Page 32 - Free Yourself From

Taking Action for Knowing and Being Yourself 15

Your Career and Fulfillment Starts with You!

Leadership, as we discussed, starts with knowing who you are. It
calls for a commitment for you to become critically aware of your
makeup from all perspectives and dimensions (strengths, weaknesses,
values, internal and external motivations) and then shaping a career
path and development plan to get there. Sometimes we find ourselves
in a place where our job is not fulfilling, we are frustrated or even
doubting ourselves. We are handed a career plan by our boss and it’s
not really where we want to go or be, or it is not playing to our
strengths. So much of that can lead to internal conflict and dissatis-
faction. Don’t forget that a development plan should be coactive with
you and your boss. We can sometimes get ourselves in a hole or on
the wrong track if we expect the organization to shape and form our
career direction. The more aware you are of yourself, the more
equipped you will be to take the right steps, have the “right” con-
versation, and take control of your own career destiny.

The Process of Getting to Know Yourself

At SHAMBAUGH, we have a number of integrated tools, solutions,
and programs we use to help leaders develop key insights into their
emotions, ways of thinking, habits, character traits, and results, and
to help them apply those insights to their work. We hope these exer-
cises invite people to see their work from a new point of view and
themselves in a different way. Below are abbreviated, self-directed
versions of some of these exercises to get you started on building
your own self-awareness.
To begin, I will take you through a process where you will eval-
uate your behaviors and skills and see which serve your current ambi-
tions and which might be holding you back. You’ll also look at your
self-image and some of your beliefs, and compare and contrast your