Lisa Pocius, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory’s chief medical officer in the Environment, Safety and Health directorate, worked as a physician in a hospital, where the lives of people were at stake. It was a journey that reinforced in her that she could tackle difficult situations.

“A doctor is trained to lead, and that is where I first experienced leadership,” Pocius said. ​“Another positive I’ve experienced is learning that I could stretch and grow. As my roles have changed over time, I have had to learn new skills. For the most part, I approach learning new skills as challenges and growth opportunities.”

Working at Argonne has shown her the value of collaboration and teamwork. Being in a leadership position has placed her in some amazing teams, and working in those teams helped her become more collaborative and efficient — which then developed her leadership capabilities and opened new opportunities.

But like many, Pocius’s pitfall has been burnout. She learned to take vacations, some other time away or just enjoy a ​“guilty pleasure” with Netflix. She also has had a few experiences with ​“impostor syndrome,” where suddenly a person feels like they are not competent or qualified when they absolutely are.

“I think many leaders have experienced this but are reluctant to talk about it,” Pocius said. ​“I’ve found that acknowledging that those type of thoughts are occurring, accepting them, and then taking stock of the situation and reviewing needed actions — either on my own or with a trusted colleague — resolved the situation.”

Some of her impactful mentors were teachers, including fifth-grade teacher Mr. Hertko, who told her: ​“You can be whoever you want to be. There are no limits.” That affirmation stuck with her, and those words came to mind whenever she reached a crossroads in her career.

She met another role model while in college and working a part-time job doing data entry for a manufacturing company. It was a small company with a woman CEO, who counseled her to explore all possibilities and decide what success really meant to her.

“Rather than thinking just about making money or even helping people, she told me to envision what a good and productive day would look like for me,” Pocius said. ​“Would I want to have a team under me? Would I want a career that would allow me to work from home sometimes? What little things would signal to me that I was successful? Everyone defines success differently. For her, it was being able to afford a new bouquet of fresh flowers on her kitchen table each week. Really drilling down on what feels like success to me has been very helpful as I grow in my career.”

She advises young professionals to believe in themselves and to remember that others believe in you. ​“Decide on what success looks like for you and work toward that, not anyone else’s vision of success,” Pocius said. ​“And be a lifelong learner. Every person you work with has something to teach you.”