Sara
Spalding
Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft CSE
"‘We Have to Talk’ Practical Steps to Make Difficult Career Conversations Easier"
"‘We Have to Talk’ Practical Steps to Make Difficult Career Conversations Easier"
Thu June 10 - 2:30 PM EDT/New York (See in local time)
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05//2026 2:30 PM
05//2026 02:50 PM
America/New_York
#WTGC2026
"‘We Have to Talk’ Practical Steps to Make Difficult Career Conversations Easier"
#WTGC2026
"‘We Have to Talk’ Practical Steps to Make Difficult Career Conversations Easier"
https://www.womentech.net/ringcentral
https://www.womentech.net/ringcentral
"‘We Have to Talk’ Practical Steps to Make Difficult Career Conversations Easier"
"‘We Have to Talk’ Practical Steps to Make Difficult Career Conversations Easier"
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Session: ‘We Have to Talk’ Practical Steps to Make Difficult Career Conversations Easier
Often people avoid having difficult conversations or are simply overwhelmed by the prospect of having one. Sara will share practical steps she has learned over her career to address some common hard conversation stressors and ways to make these discussions less contentious and more productive. She will address tactics for different audiences, such as employee vs employer; how to prepare; timing; and how to ensure that both you and the audience get what you want and need from the conversation.Key Takeaways
- Tactics during the conversation to make things easier
- What to look for in a retrospective from these talks
- Prep for difficult conversations
Bio
Sara is a Principal Engineering Manager with a history in R&D. As a key member of CSE, Sara leads a worldwide engineering team that partners with customers’ engineers to help solve some of their toughest challenges. In addition to solving complex problems and working closely with customers, Sara focusing on helping engineers grow and develop in their careers. She is a passionate mentor; she looks forward to spending time with her mentees and appreciates what she learns from them. Before joining the CSE team, Sara was the site director for Microsoft’s New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA. She has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Math and lives near Boston with her husband and two children.