tech industry is one of the least diverse industries, with African Americans representation of as low as 3-4% although they are the biggest consumers of tech and social media. About 73% of Blacks that use the internet use social media — and 96% of Black internet users are between the ages of 18 to 29. Forty percent of Black internet users age 18 to 29 said they are regular users of Twitter. Black women representation is less than 1% and the tech leadership and entrepreneurship has equally disappointing data. To make tech industry more inclusive is not a “nice to have” but a business imperative and there is no better business case than this. 

Let us think beyond challenges and act. 

Start early. Introduce tech education to students in as early as elementary school or at the least by middle school. Develop the interest and curiosity when they are young. Let them play and have fun with it. 

Encourage and empower. Many minority students are not encouraged to take tech courses in high school or college. On the contrary, they are informed of the different pathways and often discouraged to take those courses. Be a role model to them — if they can see it, they can be it. 

Switch the gears. Mid-career professionals can gain skills by learning on the job or taking courses. Many training programs are offered online or at community colleges. 

Mentor and empower. Take time and put effort to make them successful. Share the knowledge and guide them through the journey.

Be intentional. Seek the opportunity to transform the landscape and don’t accept status quo.

Technology does not bias, but people do.