Who do you want to be?

This past week I attended a 6 day long leadership institute in Los Angeles hosted by the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values (AFLV) Conference. Needless to say, I learned A LOT, and as cheesy as it sounds, it changed my life. :)

One of the things that continues to resonate with me (maybe because it is imprinted on the back of the shirt we got...) is a very simple and yet complex question, "Who do you want to be?"

Prior to this institute, you asked me this question and I would quickly reply with a long confusing roundabout answer of where I've always pictured myself career-wise and why but how that's changing and now I don't know... -_-

But as we began the discussion of deciphering the question I realized there was more to this question than the simple WHO you want to be and answering with a possible career choice. The concept of integrity and being true to our core values continued to emerge time and time again. (Integrity we then defined as when your values, thoughts and behaviors are in alignment. The topic of values is another complex conversation we will leave for another blog post...) By the end of the conversation and with the clearer concept of what the question was actually asking we all discovered who we wanted to be as individuals and how we wanted to be remembered: as people and leaders who lived out our values in everything we did, living with integrity in our leadership positions, future careers, with friends and family, etc.

Reflecting on this question more I thought it appropriate as career advice and wanted to share with you guys because we often get caught up on on being who someone else wants us to be or living out someone else's values.

I challenge each one of you to decipher this question for yourself taking into consideration what your core values are and how you can represent them with integrity. This will also help you whether you are still questioning your career choice, considering a change in career or simply need a morale/energy boost in the career you've had for years now.

Don't be afraid to think about it... ;)

~Rosie