Best of both worlds
Not only that, but I wanted an opportunity to connect more deeply with my customers in addition to reaching sales targets, no matter what product or solution I might be selling.įortunately, I eventually did secure a role with the Palo Alto Networks Sales team. At the company where I had been working, I had been frustrated about the fact that decision-making sometimes involved as many as 10 levels of approval before action could be taken - a very common feature at most Japanese companies - so the fast pace at which things happened at Palo Alto Networks was very appealing to me. I liked that the values of speed and agility were emphasized here. I gathered from what he had told me that decisions were made very quickly within the company. I realized that I might be a better fit for a position with a company that paid for performance, not strictly for my workday hours.Ī friend of mine was working for Palo Alto Networks and indicated to me that it might be a good fit for me. Because of this, my motivation at work started to wane. Although my family was my top priority, I believed I was still fulfilling the duties of my role. To me, it seemed that I should be paid for my performance on the job, not simply for the number of hours when I was at work.
The reasoning behind this was that my shift had been shortened to seven hours per day, instead of the usual eight and a half hours, because of my family obligations.
However, like many women in the workforce who become mothers, after my two children were born, I realized that my salary had dropped to roughly 80% of what it had been, even though, upon my return to work, I still managed to surpass 100% performance. I had worked in sales throughout my career and had worked very hard to become successful at my job. We handled a wide array of digital technology products from multiple vendors, including PCs, servers, printers, middleware, workflow systems, Office 365, video conferencing systems, and document consulting. Before joining Palo Alto Networks in November, 2019, I spent 15 years working for a domestic (Japanese) IT company.