February Toronto Roundtable: Achieve Your Career Aspirations: Strategies for Resilience and Adaptability with Kelly Pennell
Key Takeaways/ About the Roundtable
Career paths can take different directions (highs, lows, curves, and changes), but pursuing our passions, maintaining our objectives, and employing various techniques to enhance resilience and adaptability when needed will ensure that we achieve professional satisfaction.
According to a recent article published in Leadership, one of the key ‘new’ skills to succeed in today’s workplace is resilience. Resilience is the ability to cope with stress, adversity, and change in a positive and constructive way. It is not a fixed trait that some individuals possess and others do not, but rather a set of skills that can be learned and practiced.
Resilience is important for success in the workplace because it helps us to adapt to changing situations, overcome obstacles and setbacks, manage our reactions, learn from feedback and mistakes, manage stress, and grow and improve our performance. No matter where your career journey may take you, it is essential to have the right tools to overcome any challenges and achieve your goals.
We invite you to the next WNORTH roundtable on February 22, 2024, where we will learn about strategies for developing resilience and adaptability – essential skills for achieving our professional aspirations shared within a forum where we can develop and empower each other.
About Kelly Pennel, Roundtable Facilitator
Dr. Kelly Pennell is a practicing Chiropractor as well as a Senior Operations Leader in the Tech Industry here in Toronto, ON. Focused on empowering others through continuous improvement, Kelly’s career journey has been a non-traditional but successful one. Her story is one of resilience and diversification following a diagnosis that would prevent her from practicing in a full-time capacity in her initially chosen profession.
Kelly completed her Doctor of Chiropractic degree at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC), as well as a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. Leveraging her clinical education and training, Kelly has sustained a longstanding career in the healthcare industry spanning two decades, including part-time practice, consulting, small business ownership of a multidisciplinary clinic, and Associate Professorship at CMCC. Eventually transitioning to the MedTech industry, she continued to support the healthcare industry and patients as a Sales Representative and later Enablement Leader.
Today, Kelly works in the Tech industry as the Chief Operating Officer for the North America Small, Medium Business (SMB) segment at Microsoft. She is responsible for driving operational excellence and revenue performance across the business rhythms in support of SMB owners. She also continues to practice part-time as a chiropractor at Toronto Physiotherapy (Summerhill location) and is grateful for the opportunity to continue helping others live healthy and fulfilling lives.
Kelly’s personal philosophy is that every experience is an opportunity to learn, grow, and then empower others. She embraces a growth mindset and a ‘learn-it-all’ mentality both within and outside her professional pursuits. In her spare time, Kelly enjoys golfing, traveling, and networking with others. She is a member of the Chiropractic College of Ontario and Ladies Golf Club.
