I’ve been talking to my grandson Ethan these past several weeks about his career path. He’s been working in the non-profit sector and is looking to make a change. He is looking at a for-profit role and is also considering education and teaching. He’s a communication major out of college and a stint with a professional sports team would be cool as well as exploring the hospitality industry.

What is so great about Ethan and his opportunities is that he is considering a variety of choices, all of which would provide him diverse experiences that would fuel his next step in what will definitely be an interesting and successful career.

What makes our careers successful is not the longevity in a role but the diversity of the roles. Gaining knowledge from new experiences is much more powerful than taking a class or attending a conference, yet many organizations still insist that the key to develop their team members is to send them off to yet another training program.

My Career Map, which we discuss in Strategy Driven Leadership, shows my work experiences and the ups and downs I’ve faced in what has been a rather exciting and fun career. The greatest learnings for me occurred in the face of adversity where I had to overcome some kind of challenge—shifts in healthcare funding when I co-owned a healthcare company, helping to address a turnaround situation with the company that acquired our business, and finally when I got laid off from my last corporate role and which thankfully led me back to solo consulting.

Your Assignment This Week: Draw your career map and track the progress of your ups and downs. See where and how you learned the most and how those events propelled your career forward the most.

BTW, just a little more than a month before the release of Strategy Driven Leadership. You can preorder the book here. Whether you are a leader wanting to do your best to develop your leadership cadre or are an established or aspiring leader looking for the secrets on how to advance your career, this book will give you that information! We have our preview chapter to share with you, so send us your email address!

© Richard Citrin, All rights reserved, 2019