The finalists for WashingtonExec’s 2023 Pinnacle Awards were announced Sept. 25, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 16.
Next is HR Executive of the Year finalist in the Private Company category (Annual Revenue Less Than $250M) Kate McEnaney, who is chief HR officer at CyberCore Technologies. Here, shares her biggest recent achievements and learning from failures.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
My biggest achievement going into 2023 was a complete revamp of our benefits package. Providing the best employee benefits is a fundamental aspect of any successful and forward-thinking organization.
These benefits are not just an additional perk but a strategic investment in our greatest asset — our people. Providing top-tier employee benefits is paramount because it helps us attract top talent, build loyalty, drive retention, foster productivity, support work-life balance, and create a positive company culture.
At CyberCore, we follow an employee total well-being model, where we focus on 6 areas of well-being (financial, occupational, social, emotional, physical, and intellectual). All our benefits support at least one of these fundamental areas and we will continue to make improvements to ensure we are supporting our employee’s well-being the best we can.
What’s one key thing you learned from a failure you had?
It’s impossible to name just one. I fail every day . . . we all do. There’s always going to be something we forget, something we could have done differently, a question we answered incorrectly, etc.
I think the biggest lesson I have learned from my failures is that “failure” isn’t a bad word and a failure is only a true failure when you don’t learn something from it. With every failure comes an opportunity to grow and evolve. If we can embrace failures as opportunities for growth, then they were never failures to begin with.
Embracing failure teaches us resilience, humility, and empathy. Failures drive innovation, adaptability, and self-discovery. They encourage us to continue to push forward and not settle. Failure is often a precursor for success, and when embraced as an opportunity, can be instrumental in achieving your goals.