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When there’s a chance to learn from the top professionals in the business, it doesn’t hurt to take a moment to listen and apply their advice to your own career. Forbes reports on the leadership insights gained from the IAB AdLab conference featuring over 100 technology and media professionals. The report states that of all the advice given, perhaps the most inspiring piece came from communication pro Sharon Feder.

In just four short years, Feder worked her way up from Assistant Editor at the social media news blog Mashable, to Publisher and finally to her current role as Chief Operating Officer. Although her advancement was no easy task, the secret behind Feder’s ability to transition so quickly, aside from putting in the hard work, is that she always asked herself these two questions: Can I do more? Can I build this?

While the questions may seem simple, her answer and subsequent action created from the questions had her continually pushing. People were forced to take a chance on her. She even sites an instance where her track record of hard work and push to continue to build on her job led her boss to respond to one of her proposals with a simple, “sure, go for it!” When you continue to strive for excellence, people will have faith in you and your abilities. Of course this won’t always come easy, even Feder admits there was a time when she wasn’t always confident, Forbes reports that she learned that she had nothing to lose by exuding confidence and innovation in the workplace. These days with the speed and connection of information in the world, even the top supervisors can’t stay ahead of every business opportunity. If you take the chance to step up and step in where more work can be done, you will only reap the rewards.  So why not have confidence and voice your ideas? What is there to lose?