This month, we are featuring Leah Sweet as part of our Women Leaders at PayPal series. Leah joined
PayPal in January 2012, where she is now the VP of Global Product and Engineering, Planning and Operations.
Where did you grow up, go to school and start your career?
I grew up in Hartley, Iowa. It’s a very small town, and by vary small I mean the population of the city is just over 1,600. But I loved growing up there. I stayed in Iowa for college, getting my degree in industrial engineering from Iowa State University. After I graduated, I moved to Boston and began working in the software and technology industry before ultimately moving to Arizona, which is where I currently live.
Throughout my career, I’ve worked across a variety of companies spanning financial corporations like American Express to the public sector -- but my roles have always been in the technology sector. For example, during my 11 years at American Express, I worked in the Technology Strategy and Operations group. In my role as the Deputy CIO for the State of Arizona, I worked for the Government Information Technology Agency (GITA). For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by technology.
What did you want to do when you were younger?
I didn’t have one specific dream job, but I’ve always loved challenging math problems and thinking through puzzles end-to-end. From a young age, I knew I wanted to do something that involved solving problems and driving toward solutions. So I knew early on I wanted to find a job that allowed me to solve a lot of different problems, context switch, and then see it all come together.
As the VP of Global Product and Engineering, what does your job entail?
I’m in charge of planning and operations for our global product and engineering team. My current role is made up of several different pieces – from determining which products to prioritize as a company, to making sure we clearly understand and abide by regulatory and compliance requirements across regions, to managing go-to market launch plans.
As a full stack, end-to-end payments company, there are many things we want to do, but like everyone else, we have limited resources. So, being able to prioritize based on our resources is critical.
Once we’ve done that, my team also serves as a program management function – helping with the execution and delivery of our products. This is a complex but really interesting challenge since the majority of our initiatives and launches require collaboration across regions and teams – like planning, engineering, design, program management and risk.
Finally, before launching products, we need to make sure we clearly understand all the regulatory requirements to ensure that we have compliant products. This can be a challenge as PayPal operates across more than 200 markets, and regulations are different across countries and constantly changing. Luckily for me, I love solving complex and involved challenges, which is what I get to do every day.
As an executive at a fast-paced payments company, how do you keep your team motivated?
I am a firm believer in being transparent and communicating context. I spend a lot of time with my team to let them know why certain decisions are being made. In a fast-paced industry where things are constantly changing, sharing context really helps people understand that decisions aren’t just made at random – there’s a method to the madness.
I also realize that oftentimes the people who are on the ground doing the work are not always the people who get recognized during leadership meetings, which can be demoralizing. I want to make sure my team knows how critically important they are, so I make a point to help raise their visibility both within their teams and within our executive team.
Was there a defining moment that shaped your perspective on life?
Several years ago I found I had cancer, and as difficult as that time was, it gave me a new perspective on life. It made me realize that our lives aren’t infinite. It made me reassess what was important in life and helped me balance the things I loved and wanted to do. It also pushed me to make sure that the things I spent the majority of my life on – like work – were things that were meaningful and important to me. Though I’m happy to say I’m now cancer free, that perspective has remained with me.
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self?
To have more confidence in myself. I always assumed everyone was smarter than me and knew more than me. It took a long time for me to work through that. To be clear, the fact that I am where I am today is a direct result of having that type of personality and working through it – and I’m very happy with where I ended up – but I could have probably gotten here faster if I had been more confident in myself.
Do you have any advice for other rising women leaders?
People will always have differences – whether it’s gender, culture, age or something else – but that’s part of the beauty of life. Embrace your differences, don’t hide them. Instead, figure out how to use your unique differences to propel you forward. Be who you want to be and have confidence in that. At the same time, be respectful of other people’s differences. Growing up in a small town, I quickly learned how important it is to be respectful of people’s differences. Life would be boring without them.