Three female executives from powerhouse brands joined Women in Retail Leadership Circle in Pittsburgh earlier this month to share leadership strategies, tips for managing difficult times, and more. As part of Women in Retail’s On the Road series, the panel closed out the daylong event by sharing the podcasts and books that inspired them, the people in their lives that have had the greatest impact, and the best advice they’ve received.

Mary Beth Trypus, who most recently served as the chief revenue officer at Vera Bradley, moderated the discussion and asked the panelists to share what their professional superpower was, and how they’re using it to be successful in their careers.

Bringing Connections Together

Mary Beth Green, the chief innovation officer of Sheetz, said her superpower is bridging gaps with people, resources, and ideas. With a background in political science, Green spent much of her 20s looking at research and interviewing experts. She said she leaned into “fearlessly reaching out to people when I saw a reason to do that” and successfully taking what experts were saying and helping people in need of the information connect to it.

“I use this skill every single day in my career,” she said.

Taking Complex Information, Simplifying it, and Making it Relevant

Rachel Jones, the senior vice president and chief product, innovation and science officer of GNC, said she discovered her superpower during an executive meeting in her 20s. Her boss was attempting to explain the benefits of a new ingredient to the other executives in the room, but was met with blank stares when he used a lot of pharmaceutical jargon.

Jones stepped in and translated what her boss was trying to communicate, putting it in layman’s terms.

“(The superpower) is just something I can put into use in life everywhere, really,” she said.

Strategize and Innovate

Karlyn Mattson, the executive vice president and chief customer officer of rue21, said an early boss of hers said her superpower is the ability to look at things in a slightly different way, through a slightly different lens.

“You see the opportunity and the possibility,” her boss told her.

Mattson said her experience working in department stores early on in her career helped her think about big ideas; in other words, “How you look at something and you can pivot it and take it into a different space that becomes more relevant and interesting for the customer and potentially solves a problem for them,” she said.

Women in Retail members can watch the full panel session and other sessions from our On the Road series on-demand. Not a member? Apply today!