Mucho gusto – It pleases me

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Reaching Your Potential

Competency: career management, self-development

Who benefits: those making or managing personal career choices

Consultant Usage: career counseling

What’s it about? This Harvard Business Review article is near and dear to my heart.  The article raises the question: Are you satisfied with your efforts and accomplishments, yet still have an annoying or aching sense that you are unfulfilled?  Is your sense of professional success determined by family, friends, and colleagues?  Worse yet, is your sense of professional success determined by what you think your family, friends and colleagues expect from you?

I plead guilty.  I plead guilty to making decisions about my life based on what I thought others might think of me.  There was a time when status, money and job title were my ambitions regardless of how satisfying the work or how happy I felt inside.  And as I look back now, I realize that none of my friends or family expressed anything but positive comments…all those “shoulds” were in my head, and my head alone.

What really attracted me to this article was the sub-heading: “Fulfillment doesn’t come from clearing hurdles others set for you; it comes from clearing those you set for yourself.”

As I read that I couldn’t help flashing back decades to a line from an old Ricky Nelson song (and if you remember Ricky Nelson make sure you are planning your retirement!) “You can’t please everyone, so you might as well please yourself.”

This article is about that mantra – what pleases you you.  What gives you fulfilment.  If your career isn’t going exactly where you want it to go or if you can at least can acknowledge a lack of professional satisfaction and fulfillment, this article is for you. 

If I had to summarize the article in less than a sentence, I would say that it is about reaching your potential rather than reaching the top. 

And that means some active career management.  If you need some, I urge you to read this article.  And even if you skip over some of the paragraphs, jump to the sidebar Career Counsel: Follow Your Own Path.  It is the best three paragraphs on career management I have ever read. 

I began this article by saying it was near and dear to my heart.  The article applies to those of us retired or semi-retired as well.  The article reinforces a decision I made a year ago to devote significant time in Southern town in Mexico working with children at a very poor school.  I assure you that no paycheck ever made me feel as good or as happy as being hugged at the end of the school day by a dozen or more third and fourth graders who don’t even speak my language!

Mucho gusto! 
[tags]career, managing your career, career management, reaching your potential, developing potential, self-development, fulfillment, robert kaplan, bill bradley, william bradley,  bradley[/tags]

 

 

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.