6 Career Lessons You Can Learn from Emily in Paris

The latest Netflix binge Emily in Paris follows the adventures of Emily Cooper, a young marketing executive who is sent to Paris to provide an American perspective to her company’s latest acquisition. While it’s easy to be distracted by the gorgeous fashion, a stellar soundtrack and breathtaking views of the City of Light, there are six career lessons you can learn from Emily.

Lesson 1: Say Yes to New Adventures

When’s the last time you said yes to a career opportunity that scared you because it was going to change your life? Emily said yes to a year-long job in Paris, leaving behind her friends and boyfriend in Chicago. This is a huge, scary, thrilling adventure! It requires her to move across the world, where she has no friends or family, to a country where she doesn’t speak the language.

Now, you don’t have to take a job in Paris just to have a new adventure. There are several ways you can be adventurous in your career.

Have you received a job offer for a position that will challenge you and stretch you? Think long and hard before saying no to this, especially if your “no” is coming from a place of fear. Instead, evaluate if this job opportunity is the right fit for you. Will it help you move closer to your ultimate career goal? Seek wise counsel from mentors who know your work capabilities and personality before you make a decision.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, start your own business. Whether it’s freelancing or starting a blog, choose something that you’re passionate about and work on honing those skills to make it successful.

Another way to be adventurous in your career is to take on a leadership role within a nonprofit organization that you support. Maybe it’s an alumni organization for your alma mater or a local charity. These roles typically include serving on a board of directors or as a chairperson for a specific event or initiative. It’s a great way to meet new people, tackle new challenges and learn new skills, all while giving back to a cause you love.

Volunteering with a professional association is another adventure you should say yes to. Most of these associations need volunteers to serve as leaders for local chapters, speakers for webinars or conferences, and judges for award programs. All of these opportunities are a great way to network and grow your leadership skills.

Lesson 2: Position Yourself as an Expert

Emily is a marketing executive who specializes in social media. And how do we know this? For starters, Emily has kept track of impressive stats she’s accomplished at work, and she communicates this to others. She also practices what she preaches for her own social media, which grows an impressive following and opens up other opportunities for her professionally.

So, what are some ways you can position yourself as an authority?

Leverage your expertise by writing guest blogs or publishing articles on LinkedIn. Seek out opportunities to be interviewed on podcasts. Gather case studies of your most successful work projects, and present your findings at an industry conference. These are all ways that you can build your thought leadership and become known for your expertise.

Lesson 3: Understand Global Cultures

Even though Emily is thrilled to move to Paris, she is completely oblivious to the cultural differences between France and America, and appears to be in no hurry to learn the language or the work culture in France. She naively assumes everything will be the same—from the way business meetings are conducted to work hours to business soirees. If you work for a global brand and collaborate with colleagues around the world, then you need to understand how blending different cultures can impact business operations.

As a global manager, Emily should understand how the French communicate, their values, attitudes, manners and customs, and the way social structures and organizations function. Had all this been considered, Emily could have taken a different approach in sharing the Corporate Commandments with the French team. Unsurprisingly, her French colleagues were appalled at these policies from their new, American owner and took out their frustrations on Emily.

This lesson also can apply to you if you find yourself working on a diverse team. It’s important to understand the cultural differences among your colleagues. Taking time to learn about each other’s values, attitudes, customs and manners will allow you to improve your communication and collaboration.

Lesson 4: Pursue Opportunities

Emily is constantly pursuing new clients for her marketing agency. When her colleagues scoff at her ambition, Emily is more driven to bring new business to Savoir. Her persistence pays off, bringing in new clients and successfully pitching new social media strategies.

With each new success, Emily is able to earn the respect of her colleagues and the trust of the new clients. Likewise, you can look for opportunities for your company to grow or achieve its goals. For example, if your company aspires to be a leader within the community, identify opportunities where your company can connect and give back. Maybe it’s through a holiday food drive or mentoring youth. Outline an initiative that aligns with your company’s goals and pitch it to your boss.

Lesson 5: Not Everyone Will Like You

Emily is on a never-ending quest to get her new boss to like her and tries to forge a friendship. It’s clear her boss will never like her and seems to grow more irritated with every gesture from Emily.

Emily did one thing that made me cringe: she was quick to give away her ideas and purposefully allow someone else to claim them as her own. This is incredibly foolish to do. When you allow others to take credit for your work, you diminish the positive contributions that you make to the organization.

You can waste a lot of time and energy trying to get people to like you. Instead, focus on how to earn your colleagues’ respect. While Emily’s coworkers were less than thrilled with her arrival, they saw her passion for the business and began to see that she was a highly skilled marketer. With each accomplishment, Emily began winning over her coworkers.

If you become too focused on being well-liked, you can compromise your ability to do your job. Leaders who want to be liked by all will not make the tough decisions because they are too worried about what people think. Employees may not want to speak up about critical issues that need to be addressed, all because they want to please others.

Lesson 6: Getting Fired Isn’t the End of Your Career

While being fired can feel devastating and like your world is ending, it is an opportunity to grow and pivot. Spoiler alert—Emily is briefly fired by Sylvie—and Emily is crushed. If you find yourself in this position one day, use it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Ask for clarification about why you’re being fired. It’ll be difficult to hear your mistakes that led to your firing, but you need to acknowledge them, take accountability and learn from them.

Maybe you ended up working in a job that wasn’t the right fit for you. Use this abrupt ending to reassess your career goals, and determine the next step you should take.

Also, it’s important to mention that the higher you move up in your career, the more accountable you become for your performance. Executives often are blamed for poor company performance, and as a result, they are fired. The good news is being fired doesn’t mean you’ll never work again. A study in 2018 showed that 91% of executives who were fired landed an equal or even better role at a new company.

If you’ve watched all 10 episodes of Emily in Paris, what career lessons did you learn? DM me on the ‘gram to tell me!