Lessons from a Female Business Executive

Last month, I had the pleasure of joining members of the Women of Wendy’s (WOW) employee network to support the group’s executive sponsor, Abigail Pringle, as she participated in a panel discussion titled “Leading the Way: Accelerate Women's Advancement & Reap the Rewards of Gender Diversity” at the Ohio Restaurant Association Mid-America Restaurant Expo. Abigail joined Jane Grote Abell (Donatos® Pizza), Lisa Ingram (White Castle®), Britney Ruby Miller (Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment®) and moderator Libby Saylor Wright (Women’s Foodservice Forum®) to discuss their experiences as women leaders in the foodservice industry. We found the panel so inspiring and full of helpful advice that we asked Abigail to revisit some of the questions in celebration of International Women’s Day.

You’ve been able to build and grow your career at Wendy’s. How would you describe your career path?

I have now been at Wendy’s for just shy of 18 years, and I thought when I started that it would be maybe two or three. I started as a Manager in IT in 2002, after a career in management consulting. I then navigated my way through a few different business functions like Operations, Engineering/Design, Strategic Planning and Development. Now, I am the President of International and lead Global Development. All these different roles gave me more insight on how the brand and business operates, helped me build friendships and a network across the organization, and allowed me to make a positive impact along the way, thus developing sponsors and advocates for my career and for me personally. I am so grateful for the people who took time to invest in me, gave me challenging problems to solve, asked me to participate, coached me on my development areas, encouraged me to lean into my strengths and pushed me to the next level.

What can others learn from your career success?

When you are flexible, open to new ideas and willing to take some calculated risks in your career, it will pay off. I remember when the head of Operations came to me when I was a Director in IT and said I should join Operations. At first, I thought it was a bad idea. But I got curious and spent time with him to learn more to better understand the potential experience I could have. Then, I took the leap. It was the best decision I made, because it got me into the core business of supporting our restaurants.

Risk-taking is key. That move to Operations opened doors for me that would not have opened otherwise.

What advice do you have for women seeking roles with direct business responsibility?

Go for it! If you get energy by leading and growing people, then it may be a wonderful fit for you. I have three pieces of advice for those who want to do more:

Tell someone. Talk to your supervisor and another leader in the organization and let them know that you are interested, or may be interested, in building your general management knowledge and skills. You need to drive your own development, but we all need others to pull us up, too. Making your interest known may provide you with the opportunity for a new role, a special project or a cool opportunity to lead.

Raise your hand. Ask to get involved in projects or roles that will build your people management skills, build your understanding of how key areas of the business work, and go solve some problems facing the business. Get involved in an employee network where you can meet folks from all over the company, build relationships, tell people about your interests. You never know where it may lead.

Learn the economics. Partner up with your finance team, take someone to lunch to talk about key costs of the business, spend time with someone who has the reputation of being a great business general manager and ask them lots of questions. They will love your interest and will share their ideas.

What are the leadership skills you feel have contributed most to your success?

The three C’s - curiosity, collaboration, and courage.

Curiosity because as a life-long learner you are open to new ideas, you are interested in how things work or why things happen the way they do, or you show interest in others and their work. Curiosity has allowed me to learn and adapt through various roles, functions and companies.

Collaboration is critical because no one can do life or work alone. It provides better outcomes – and, frankly, it is more fun and rewarding. Collaboration also improves your network and support system as you take on some other challenges where you can rely on experience, support and trust from those you worked with before.

Courage has served me well. I have had the courage to voice my perspective, to have confidence in my recommendation and my vision for how to move something forward, and courage to make mistakes but learn, to be myself, or be comfortable in my own skin.

Learn more about diversity and inclusion at Wendy’s, or learn more about Wendy’s employee networks.

Interested in joining the Wendy’s team? Check out our career site!