There Is No Perfect Path

One of the major roadblocks to career growth, is operating on the assumption or belief that there is a perfect career, one magic job or profession that someone should be in, and that if it could be identified, would be the solution to everything. Or, it's the dream job at a Google or Tesla, so far from where they are currently as to be like a Mount Everest to their basic hiking capabilities.

So, in the absence of finding the perfect career (aka right answer), people stay p…

There's more to career growth than aspirations and goals. These four key career growth questions provide a grounded foundation for pursuing those professional goals. I had an excellent intake meeting this week with a Career Growth Program member, someone fully embedded in one company and his leadership role. He had enrolled in the program not because he intends to move jobs but rather with a view to having more influence over what happens in his 50's and beyond. The thought process of our intake…

The YOU In Your Brand

I get to work with fascinating and inspiring clients. And a lot of what we do together as part of personal branding is making sense of the various threads of their stories. How they got here. What they offer. And where they’re going. I was meeting with a client this week who in addition to having built up a not-for-profit, has both an unusual early professional background and a rich, extra-curricular artistic life. The question:

How much of HER can and should go into her pers…

Stop Diminishing the Impact of that Valuable Visit to Your LinkedIn Profile

There's a LinkedIn feature that in most cases does you no good, and may even harm the overall impression you're making on your LinkedIn profile. You can't see it when your editing or viewing your profile. And you have no control over it. What it looks like on your profile is only discoverable if you view your profile from someone else's account. That is, the Viewers of this profile also viewed setting.

What's the problem w…

Are you paying attention to the newly designed experience section in your LinkedIn Profile?

Why the bar has been raised (again) on the market's expectations of your profile

LinkedIn's new interface puts a lot of attention on your current experience via three changes.

• They default your Summary content to closed (only showing two-lines of content)

• They default your non-current / older work experience to closed (needs to be clicked to see what's there)

• And they've defaulted your current experience co…

My daughter is learning to drive and I found myself in the passenger seat this morning gripping the armrest as we approached in traffic a tricky, double-lane, 100-degree curve.

My daughter is working through the very natural tendency to have too much confidence in situations with hidden danger and not enough confidence and decisiveness in the situations that require her to go for it. It’s easy to get it mixed up. Instead of caution, you drive too fast when more thought, preparation or awareness o…

Professional Gratitude

It can be very easy to get lost in the dark side of what’s not going well. What could you be grateful for right now in your professional life? For me, I’m feeling grateful on a variety of fronts and excited and energized by the work that I get to do. The Career Growth Program now has customers going through their first month with great feedback and there are more about to start. I’m working with some talented and interesting clients and I’m grateful for the trust they besto…

Professional Investing

When it comes to your personal development and professional development, long experience tells me that results come from when you consistently invest in yourself and your career. To not invest in yourself is like floating down a fast river without a paddle, map or knowledge of what’s around the next bend. Things may go fine for a while, but at some point, you’re going to realize you made a giant mistake. To avoid such unforeseen disaster in your career, you need to invest i…