Learn from Meta’s Lianne Dehaye How to Manifest Your Goals

“I’m a big fan of manifesting. You need to have clarity in life. Some people struggle with this. I’ve always been singular about my goal. You must manifest in the sense that you got to tell people what your goal is.”

This is Lianne Dehaye’s stance on her life and career path, which has seen her to where she is now. Having worked for 9 years in Meta, Lianne is now their Business Planning and Operations Lead (APAC).

However, a long time ago, she was just a young woman in Philippines who wanted to leave the country.

Big Dreams

While she is at the top of the game in Meta now, Lianne’s very first job was as a graphic designer for a company in Manila, where she made stickers for companies. She told herself then that she wanted to get out of the country by 25. Fuelled by this goal, she constantly improved on herself, taking exams for language proficiencies and later an MBA at IE Business School in Madrid. She had several jobs, being a Product Trainer for AT&T Customer Service and Assistant Training Manager for IBM Global Process before finding a big break with Google and then finding her way to Meta.

Life at Meta

Meta is a mission-driven company and Lianne says that small things have a big impact when you work there. By helping clients unlock something in their business, you are not only helping them but also a network of people. Everyone is connected in some way, Lianne explains, all the people around you, friends, and families, on Meta. For her, this is something that is fulfilling.

While Lianne is now the Business Planning and Operations Lead (APAC) at Meta, it was not always smooth sailing for her. When she first started, she struggled during her first 2 years there. The greatest challenge she faced was the how to strike work-life balance.

“I worked for 14 hours a day,” Lianne shares. Back in those days, she was already married to her husband but they did not have children, which she says gave her little purpose in life beyond work. “We were like roommates,” she says about her husband with a laugh. “I would be working, and he would be working.”

As Lianne progressed in Meta, she steadily got promoted. She eventually took up the position of the Global Creative Experiments & Activation Lead. However, looking back, she considers her time as part of the global team “the worst time of her life”. During that time, her health suffered, she gained weight, and she had two kids but no nanny. Her life then was strictly regimented—she would drop off her kids, go to work, pick up her kids, then prepare dinner. She slept at 2am and would wake up at 5am. Additionally, when working in a global team, she had to keep odd hours to accommodate overseas colleagues and clients.

Eventually, this lifestyle started to take a toll on her. Lianne realised that it was becoming detrimental to her mental and physical health. It was then that she discovered the importance of self-care and started taking breaks. Lianne says that rather than the company, the problem with work-life balance often lies with people and the pressure to perform as a new person or newly promoted person that they inflict on themselves.

At Meta, they encourage employees to take better care of their mental health. For example, when you take a leave day, your work continues to pile up even when you are not in the office as your colleagues are still working during that time. The company thus has “Meta days” where everyone stops work at the same time so that no work piles up. Lianne also says that people have gotten more respectful of meeting blocks such as having no meetings on Fridays.

How to Get to Where You Want to Be

A goal is a goal because it is something you aspire to achieve when you are not there yet. When you set a goal, you also must plan how to get there. Often, for a career goal, it involves getting into a company or getting to a position you want. Lianne’s advice on how to do this is to start by asking yourself two questions.

First, what is the gap between what you know and what you should know for the job you want? Is this gap addressable by learning? It never hurts to learn new skills to level the playing field between you and the others competing for the same job. However, for example, if you were to start learning to code today, it is hard to compete with those who started learning before you.

This brings us to the second question: Do you have social currency ? This refers to the network of people that you have, meaning who you know and how they can help you achieve your career goals. Lianne says that whether you get hired or not often depends on who you know in the company. Hiring managers often want plug-and-play solutions for the roles they are hiring for. “If they don’t know you, they won’t take a chance on you,” says Lianne.

If you lack the skills or the social currency, the only way to impress hirers is to prove that you can do the job. Lianne says that you have to be “doing the job before doing the job”. Show your future employers your work through your portfolio and achievements. If you coded an app or a website, show it to them. This was how Lianne excelled in her interview with Google. She said that when she went in for her interview, she did the analysis, showed her work, and prepared a presentation showcasing an arsenal of projects she worked on.

