• The classic finance mantra: "Show up, work hard, do what you're told." It works for a while, until it stops working entirely.
• Caitlin Haberberger admits she "wasted a lot of years" by being too focused on task execution.
• Real career jumps happen when you lift your head up and build relationships outside your immediate team.
• Your technical skills get you hired; your network gets you promoted.

Many finance professionals are raised with a specific ethos. "I thought early in my career... you show up, you work your butt off, you do what you're told... and good things will happen," Caitlin recalls. This is the "Good Soldier" trap. It makes you an excellent individual contributor, but it puts a low ceiling on your leadership potential.

"I probably wasted a lot of years," she admits candidly. By focusing so intensely on the work itself—the spreadsheets, the reports, the reconciliations—she missed the larger context. She was delivering what was asked, but she wasn't adding the strategic value that comes from understanding the *why* and the *who* behind the numbers.

Networking is Work

The turning point came when she stopped just doing the work and started talking to people. "The real incremental jumps in my impact... came when I was actually going out and having more conversations with people." This isn't about schmoozing; it's about business intelligence. You can't effectively forecast sales if you don't know the Sales VP's pain points. You can't manage burn if you don't understand Engineering's hiring challenges.

Her advice to her younger self? "Step back and get to know people more across the company." It sounds simple, but for a busy controller, taking an hour for coffee feels like a distraction. The reality is that coffee might be the most productive hour of your week.