Randy Siegel builds the people who build organizations.
Organizations hire Randy to transform high-potential employees into a new generation of leaders. Randy gives them the leadership and communications skills they need to rise through the organization.
CEOs hire Randy to help them become more charismatic leaders, spokespeople, and ambassadors for the organizations they serve.
His work is based upon a proprietary process that facilitates self-discovery to clarify personal perspective, true purpose, and professional image.
For more information, contact: Randy@buildyourleaders.com
Phone: 828.236.0045
Toll Free:
888.836.0045
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A number of reporters have asked me to comment on how the economic slowdown is affecting executives. “Not as much as you would think,” I reply.
According to ExecuNet's "2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report," many executives – especially those in high tech, healthcare, business services, pharmaceutical and biotech, and energy and utilities -- are in the catbird’s seat due to an aging workforce and global economic growth.
The ExecuNet report is published annually to give corporate leaders, executive recruiters, and HR professionals proprietary employment market intelligence on key trends and developments affecting corporate leadership.
Recruiting and retaining of executive-level talent will remain "a challenging priority" in 2008, ExecuNet reports. More than 70 percent of search firms and corporate human resource professionals believe there is a shortage of executive talent, and two-thirds (67 percent) say the war for executive talent has intensified over the last year.
I found this statistic particularly surprising: approximately 40 percent of all employed executives report they are "not satisfied with their current jobs". "Boredom and a lack of advancement" are the most cited sources for their discontent. Only 12 percent of executives indicate compensation as why they’re looking to exit.
Finally there’s some good news regarding age discrimination: 71 percent of search consultants say their clients are "less focused on age than they were in prior years"; and 57 percent of corporate human resource executives say that when over 50, "the candidate’s age is not a negative factor in hiring decisions".
This month, we’ll look at the power of pursuing your passion.
The Power of Pursuing Your Passion
As much as I would like to be thought of as an insightful, inspirational guru (How about the "Oprah of the business world"?), I am anything but. If I am anything, I am a good permission-giver.
Increasingly I am learning that one of my primary functions as a communications and leadership coach is to give people permission to pursue their passion.
Just last month, I met with an amazing woman who was ready to take her life and career to the next level. Within fifteen minutes of our meeting, it was clear she already knew what she needed to do, and she knew where she wanted to do it.
When I asked her to describe her ideal job she was quick to answer, but when I asked her why she wasn’t doing that job now, she hesitated for a moment. "I am not sure," she admitted. We spent the next hour outlining a ten-step action plan for moving her closer to her dream job. She left my office walking on air. She is now doing what she was meant to do.
This week, I received a lovely e-mail from a woman whom I met briefly years ago. She wrote, "You once gave me a few minutes of your time, and helped me realize that I could let go of an endeavor I was failing at miserably. You gave me permission to pursue and discover my passion, not just stick with a career choice because I had invested a lot of time and money in it. I will forever be grateful for those few minutes that you invested in me, Randy." I offered no great insight; I only challenged her to search for answers that already lay within her.
How about you? Are you pursuing your passion? Is your career in alignment with your calling?
Ask yourself these three questions:
- Does your work "juice" you? Do you feel positive energy and excitement around what you do?
- Does your work, or how you do it, benefit others?
- Does it maximize your primary strengths?
If you can answer "yes" to these questions, chances are you are fulfilling your mission. If not, the answers are inside you. Take time to uncover them by:
- Discovering who you are and what’s truly important to you.
- Uncovering and claiming your unique strengths.
- Using those strengths to serve others.
You’ll live a richer, more meaningful life when you live your life on purpose.
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Copyright Randy Siegel 2007. All rights reserved.