Be the CEO of Your Own Career

I like to think of summer as a season of transition. Many young people have recently graduated college and are searching for their first jobs. Early and mid-career professionals may be on vacation and using the time away from work to consider going for a promotion, switching jobs, or changing career paths. While hiring tends to slow during the summer, it is an ideal time to contemplate your future and what you should be doing right now to make it a reality.

Whether you are looking to take the next step professionally or if you are still looking to realize your ultimate career aspirations, here is my advice for reaching your potential in the workplace.

Take Charge of Your Own Professional Development

No matter where you are in your career, it is never too early or too late to focus on developing new professional skills. And no matter how busy you are at work or at home, you always need to prioritize learning and growth if you ever want to reach the next level and beyond.

As an executive leader with experience leading large organizations, I recognize that one person’s growth is a collective effort. Your organization, your leaders, your managers – they all share responsibility for your advancement.

However, I want to stress this point: You must take ownership of your own professional development. To be sure, an effective organization will create professional opportunities for you. Nevertheless, it is important for you to take charge of your career and be accountable to your self-development and be open to taking risks. No one will care more about your career than you.

Talk to human resources about what opportunities are available for you to learn new skills – and if they don’t have what you need, talk to them about building it from scratch or whether you can get it someplace else. Find people who have jobs that interest you and ask what capabilities you need to do what they do. Reflect on the skills you have and the ones you still need to develop. Reach out to people you admire and ask them to be your mentor or sponsor – or even to have a brief conversation.

Owning your professional development doesn’t mean that you can’t ask for help. On the contrary, when you accept personal responsibility, it should embolden you to ask for all the help you need to achieve your goals.

Choose a Path and a Purpose

One of the hardest parts of professional development, especially for early- to mid-career individuals, is uncertainty. How do you know what skills you need to develop if you don’t know what career path you want to pursue?

I struggled when I first started college because I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do with my life. When I chose to become a nurse, it gave me the direction I needed to start building the skills that I would rely on for the entirety of my career. Even though I ultimately left the nursing profession to become an executive leader, deciding on that initial path helped me ultimately find the one that would lead me to an immensely satisfying and rewarding career.

Choosing a path will also help you clarify something even more important – your purpose. In addition to thinking about the career you want, I encourage you to consider these questions:

• Who do you want to help?
• Where do you want to concentrate your efforts?
• What difference do you want to make in the world?

Identifying your purpose and your foundational values will help you make decisions and stay on track throughout your career.

Say “Yes” to New Opportunities

We often say that “fortune favors the bold.” I would add that fortune also favors the prepared.

During your career, you will never know exactly what opportunities will become available to you or which doors will open for you. However, you can always prepare in advance to seize them when they do.

That’s why professional development is so important. It is easier to say “yes” when you are offered a new management position if you had been working on your leadership skills all along. In fact, the more you prepare for a potential new opportunity by developing the skills and the network that will allow you to succeed, the more opportunities will come your way.

As I come to the end of my professional career and prepare for retirement next year, I remain even more convinced about how critical professional development is for all people. I hope you take time this summer to contemplate your career trajectory, focus on your professional development, and take care of yourself. After all, professional growth begins with personal wellness.?