Why Career Shifts Feel Urgent

In my last episode, I had a great conversation with Felicia McDonald. We reflected on her experience shifting from a large corporation to taking on leadership of a very small e-commerce company. One key change was when she shifted from leading 120 team members to leading only five and also taking on the operational responsibility for that new organization. That definitely is a change in a career path. After talking with Felicia, I kept thinking about how so many people are seeking their next role right now. Maybe there's a layoff, or maybe you're just looking for your next opportunity. I realized that I had talked through this topic after my very first interview with Teresa Gutierrez. She also talked about a career transition, and I reflected on the power of choosing your own career path. I'm sharing that episode with you today for a new reason. My conversation with Teresa was about changing the focus of your career. Her move was from HR to sustainability. Felicia was talking about a shift from corporate to very small business. As I thought about it, I realized something. Mapping out your career path is thinking about you. Yes, gainful employment is important, and how you feel about going to work every day is also important. When you choose to drive that change in a way that serves you, I'd encourage you to take a look at you first. This episode covered some key points, things like what does success look like for me? What skills or strengths do I want to use? What experiences am I craving that I'm not getting right now? Teresa and Felicia spoke to these questions in each of their individual interviews. Check out the show notes for the links to each of those episodes. I'd love for you to let me know how those questions affect your career decisions. Let's give a listen to that episode exploring the power of choosing your own career path. In the last episode, I spoke with Teresa about charting her own path. She chose sustainability and stepped away from HR. She mentioned that her boss offered the next rung in the ladder, and she did that with the best of intentions. It's just not what Teresa wanted. Let's talk about how that might be able to work for you. Ditching the corporate ladder for a more adventurous, self-defined career path is not for the faint of heart. The corporate ladder or any traditional path often gives you clear steps and expectations. But it can also feel rigid, uninspiring, or like you're living someone else's dream. Sometimes you change because you're craving more creativity or freedom. It can also be that you want to make a bigger impact or work on projects that align with your values. Or maybe you're just tired of playing by someone else's rules. Sound familiar? Choosing your own path may allow you to work on things you're passionate about, explore different industries or roles. You might create a more balanced lifestyle and who knows, maybe even be your own boss. Hi, I'm Becky. Welcome to Short Story Long. In this podcast, we discuss ways you can integrate who you are into how you lead. Today I am offering strategies for building your skills as a leader. Let's break down what it takes to design your own future and pursue it. If you're ready to step off the beaten path, you may need to start by defining what the experience would actually mean to you. You may not have all the answers yet, but you can ask yourself, what does success look like for me? What skills or strengths do I want to use? What experiences am I craving that I'm not getting now? Once you've got a clear vision, you can map out the steps to get there, even if that map is a little messy. Mine was plenty messy since I had a straw man when I took the leap instead of a true business plan. In fairness, I had not only chosen a direction, I was also leaving where I was. This may be a do what I say and not what I did moment. I encourage you to think about what exactly is prompting you to look in a different direction. Moving based on fear of what is is usually not as successful as building for what you want. That said, when you choose your own path, you're signing up for uncertainty. Things won't go as planned, and that's okay. The trick is to embrace experimentation, try different things, learn as you go, and adjust when necessary. For me, I knew I wanted to do coaching. Because I was burned out on HR things, I specifically decided I didn't want to do HR consulting. Over time, I wasn't as resistant to talking about HR topics, though I never did go back to advising or consulting. Still, those skills were transferable. How people lead, how people think, how they work with one another, all of those things and experiences that I had while I was an HR person, they absolutely inform my coaching questions when I'm working with clients today. Teresa talked about that too. In Teresa's experience, she was looking back at a risk that she had taken in her career that worked out in a positive way. It gave her the belief and the confidence that if she could do it once, she could do it a second time. So some of them are knowledge skills and some of them are experience skills. Thinking about that new path might incorporate both kinds. One thing you will want to have absolutely solid is your support team. The trick is to make sure they check you when you go too far, while also supporting you when you feel low and experience doubts. Going off the beaten path can feel lonely at times. Surround yourself with people who get it. Find mentors who've been there and taken a leap before. You may even want to join communities of like-minded professionals, especially in the space and in the topics where you're heading. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Everyone needs a lift every now and then. Of course, there are still risks. Stepping away from an existing career path may mean compromising on stability. Things like paychecks, benefits, and a clear promotion path. You will also get introduced to the fear of failure in a new way. You will face setbacks or make mistakes. But here's the thing: failure is just data, it's information you can use to make better decisions next time. One of the things that you can be thinking about is that vision of what you need for your total compensation. Sometimes stepping in a new direction means less compensation, but not always. Get your data, get your facts, and have a clear vision of what your value is as you move into a new direction. That's part of setting those realistic expectations and knowing what you actually want to achieve. Another key thing is gathering that support team and celebrating those small wins along the way. It can be hard to wait for the big success, so find the little ones and just rock it out with your friends and colleagues in whatever way that you need to. It's not all risks. There are benefits too. Why else would you do it if there weren't benefits? By choosing your own path, you open yourself up to a world of possibilities. You can discover hidden talents, you can build a diverse skill set, and you can find work that truly lights you up. You get to design what you want and let it evolve from there. When you're in the driver's seat, you have the power to say yes or no to opportunities. You can design a career that works with your life, not against it. And when you're doing work that feels meaningful, it's easier to stay motivated even on those tough days. I know that for me, what is possibly a tough day for me today might have actually felt equivalent to some of the good days that I had in my corporate life. If you've been feeling stuck or uninspired, maybe it's time to consider your own adventure. It won't be perfect and it might be a little scary. Okay, it'll probably be a little scary, but it could also be the most rewarding decision you make. Look for moments to try something new and feel the boost from the innovation. One way to manage that fear of failure is to imagine what failure might look like. Sometimes if we don't define what failure really is to us, then we might assign failure to something that was actually successful in a different way than you expected. So for example, you go off, you find the opportunity, you get the role, you get into it, and you go, huh, this isn't so awesome. Maybe it's six months, a year, two years that you spend in that kind of role, and suddenly you're recognizing that you need to make a change again. Maybe it's a change back, maybe it's a change in a new direction. But that wasn't wasted time. That was time that you learned new skills, new capabilities, and frankly met new people. Now, as you consider going off into a new direction, you have even a stronger, deeper, broader foundation from which to build. Thanks for listening. If you found this episode helpful, share it with someone who could benefit from it. Until next time, I'm Becky Fraser, reminding you to integrate who you are with how you lead. Okay, bye.