Three rules for rule breakers

'You can't leave your career when you're at your height - it will derail you.”

That was the commonly accepted belief and unwritten rule of career advancement in the company where Holly Meidl worked early in her career. A rising star in the insurance industry, she was told, 'You'll never be able to return to working in a role that's significant or make a major impact,” recalls Meidl.

When it comes to conventional career and business wisdom, some rules were meant to be broken. Meidl left that company to become primary caregiver to her young family.

During this time she was active in her local community, and learned about 'grass roots” leadership and collaborative influence. When it came time to re-enter the workforce, those lessons helped Meidl to leapfrog beyond her prior roles to land a national leadership role.

'When I returned, I was thrown into a different industry and division,” she recounts. 'I was able to parlay that skill set into my new role.”

Now, she serves as the senior vice president of the health care division at Allied World Assurance Co., proving that not all rules are set in stone and fortune can smile on rule-breakers.

What are the unwritten, unspoken rules of your workplace? Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?

l You must be a senior engineer for two years before becoming a principal engineer.

l Only the vice president can negotiate with customers.

l Presentations to C-suite execs must be three minutes or less.

l Only external candidates will be considered for director-level roles.

l You need to meet 100 percent of the job requirements before applying.

I know women who have challenged every one of these rules. With courage, good grace and persistence, they were wildly successful.

So what does it take to be a successful rule breaker? I invited Meidl to participate as a panelist in a webinar titled 'Breaking the Rules.” I wanted to understand how she assesses opportunities and risks before making a bold career move or business decision.

'Rule breaking is about taking a risk to invest your time, your focus and even your financial resources to achieve a better outcome,” Meidl said.

'It's intentional,” she continued, advocating not for a blatant disregard for the 'rules,” but for purposefully and proactively choosing a different path than the one you're traveling.

'I have three simple rules that I learned while in school that have become guideposts for my life,” shared Meidl, who credits a professor, Dr. E.J. Leverett, with teaching these risk management principles.

The three rules of risk management are:

1 Don't risk a lot for a little.

2 Don't risk more than you can afford to lose.

3 Consider the odds or the potential consequences.

'I allow these principles to guide me at times when I am thinking about breaking a rule,” Meidl said. 'Professor Leverett passed away in the '90s, but he would be thrilled to know his rules live on and have impacted so many lives.”

Whether you're asking for a promotion outside the review cycle, re-engineering a business process that's always been done a certain way, or sitting at a blackjack table in a Vegas casino, these are three great rules to live by.

l Jo Miller is CEO of Women's Leadership Coaching Inc. and editor of BeLeaderly.com; @jo_miller.