Monday, December 30, 2013

2013: A Year of Growth – Part 3: Career

2014 is just around the corner and I can’t wait to see what it brings.  I just hope 2014 is as at least as good as or better than 2013 has been. Of course 2013 had its challenges, but through these challenges I have learned quite a bit about myself and the world around me.  These challenges definitely made me a better person. My experiences with my family, music, travel, and career all had challenges to overcome, but were all extremely rewarding to me in the end.  Over the next few days I will discuss each of these important areas of my life.

Career

At the beginning of 2013, I was starting to feel uneasy at work.  The team I was working with was growing fast.  There were a lot of great people joining our team and a great deal of opportunity for our team. However, as the year went on I felt that even though I was in a potentially great situation, I was making too many compromises in my career path.  I could clearly see that there was a lack of alignment between the direction my team was going and where I needed to go personally.  After the realization, I did my best to steer the position to be more in line with my preferred direction. Finally I realized the gap was still significant. 

During my summer vacation to Indiana, I had a lot of time to think.  I realized that I am not a young man any more.  I am in the prime time of my career, and need to continue the positive direction I had been making.  If I was much younger I might have allowed more time to seek alignment with my employer.  But supporting my family requires me to focus more than ever.  There was no time to waste.

Upon returning from vacation, I had 3 companies that was interested in working for contact me. All had new positions that were more aligned with my goals.  I was extremely blessed to have 2 of the 3 companies I offer me excellent positions.  I accepted one of the positions and got back on my career path.

After 3 months in the new position, I know I made the correct decision. I am on a great team.  Our leadership has a clear vision that will allow our team to directly impact the bottom line.  In addition, the leadership team really practices servant-leadership.  They allow our team the freedom to self-direct our work efforts for the most part.  They provide support where needed by helping us remove barriers and getting us connected with the appropriate people at the appropriate time.

I am extremely pleased to be part of my new team.  I was the last one to join, but they seem to really value the experience I am able to bring to the table.  I also enjoy that we are very diverse team in terms of age, experience, etc…  This is the first time I’ve had any teammates that were closer to my sons age than to my age.  They are extremely talented, so it’s a blast learning new things from them.

I can’t wait to see what will happen with my career in 2014. Next up, the most important aspect of my life. My family.

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