Career Journeys

Almost all of us have arrived at the airport and began a journey that involves flying.??For some it’s an easy and invigorating experience.??For others, it’s terrifying.??And for most, it’s a wide range in between.??Despite how we may feel about the experience, we make progress through the airport and eventually arrive at our gate to get boarded to find our seats.??We are on our way to the destination!?

The whole time we see a very linear path to our goal, the destination.??However, this is not always the case.??There are flight path changes based on other events, there are delays and layovers that are a necessity to the journey.??Sometimes our flight goes East heading North, or West before ending up South.??This can also be the case when we look at our career paths.

When we start our career path journey, we focus on our destination.??When we are children, we talk about "what we want to be when we grow up.”??We set our sights on the "destination job" like being a doctor, teacher, or ballerina, which is what I thought I would be. We never imagine all the hard work, setbacks, and different paths our career may take to get to our "destination" role.??We should never look at the journey as linear. Lateral, sideways, and even more moves that take you back to learn about how to move forward all teach us how to be better leaders.?

I once had a Director who was working for me that was struggling in the role, yet was a rock-star leader and performer in his previous role as a manager.??He was promoted too soon without enough experience to be successful in his role.??I talked to him and told him to trust me, and I moved him back to his previous role as a manager. Over the next 18 months, I had him learn more about how key groups around his organization played into the success of the team. I had him learn new leadership skills, and once he was confident and knew he would succeed, he was promoted back to Director. Now, he was back at the role he was struggling with, but this time he was leading the nation, not only in performance, but also customer and employee satisfaction!?

And just like when we set out on that trip and boarded that airplane, we didn’t anticipate the delays, layovers, or flight path changes.??Sometimes we don’t consider lateral moves or stepping into a role beneath ours, because it’s not moving in a linear path forward.???One of my role models always said “backing up is not backing down” - this principle applies here more than ever.

We don’t all know what our next step will be in our careers, yet I challenge you to think differently and remember the best journey is not always that straight line. Gain experience, back up, move sideways, and continue to grow and learn. Let your destination or north star be about loving what you do, being open to move, stop and change directions, and a life of learning and being committed to your values in all you do.??Happiness, learning, and love of what you do is paramount to success.??

Don’t let the fear of failure stop you in your journey.??In our own mind, our fears are far worse than reality tends to be.??Don’t be afraid to step into the airport and start your journey to the destination.??You will thank yourself in the future.????