The Secret to Becoming a Career Trailblazer
The path to career success is building one that capitalizes on your signature strengths and allows you to bring the best of your brilliance to work. You know you are on a momentum building, forward-moving career trajectory when:
You can take full ownership of your role with confidence.
You are known and visible in the areas where you can bring your brilliance.
Your accomplishments are celebrated in ways that make you feel recognized.
You are excited about your work.
You have opportunities to grow, lead, or spread your wings to soar to even greater heights.
Your work still challenges you and stretches you.
Sounds amazing, right? But if you’re not quite on this path, how you get right on it? Playing to your strengths is one of the fastest paths to a fulfilling, purposeful career that allows you to bring your special gifts and talents to the table in ways that your organization values.
Play to Your Strengths
Many women are so used to having their potential downplayed, their voices silenced, or their viewpoints shoved to the side that they end up in roles where they bear the brunt of the grunt work without the visibility or recognition they deserve for the things they can bring to the table. In effect, they become indispensable for work that undervalues their potential. It is also likely that they are not engaging their strengths.
To flip the script, women have to take control of their brand narrative and be intentional about building a personal brand that showcases the brilliance they wish to be known for. It starts with knowing your strengths, engaging them in your work, and ensuring that you get the credit for what you contribute.
How to Thrive in Your Talents
Think of your signature strengths as a platform from which you can maximize, rise, and thrive. Gaining clarity about your strengths gives you the foundation for designing a strategic career plan. But perhaps more importantly, knowing your strengths gives you the confidence to define your career on your terms.
When I coach women on designing a strategic, career trailblazing brand, we work on three pillars simultaneously: her signature strengths, her passions, and her values. With this trifecta solidly in place, she is then well-positioned to strategically craft her brand narrative.
Benefits of Having a Strong Career Brand
When you are clear about your career brand and the strengths you need to leverage to bring your brilliance to the fore, a few more things fall into place:
1. You know which roles to say yes to and which ones to turn down.
2. You know which project to volunteer for.
3. You have a better sense of what new skills to acquire, or what additional qualifications you can work towards.
4. You are clear on whom to enlist as mentors and champions.
The clarity and confidence you gain in this process are game-changing. When you can identify, embrace, engage, and maximize your signature strengths, and fold these into your brand identity, my friend you will be well on your way to becoming a career trailblazer.
Natalie Jobity, MPhil, MBA, ACC, founder of The Unveiled Way, is a leadership and career coach, consultant, brand strategist, bestselling author, mentor, speaker, and facilitator who has earned a reputation as "The Brilliance Unveiler." She empowers female leaders to live in the fullness of their purpose and unveil their brilliance by leveraging the power of their strengths, expertise, and distinctiveness, so they make transformative impact in their sphere of influence.
Visit Natalie’s website to learn more about how she partners with leaders with her signature “Unveil Your Brilliance” program and her "Brand Your Biz Like a Boss" consulting service. While you’re there, join her Unveiled community and pick up your complimentary copy of her "Empowered to Lead: Seven Strategies to Help You Become a More Impactful Leader" guide.