In the past 15-20
years, a dramatic change has taken place in the corporate world where the
traditional career ladder has been drastically altered. With globalization and
demographic influences, your career is no longer just looking for the next step
in the corporate ladder. You must be able to understand this new career
environment in order to continue moving into a fulfilling career. As the "The Start-Up of You" notes:
- "We are all
works in progress"
- "We call
this mind- set 'permanent beta'" (You are constantly reviewing your
current skills and opportunities and iterating to the next version of yourself)
- "Each day
presents an opportunity to learn more, do more, be more, grow more in our lives
and careers. Keeping your career in permanent beta forces you to acknowledge
that you have bugs, that there's new development to do on yourself, that you
will need to adapt and evolve."
We are in times of
uncertainty, and only when you take every opportunity to help others and
yourself, then and only then, will opportunity tap you on the shoulder.
Five years ago, I
was working in a large corporation, hoping that the massive layoff wave surfacing
in the company would not find me, but it did. In reflection, I realized that I
was hiding from my own ability to pivot to new opportunities. I was stuck until
the layoff wave wiped me out. After surfacing, I took steps every day to move
towards break-out opportunities:
- I joined
Toastmasters and learned how to confidently present in front of others (prior
to that I avoided presentations which was a detriment to career visibility)
- I joined IIBA (International Institute of Business Analyst) and from the confidence I gained in Toastmasters, I was able to step into the
Chapter President role of the Austin IIBA Chapter (again in the past I would
join groups but never step into leadership - confidence from Toastmasters lead
to confidence in leading a group.)
- I have helped
Austin IIBA Chapter to put together a professional development conference and
that will bring together peers in the business analyst community to meet and
help one another.
Tomorrow, when you
wake up, will you reflect and understand what you have to take to improve? to
help others? to begin making changes that influence a community through
leadership? I have started my Start-Up. Will you?
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