Paying it Forward

As a mentor with Amazing Design People List (ADPList), Lianne aspires to help mentees get to where they want to be. Her view on mentorship is that a mentor is someone you look up to and, more importantly, choose for yourself. “People dream of their goals, but they don’t achieve it. They know the what but not the how,” Lianne explains. This is where a mentor comes in.

Lianne manages and was part of the hiring process for several people in Meta. She says that she took a chance on them just like how her own mentor took a chance on her. Mentoring others is her way of giving back. She says, “Sometimes you need one person to give back.” and that one person can make a significant change in someone’s life.

Lianne remarks that for female mentees, the roadblocks that they face are particularly hard because they often start from within. She says that female mentees’ negative thoughts are especially loud, and they do not negotiate for what they should have when they should. Her job as a mentor is to help them become bolder. “Fear is the only thing standing between you and your ambition,” she says. Once you can change your mindset, that makes a huge difference in how you start going for your goals.

Curbing Negativity in Women

Lianne’s says, “Women should be bold.” Her ambition is to be a female CEO and she tells everyone that. Role models are important, and she tries to be one for her children.

Tech companies, she says, are all very “woke” nowadays. They are concerned with having representation and diversity in their company. They try to attract female talent, but often the problem lies with the culture that already exists in the company, which is not suitable for grooming female talent.

Toxic masculinity is one of the problems that exists in some areas in tech. Lianne recounts a time when a male candidate she was interviewing came in and asked her to make a coffee, extra hot. He was an immediate no-hire in her eyes. She asks the question: would he have treated her differently if she had been a man? She remarks that there are still men out there who would probably do the same in the candidate’s shoes.

Lianne admits that even she has had moments where she was part of the problem, and she is not proud of it. Once, as a hirer, she “lowballed” a female candidate because she knew that the candidate would not negotiate. Looking back, she feels guilty about the incident and asks herself why she optimised for a company instead of giving the candidate what she rightfully deserved. If she could go back to this moment, Lianne says that she would put the candidate in a better position. The key to changing a culture that is so ingrained in the industry can begin with the self.

Women need allies. Men should understand that they have a responsibility too. Lianne tells this to her husband, and, in return, he gives her the support she needs to thrive. He once encouraged her to negotiate for the maximum when she would initially have not. At home, Lianne entrusts their children to him when she needs time off. She says that she goes completely “hands off” and leaves them to him a hundred percent. “It’s not going to be done the way you want but they will survive,” she says wryly.

Some mothers have a hard time letting go of control when the onus is so often on them to be the homemaker. Lianne says they become their own bottleneck, and this applies to both the home and at work. The mindset that other people will not do the job as good as you is selfish and stressful on the self. Lianne says that people should spend time on things that give them energy, rather than trying to do everything by yourself.

What would you tell your 20-year-old self?

“Sometimes it’s ok to have a diverse opinion. Don’t be afraid to go after what you want. We choose to believe in ourselves that we can do it.”

Even now, Lianne wants to grow. She says that she always has a goal. She does not consider herself a creature of comfort, but rather is always optimising and planning her next steps to achieve her dream of being a CEO. Often, this means making bold decisions and moves.

“Once you find the ceiling, it is time to go,” Lianne says. Her boss once told her that she can and ought to be selfish when it comes to her goals. “Even if you dedicate yourself to the company, the company may not prioritise you,” he said to her. Take what you can from the company, the knowledge and experience that you have built up, the valuable ties you have made with the people in your time there, and the tools to fulfil your goals. The next step is to fill the gaps in your toolbox to help you build the next step to your goals.

“Keep your eyes on your goal. Manifest it. Say it out loud and get it done,” Lianne emphasises. Once you realise that the power lies within you to reach your dreams, you can do anything—you just need to build the steps to get there.

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