Genny Marcoux

At Fortinet, we create several software tools to help individuals and companies keep their computers safe from hackers. To help our customers learn about cybersecurity and how to stay safe online, we create online courses for them.  I manage the team of experts, who create the secure environment where these courses are found. 

My daily activities consist of budgeting, bookkeeping, and other management duties.  I help my team set priorities and assign them to specific tasks. I help make sure they stay focused on the tasks they are working on. I also work with the vendors we buy products or services from. This involves such things as reviewing contracts and negotiating prices. I lead many meetings to discuss solutions and to create timelines for the work to be done. I ensure that my team has everything they need to succeed in their work.

The skills I use are empathy, decision-making, coaching, mentoring, learning to say “no”, and negotiation. I perform performance reviews, bookkeeping, forecasting, and budgeting. I work on time management with my team, define priority of tasks, and engage in relationship building. Communication skills and a willingness to learn are essential skills!  Being able to explain a problem in detail and working towards a solution is another necessary skill. I also use general technology skills too. I work with different computer systems. So, knowing how to type (without looking at your keyboard) and using a lot of different software are important skills.

The most common problem in my daily activities is prioritizing tasks for my team. I decide which tasks are more urgent than others and in what order those tasks should be completed. To make decisions, I ask for input from my team. I consider things such as how long the tasks are going to take. I find out who will be affected if we don’t complete a task. Sometimes one task depends on other tasks being completed first. Understanding the technical tasks helps in making these decisions. A background in STEM helps with this.

Being able to speak several languages is also helpful. We are a global company and the vendors we buy from are also global. Being able to speak French with an employee from France is helpful to ensure communication is well understood. Spanish has also been helpful when dealing with clients in Latin America.