Asking Yourself These 2 Questions Will Keep Your To-Do List In Check, According to a Top Exec

Danielle du Toit is someone who wants to know what drives you. Whether you work on her team or simply find yourselves seated next to one another on a plane, du Toit believes that everyone has a “super power,” and she’s passionate about helping others unearth what exactly theirs is.

“I am fascinated by watching people discover the areas where they are powerful and the places where they have ‘X-ray vision,’ which I define as the things that come to someone so easily, they don’t even know it’s a skill,” she said. 

As President of SeatGeek Enterprise, a mobile-focused ticket platform, that’s a passion she gets to apply to her job daily. Overseeing such a wide variety of businesses — from product and marketing to sales and operations — means that du Toit gets to work closely with “bright, dedicated humans” from across company functions. And getting to hone in on those individuals’ unique strengths is something she says she finds her greatest joy in.

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“It’s an amazing phenomenon how when you focus on those strengths, your team flourishes as a result,” she said. “I have also learned that if you have high expectations of your team members and you trust them, they always surprise you. They always deliver more than you thought possible.”

A whole lot is currently being delivered at SeatGeek, a company that du Toit says is “changing an industry” within the space of live events. Of course, pioneering innovation while simultaneously ensuring that those underneath you are “growing and feeling empowered” requires a pretty rigorous degree of prioritization. Du Toit has learned some tricks, though, that help her stay on top of it all. 

She recently shared those with Fairygodboss (hint: her favorite prioritization hack involves asking yourself two questions), as well as the top qualities she looks for in candidates. Here’s what she had to say.

How long have you been in your current role, and what were you doing previously? 

I’ve been in this role just over seven months. Previously, I worked for a digital marketing technology company and oversaw all that was post-sales, with a really large global team who implemented and took care of thousands of clients around the world.

Describe what you do in one sentence. 

Today, I own all of the Product, Marketing, Sales, Relationship Management, Services, Support and Operations for SeatGeek Enterprise.

How do you prioritize and deal with your to-do list each day?

The goal is to ensure that your to-do list is something that serves you instead of something that controls you. And that truly is a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly process. It’s not easy — and yet, it is essential. How I approach that is by keeping the following in mind:

1. What’s important? We will always have a lot of “stuff” to accomplish, but what are your big goals and how does this to-do list item contribute to those big goals?

2. Is this a now or a not-now item? Or is this something you completely delete from your list?

How would you describe your leadership style?  

While there are many styles of leadership, I think in the end what’s important is to remember you’re simply leading a group of humans who are focused on achieving a shared goal. The key part there being “humans.”

I get great joy from figuring out the strengths of my team and working with those strengths to drive incredible results. It’s an amazing phenomenon how when you focus on those strengths, your team flourishes as a result.

I have also learned that if you have high expectations of your team members and you trust them, they always surprise you. They always deliver more than you thought possible.

What’s one thing you think young job seekers should know about your company? What about those who are in a more advanced career stage? 

We are a place to be if you are interested in changing an industry. That’s never an easy thing to do, but the muscles you develop mentally and emotionally as you work on stuff that isn’t easy — that’s incredible. And this company is full of bright, dedicated humans who will change the industry and change the nature of live events for every human — both those who are attending live events and those who are putting them on.

How have you used your role to help bring up other women behind you? How do you build time into your schedule for this kind of work? 

Helping others grow their career is something I don’t need to schedule into my calendar. It is something I am deeply passionate about, whether you are on my team, in my company or sitting next to me on a plane. I am fascinated by watching people discover the areas where they are powerful and the places where they have ‘X-ray vision,’ which I define as the things that come to someone so easily, they don’t even know it’s a skill.

What’s something you’re really good at at work?

Making big problems into smaller problems. Something I truly love is to take what looks like an impossible problem and, with a few people and a whiteboard, solve that problem.

Also, looking after humans is a skill of mine. I really care about my team, and I care about them growing and feeling empowered.

What about outside of work? 

I am not sure about “good,” but I love to cook, read and paint. I really love color. People always seem to laugh at my color-coded books, but I think of books by their color more than by their title.

What are the top three qualities you look for when you’re interviewing a candidate? 

For a long time, I have believed that all someone needs is aptitude and attitude. And it’s still comes down to those two things. Can someone understand complex concepts, and are they “willing” — whether that means being willing to solve, to work with other people, to smile when things are tough, to be fair, and to communicate.

Why do you think your company is a particularly supportive work environment for women?

We are really focused on working with our entire company to drive change, acceptance, fairness and equality.

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