EPISODE #21: EMILY POLADIAN, PRESIDENT AT FIRESTONE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS - REDEFINING SUCCESS AND PRIORITIES OF A GLOBAL BUSINESS UNIT DURING IMMENSE CHANGE

In today's episode, Christie spoke with Emily Poladian. Emily is the President of Firestone Industrial Products. As President, Poladian oversees all aspects of the FSIP business, including management of the more than 1,500 employees around the world who play an integral part in the company’s growth and commitment to designing industry-leading technology to eliminate vibration in global transportation.

Emily joined Bridgestone in June 1995.  She began her career with Firestone Industrial Products Company, LLC (FSIP) as a Product Engineer and was named Sales Engineer for Industrial Sales four years later. In March of 2003, she was appointed Senior OEM Sales Engineer where she was responsible for several major truck and suspension builder accounts. In June of 2009, Poladian was named Manager, North and Central American Distributor Sales responsible for Aftermarket, OES, and Industrial sales.

Connect with Emily Poladian on Linkedin.

LEADING FORWARD with Christie Berger

Highlights: "Redefining Success and Priorities of a Global Business Unit During Immense Change"

• Transitioning into a new role requires a lot of navigating- developing the right structure and team.
• COVID gave an opportunity for teams to communicate more frequently and move things along more quickly.
• Leaders must be transparent with their team- it allows team members to understand the “why” around certain decisions.
• Part of leadership’s job is to have aspirations for the organization, but those aspirations have to become inspiration for members in the organization.
• Cultural sensitivity around communication is important for global teams.
• Surveys and feedback are great metrics to determine that all members are understanding what leadership is communicating. 
• One-on-one conversations or small group conversations lead to better qualitative “pulse checking” to receive feedback/understand engagement from the team.
• The effectiveness of the team and its culture are indicators of a team leader’s success.
• Setting the broad vision and then empowering the leaders in your team to lead at their level in the organization.
•  It is okay for women to be intentional with their goal setting (for both career and personal life), you do not need to be apologetic for any of your goals.
• Owning where you want to go, laying out the groundwork to get there, advocating for it (and yourself) and then planning accordingly will help you accomplish your plan.
• Focusing too much on the “growth areas” of the business is not sustainable, developing balance between the “growth” and “bread and butter” lead to balanced success.