I’ve had inspiring news from an experienced executive client with whom I’ve done personal branding and resume creation. She was excited to tell me that she was recently accepted into a highly-selective program at a major university – a program designed to help women executives create viable new businesses in technology.
I am surprised, yet not surprised. Through our branding work we discovered that she’d always been an ‘intrapreneur’ – an entrepreneur within organizations. My client was the person you could call upon to get any mission critical project done, in any part of the organization. Whatever needed doing, she could make it happen.
Her company was sold and she took a buy-out. She searched, and had offers, but she found it difficult to replicate the culture that had allowed her the intrapreneurial freedom and breadth of responsibility she craved. Disheartened, she wondered if she’d have to settle for a job that was just not her ideal. That’s when she discovered the university program.
Since joining the program only a few months ago, all that has changed. She’s crystallized her focus and partnered with two women to start a company that will manufacture a new device that will be instrumental in restoring quality of life to certain medical patients.
She’s decided to end her job search, build the new company, and do philanthropic work in her community. She’s bubbling with enthusiasm and happier than I’ve ever seen her.
It’s funny how branding works – I’ve had three executive clients in the past few years completely change their lives after going through the brand discovery process and developing a resume.
Each was highly successful, each received multiple job offers, yet each stopped looking for a job. Each is now doing something radically different, yet completely-on brand. And each is happy and fulfilled.
They tell me that the personal branding process put them in touch with themselves in a way that never would have happened had they not taken time from their busy lives and jobs to do so. They slowly but surely realized that their jobs were not providing important components to their fulfillment and happiness. And the impact of that understanding became so pronounced that it could not be denied or ignored.
They tell me that they learned that the risky thing was not doing something new and untested; it was settling for doing the same thing again.
Does my client with the fledgling business have job security? Nope. Are she and her partners taking a risk? Sure. Is she on-brand and happy? Oh, yeah! For this new entrepreneur, the bigger risk was NOT taking the risk.
She is living a dream she didn’t even know she had. Are you ready to find your dream?
Comments