Some Other Beginning's End

Nearly 8 years ago I embarked on a journey that would change the course of my life. I was a business analyst with Manpower Group based out of Wisconsin. My responsibilities were to create monthly and quarterly reports for our customers using Excel and Cognos. One day I was introduced to this software that nobody at my company was using, Tableau, and did I want to use the license. Yes, was my immediate answer. It was that decision which started me on a path I could not have anticipated. It eventually lead me 2,000 miles away to Seattle.

Tableau changed how I viewed and used data. It was the technology that fed my six sigma greenbelt project due to it's efficiencies. But what it really did was make me a better analyst for my customers. I'm not writing to tell you about that, though. I know each of you is capable of doing the research to see what the product does. The purpose of writing this is to tell you after 8 years on this amazing ride, it's closing time and I'm starting a new journey.

Where am I going? You'll have to wait and see! Patience. But if you've been following me for a while you know that my twin passions are education and data literacy. The two go hand in hand, and I believe there needs to be more voices out there talking about it. Perhaps it's because my journey with Tableau was to become more data literate, I see the need amplified even more. In the interim, I'm taking a break. It's been a long, strange ride, in the best of ways, and I'm going to enjoy some well earned down time.

What I want to leave you with are my top 6 tips for career growth:

1. Never stop learning. Never stop growing, seek out new areas to evolve, and ways to develop or grow your existing skill set. Find new skills that excite you, and be willing to put the time in.
2. Be uncomfortable and make occasionally hard decisions. Where you are today will not be where you are tomorrow, but you have to be open to that. Change is hard, and as people, we are naturally resistant to it. If you don't though, you risk that your growth will potentially stagnate.
3. Be your own biggest fan. You have to believe in yourself and know that you can move forward, and sometimes you are the ONLY one moving yourself forward, you cannot depend on others to do that for you. Many will support you on that path, but you are the motor propelling yourself forward.
4. Be Kind. Kindness will get your further every single time, and kindness will always allow you a safe place to go back to. Ruthlessness never wins in the end.
5. Be true to your core values. I know what I want, and what I don't want, and I have reached a point where I want to work with those that align to my core values, or challenge me as to why I hold the values I do. This truly is the path to happiness career wise or personally.
6. Do not be afraid to challenge the status quo. There will be moments where your point of view is not the shared majority, and that's ok. Stand firm in what you know, but back up what you believe with information to support it before you challenge it. You know more than you think you do.

Farewell my friends, for now, I'll see you on the other side.