In our recent NextUp Membership Organizational Survey, conducted in collaboration with the IBM Institute for Business Value, NextUp Partner Companies, such as The Coca-Cola Company, were recognized for their exceptional efforts in building the bridge to leadership for women.
With a strong commitment to empowering the next generation of leaders, The Coca-Cola Company has sponsored the Career Essentials Series, hosted by NextUp Atlanta. Hear from Amye Michalek, Coca-Cola Senior Account Director – SONIC, Coca-Cola North America, and a NextUp Ambassador, on how Career Essentials has impacted her career, and how it will continue to influence many more women in the future.
Can you describe the key career development resources available to Coca-Cola employees through the NextUp partnership?
At Coca-Cola, we structure individual development plans using the 70-20-10 framework: 70% of learning comes from experience, 20% from exposure to others, and 10% through education-based training. Our partnership with NextUp provides opportunities in each of these areas: leadership, personal connections, and rich programming.
The leadership opportunities allow members to step outside their day-to-day roles, taking on incremental responsibilities to help develop, stretch, and grow their experiences. On the personal connection front, whether regionally, nationally, or virtually, NextUp meets you wherever you are, providing exposure to a larger network of professionals. Finally, NextUp’s rich programming covers a variety of topics designed to help members dive into specific areas of interest through an educational learning forum.
How have these resources contributed to Coca-Cola’s goals of achieving gender parity in leadership?
The partnership between NextUp and Coca-Cola has such strong support from our most senior leaders, fostering a commitment to gender parity throughout the company.
As we engage in the leadership opportunities, personal connections, and programming that NextUp offers, our employees are gaining broader exposure to leaders across our company, creating opportunities for visibility and career growth. Business results are stronger when our teams mirror the markets we are serving.How have these initiatives helped employees build meaningful and professional connections within and beyond The Coca-Cola Company?
NextUp develops opportunities to provide broad exposure internally and externally. We believe these initiatives are meaningful and powerful to our membership base, as evidenced by the participation and attendance rates for NextUp opportunities. We are all busy, but our team members prioritize the time and budget for NextUp because they see the value it brings.
What is the Career Essentials Series and how does it impact attendees in their career?
The Career Essentials Series with NextUp Atlanta and sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company is open to all NextUp members from a variety of companies and industries. This series focuses on topics supporting the NextUp mission of Advancing All Women. In 2024, Career Essentials covered Cultivating a Growth Mindset, Owning Your Career, Future Ready Skills, and will feature Thriving in Ambiguity in November (register here). We’re thrilled that the series has seen very strong attendance with positive feedback, providing attendees a space to focus on these key learning areas that are imperative for moving careers forward.
Could you share a personal success story or anecdote about how the Career Essentials Series has impacted your own professional development or someone you’ve mentored?
One session that particularly impacted me was “Owning Your Career,” hosted by Lisa Ford and Becca Hannan. This session did an excellent job of reinforcing how we are individually in the driver’s seat of our own careers by providing practical strategies as basic as self-discovery to be more intentional in work and in life. As a result, I have been doing a much better job of prioritizing self-reflection and finding the space needed to really focus on what I want my career to look like from here.
How does sponsoring the NextUp Career Essentials Series align with the overarching mission at The Coca-Cola Company?
Our company mission is “to refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness, create value, and make a difference.” The Career Essentials Series provides a way for us to share our career development, best practices, and methodologies with the entire NextUp network, in hopes of helping others refresh, inspire, create, and make a difference wherever they are in their career journey.
What’s the best advice that you’ve been given?
My first leader at Coca-Cola introduced me to NextUp and would always say “lift as you climb.” This has always stuck with me, as there is nothing more powerful than a team. It takes the people around us and their support to make progress, which makes the collective stronger. Lifting others up just makes us all better.
How have your experiences at NextUp events changed since becoming an Ambassador?
I’ve been to several NextUp events over the years, and now that I am an ambassador for the Coca-Cola and NextUp partnership, I’ve been enjoying the events through a different lens. I look forward to meeting the Ambassadors from other companies and interacting in person with our NextUp partners. I also get great joy in supporting our Ambassador Team in their event planning processes and celebrating with them as planning comes to life at the events.
Thank you for tuning into the PowerTalks with The Coca-Cola Company series! Be sure to stay tuned to the NextUp Content Hub for more profiles, and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.