Professional lesson: Understand deeply interactions and dependencies of your discipline with the rest of the organization and be able to quantify the impact of your efforts. I learned that while I might have a good idea of what my function does, sometimes the rest of the organization might have a limited understanding. If you want them to understand the value you bring into the workplace, first it is important to educate them on the boundaries of your role and make it easy to work with you. Second, quantifying the impact your efforts is critical. It's probably the most challenging aspect of the process, but there is a huge opportunity once you find a way.

Personal lesson: Don't be afraid of asking hard questions. Asking good questions results in getting the right answers, but asking hard questions results in making the right decisions. 

Professional lesson: Establishing effective communication channels should take precedence. I learned that establishing effective communication channels with cross-functional teams trumps all the rest, and if you want to be considered a leader, you need to learn to take the pressure (responsibility, blame) off your team and provide them with room to fix whatever went wrong. I also worked on major launch campaigns and brand/site redesign, learned the art of writing soft-spoken/nice emails, and was irrationally excited about the company overview video that I worked on.

Personal lesson: Know your BATNA. It is important to ask for what you want and also understand that negotiation isn't just a part of professional life. Learning to negotiate in personal relationships makes life better in general