The Power of Saying Yes: Changing Industries and Feeling Empowered

In this guest post from SIA RISE community member Olivia Doherty, learn how to get out of your comfort zone and overcome barriers to saying yes. 

The concept of “the power of saying yes” isn’t anything new or innovative. We see it in movies, read about it in books and articles and listen to stories and podcasts where people preach about it, but to put it into action is something entirely different. There are so many reasons why a young professional might decide to say no to any given opportunity. From personal experience, I can say I have dealt with all the reasons: fear of getting out of your comfort zone, fear of being an imposter, fear of overstepping and fear of failure. In my two years in the security industry, I have had to work hard to push myself past these, but I cannot imagine where my life would be if I hadn’t.

Saying “yes” to new opportunities is a lot easier said than done and, in all honesty, can be incredibly frightening. It’s something that I imagine we all want to do, but being pushed outside your comfort zone can be very difficult to do – especially if you’ve found your rhythm and enjoy where you’re at. Whether that be in your career or your personal life, it’s easy to sit there and think “Why would I change anything? I’m content here.”

Getting outside of your comfort zone, especially in your industry

This was where I found myself in early 2022 – incredibly comfortable in the job I was doing. As a recent public relations graduate, I found myself in a good position where I was in corporate communications. I was writing, taking photos and doing all of the roles that I thought made sense for someone with my degree and my skill set. I enjoyed my hours and my coworkers; I was doing the things I knew how to do and truly couldn’t complain. So, when I was approached by one of my now colleagues at Northland Controls about applying for a position here, I thought she was crazy. I have a degree in public relations, I am comfortable in the communications and consulting space and I know absolutely nothing about the security industry; certainly, I wouldn’t be qualified to do that. Despite all of this, I decided to say yes to applying for a position and found myself jumping in headfirst to a new challenge in an industry that I hadn’t even realized existed, but soon found that it has an incredibly large impact on me and everyone around me.

Imposter syndrome

Once I accepted the job offer, I thought the hard part was over, but little did I know I was just getting started. This was when the imposter syndrome started to set in. Every day became a battle of wondering why I was qualified enough to do this job when I was still learning so much. Not long into starting my career with Northland, I said yes to joining a formal mentorship program and also found mentors along the way while talking with people in the office. I quickly found solace in knowing that most people feel this way and we’re all trying to figure it out. I also received advice about knowing what I don’t know and homing in on that – there is always something to learn.

Fear of failure

Once I’d finally settled down in my role and started to feel like I was getting the hang of what I was doing, I was presented with the opportunity to do some work and help out with something outside of my role description – gasp – that was not what I thought I’d be doing. I was excited at the opportunity to learn more about the industry and expand my skill set, but what if I failed miserably? Despite all of my hesitations, I decided to say yes and have found myself looking at an entirely new way that I could grow my career in the industry. I was able to walk a site, manage a small project and realize that I have a passion for project management, and it is also something that my skills align with – skills I had learned through my communications roles.

Over the past two years, I have been offered so many opportunities and could have said “no” so many times, but as I like to call this time in my life – it is the “era of yes,” and I encourage all young professionals to just say yes. You never know what kind of doors will open when you do.

This article originally appeared in RISE Together, a newsletter presented by SIA’s RISE community for emerging security industry leaders.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.