Catherine Brune has come a long way. Originally hired by Allstate as a keypunch operator, today she is the company's CIO, responsible for the Fortune 100 company's information technology and the more than 6,000 people who build and maintain them.

The path to achieving executive status at one of the country's largest insurance providers wasn't a straight line, but Brune attributes each step as part of the experience that shaped her into the leader she is today.

"I began my career at Allstate in an entry-level position," said Brune. "Today I look back on that and I think how valuable that was for me, because I learned this company from the ground up. I know where insurance rates come from, and I actually know how to use a rate manual. I had the opportunity to sit in a lot of different seats because I was just willing to take that next step. For me, it was an ongoing leap of faith."

Brune found that her rise through the company would challenge her on many levels, both personal and professional, and it would also inspire change and adaptation that were necessary to further develop her career.

Truth Hurts-and Helps

Coaching and leading your former peers can be a difficult transition. But Brune says she learned an important lesson early on: personal loyalties must be set aside, not only for the good of the company, but for the good of the people you're working with. Brune stresses that feedback is a gift, and that sometimes it's the negative feedback that helps people improve.

"You can't just slough that off and say, 'Oh, you're my good friend so I'm not going to encourage you to raise the bar,'" she said. "You can't do that. It's not fair to them, and it's not fair to the company that's entrusted you to develop leaders and encourage people to set their sights high and be successful. That's a valuable lesson to learn as you come up the ladder."

Brune took a major leap of faith when she decided to leave the comfort zone of her home in Columbia, South Carolina and move to Allstate's headquarters in the Chicago metro area. "When I had the opportunity to go do something different, I jumped at it, because after the first or second move, you really start to realize how much you expand yourself and your own personal development," she said. "I look at where I have come to in my life and how I have grown personally. I'm a very different person. And yet, I can still go back to those roots and be very happy."

Brune fondly remembers her father telling her that if he had two children, one in prison and the other in Chicago, that he would spend every dime he had to get the one out of Chicago. But she knew that making that leap would only help her grow.

"I had to take the risk," she said. "It's a belief in yourself. You have to believe that you can be successful, or you wouldn't put yourself through this. You gain that confidence and you decide, 'Okay. I'm going to go and I'm going to go again. I'm going to go try that. I want to be successful.' And then success brings success."

Of course Brune has had to make the little sacrifices that go along with being a working mother. But she understands that her career choice has been right for her, and that her children have learned valuable lessons from her lifestyle as well.

"You can't be at every party at school, and you can't be the lunchroom mom because you made a different choice," she said. "It's important to me to support the lunchroom moms, because that's the choice they made and I appreciate their efforts and commitment to our schools and children. And yet, I want my daughter and son to understand that if I don't participate in certain things, it's not because I don't want to be there. I'll still be there for the big things."

As Brune's responsibilities grew-as did the number of employees reporting to her-she learned that keeping an open dialogue with people could be challenging. But she feels it is still the most effective and important way to maintain a solid working environment. She takes advantage of every opportunity to spend time with employees and often packs the cafeteria with hundreds of workers to give people the opportunity to ask questions, share thoughts, and raise concerns.

"People ask great questions," she said. "If they don't believe a word you're saying, they'll tell you. You have to make the time to talk with people and really listen to what they're saying. Sometimes the air in executive offices can get pretty thin, and if you breathe too much of it you might start believing the wrong things."

Learning to Listen

She keeps communication channels open not only because it works, but because she learned along the way that listening was the most important component to every job. "Learning to really listen was one of the best lessons of my life," she said. "Early in my career I was one of these people that really dug in and learned bottom up, so it was hard to challenge me on the technique or the technical facts. I always thought I had it figured out but realized through my failures when I wasn't really listening."

On the topic of those failures, she added, "There were so many times when people would look at me and say, 'You know, I tried to tell you that.' And I'd say, 'Well, why didn't you knock me upside the head with it?' 'Because you weren't listening.' I think those are the times you grow, because all of a sudden you learn that if you had listened better-you would've done something very different."

Brune's approach to her career has taught her how to spot other potential leaders. She says that it is not always based on a job well done, but rather on what an employee is willing to do, on going the extra mile when it's not necessary, and how eager and enthusiastic they are to learn, take risks, and grow.

"I spend time watching what people do other than just their job," said Brune. "You know, it sounds like little stuff. But those are the leaders who emerge, the ones who want to do more than what they're doing today. Who's stepping up and taking on a piece of a project that doesn't have anything to do with what their skills or what their job calls for? Make sure you recognize them when they step up, because then they step up again."

What makes a true leader is not always definable, and the circumstances that create them are always changing. "I read a lot about whether a leader can be made or whether they're born leaders," she said. "It's a great question. I do know that I didn't come into this world a leader. Somebody had to help me see what I had that made me a good leader, something they saw in me that made them think, 'You know what? She can lead.'"