The Roche Report

I wanted to do a little series on my favorite pieces of advice that I have received in my career, and I thought that I would start with one of the pieces of advice that I rely on the most. When discussing mentorship with someone who I ironically consider to be one of my mentors, she said that she didn't really like the idea of having "just one" mentor. Instead, she suggested the idea of curating your own board of directors. The concept is: much like a company needs a range of leaders with different backgrounds to provide strategic direction, each of us needs a range of advisors to help point us in the right direction. Your board of directors may change throughout your career as you have different roles, different needs, different challenges - and as you develop new relationships. Unlike the traditional "mentorship" model where you seek out someone whose career or style you might want to emulate, in your board of directors, you might have people who you work fo...

My first week back I wrote about  feeling like I was jumping up and down telling everyone in IBM-land "put me in, coach!" Johnny laughed and told me that I needed to be patient and that before I knew it, I would have more on my plate than I could handle... ... boy oh boy was he right. Do you ever have one of those weeks where you are just tired? Where it doesn't seem like you can keep your head above water with all the asks coming your way? Where work / life balance seems like a bit of a joke -- and nothing that you can do can shift it in the right direction? I'm having one of those weeks. I had one last week too. And looking at my next two weeks, I know I'm going to have them again for the next two weeks. Some of this has to do with the amount of work that I have to do - and some of it has to do with the amount I am traveling; I am still pretty committed to doing day trips as much as I can, but that makes for a very long day - and also throws things a bit o...

"I don't feel like a superhero, I feel like a Mom who has a career." I was reading an article this morning about the FTC Commissioner who has an 8 week old daughter who she takes to work with her and it made me think about how we all find a different way to reach balance in our lives. Several people have asked me recently how I've found the balance in being back at work / how I've found "having it all." And the reality is this article really articulated several things that I've been thinking / feeling recently. Balance First, with respect to balance, in some ways, I've found "balance" between work and life to be a bit easier than I expected. The reality is that Charlie NEEDS so much that it is not an option to not pick her. It's not like I can tell her to feed herself and put herself to bed. But, the reality is that the balance is also not so easy all the time. For example, Charlie has been sick almost every week that she ...

I've been thinking about doing this post for a while as this was one of the things that gave me the most anxiety about going back to work. As with my other post about breastfeeding, I felt a bit awkward posting this; but since it was something I worried a lot about, I figured posting about my experiences might be helpful for others. As I shared in another post, I was never someone who had particular goals around breastfeeding; actually, I thought I would basically hate it ( more here ). However, I gave it a try, and found that it was something that worked well for me - especially during my maternity leave. In preparing to come back to work -- especially as someone who travels a lot for work or often works at client sites, I was very worried what it would be like breastfeeding and having to pump while traveling or at a client site. Would it be awful? Would I be able to do it? Would it be awkward? Where would I pump? How would I get out of meetings? To be honest, I basically thou...

Two weeks before I came back to work from my maternity leave, I received a text from my boss, Shannon, to check my email -- only to receive an email from Ginni, our CEO, congratulating me for being recognized as part of the 2018 class of Best of IBM. For those not familiar with this distinction, it is an award given annually to the top 1,000 IBMers that culminates in a trip for you and your spouse to a lovely tropical location with lots of cool perks (new sunglasses, Nick Jonas, getting to see Q - the Quantum computer, Nick Jonas, amazing dinners, Nick Jonas, etc.). I wanted to do a post on the weekend -- and my takeaways from it -- I also wanted to take a moment to reflect on this pinnacle achievement in my career. In front of the IBM Quantum Computer - "Q" Since learning that there was something called "Best of IBM" - it is a recognition to which I have aspired. While I believe some of our other business units have more distinct guidelines for how to ac...

Among the many wonderful, wonderful things about my high school, its unofficial motto was "Function in Disaster, Finish in Style (Stay calm at the center of your being)." I often find myself repeating this phrase to myself in moments of craziness ... though, I have to admit I find the first two phrases easier than the third (staying calm in disaster takes a true zen that I often don't have but am working towards). And, for the past two weeks, these words have become a mantra for me: I have quickly ramped up at work with what feels like 100 balls in the air and Johnny had a two week work trip, leaving me as the lone ranger with Charlie. It's been good, it's been hard, it's been challenging. From a work perspective, I had two proposals due in these two weeks, on top of several client meetings, two work day trips, and working on several upcoming presentations. From a life perspective, I was on point for all things Charlie from daycare prep, laundry (all. the....

I read a lot when I was pregnant. I read parenting books, parenting blogs, signed up for parenting email blasts. I read really good and really important things - like how to get my baby to  sleep through the night  (and this book works wonders - she was sleeping through the night at 9 weeks) and  how to calm my baby  - that have significantly improved my parenting experience.  One thing that I didn’t read much about (though I think it is out there and perhaps it just didn’t quite resonate with me until I was actually doing it) was pumping. Before I begin my thoughts on this: a little background. I was unsure about the whole breastfeeding thing and adopted an attitude of “we’ll see how it goes.” It actually probably ranked at the top of my parenting fears. I kind of wanted it to work; but frankly, I also kind of thought the whole thing was gross.  However, I gave it a go, and have actually had a pretty great experience with it, helped by the fact that IBM h...