Many professionals I talk to externalize the opportunity and do not assume the role as an Advancing Leader worth following. Very few are ready to define their own BIG WHY and share it with the world. I recognize the struggle as it took me years to define my own BIG WHY and make it visible to others.

I sometimes refer to my own breakthrough by using the analogy of salmon swimming upstream to spawn. The salmon battle their way upstream through difficulties convinced that this is the right thing to do to secure their offspring. It makes total sense if you are a salmon.

I always believed that I was a salmon and did my best to contribute by going upstream to optimize the spawning experience.

After returning from a year’s sabbatical from corporate I gradually realized that I in fact was a cod fish and that my BIG WHY was grounded outside of corporate, playing by my own rules. By changing directions and going down stream, I have given myself permission to align better with my BIG WHY.

Let me introduce you to another cod who has inspired me and continues to inspire an increasing number of followers. My client was a full time regular employee as an in-house graphic designer for many years.  Her responsibility was to generate ideas and develop graphic design elements online as well as offline. By nature, she was always looking to become masterful and build new skills to expand her contribution to her employer.

While there, she took numerous initiatives and invested significant amounts of her time and energy in building skills within strategic brand management and interactive design. She realized how things were related to each other and that the true effect was found in a holistic approach. She felt a huge responsibility to transfer knowledge to management and made many attempts to influence the direction and decisions. The response was low at best and her frustration grew as she knew she could add tremendous value if permitted.

Her “cod moment” was when she realized that she was in fact assuming a passionate but ignored “Brand Manager” position, with no mandate to act according to her strong beliefs. She recognized the huge potential for others in combining the strategic, tactical and operational elements in her area of expertise.

Today she is on a mission in her own business to help corporations and entrepreneurs embrace branding challenges successfully.

She provides her services in 3 different languages, her customers are located in an increasing number of countries, and she is soon to launch her own packages online, making her content available to professionals anywhere. Her BIG WHY is contagious as she plays by her own rules and always educates her stakeholders and customers in branding matters.

Professionals who share their BIG WHY with the world often make leaps in their professional lives and attract more of their ideal customers. When educating their surroundings, their BIG WHY in business becomes contagious. By playing small and ignoring your cod moment, you are doing your ideal customers a disservice.

Have you already had your own “cod moment” to help define yourself as an Advancing Leader? Or do you feel like you are swimming against the current? Feel free to share below!

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Virtual Leader Conference 2014: “Empowering the Advancing Leader in You”

The post Lead By Aligning With Your BIG WHY appeared first on Katy Caroan.

Silence. Shyness. Stuttering.

I would love this to be the exception and not the rule. Wouldn’t it be great if we consciously shared our  passion, contribution and key messages to the people we know listen to us? And to stretch it a bit further…Wouldn’t it be fabulous if we now and then learnt that we inspired someone to do something new that we didn’t even know about, just because we were able to get our message across in a way that appealed to these people?

1. How can we stretch ourselves and become even more influential to stand out more?
2. How can we get our ambition, expertise and message across to become the person in demand to a larger extent?
3. How can use our own story and our own presentation to network effectively and create the lasting impression we want?

Most of us do not wake up in the morning, asking ourselves, “Whom do I want to inspire today?” Perhaps we should. Learn more from our great inspirational contributors during the Virtual Leadership Conference.

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One of the most common questions I get from people who are considering hiring a coach is: “I just feel that I have something undone professionally. But, how can I start taking action if I don’t know exactly what I want to do?” Since early days, we are so drilled into goal orientation, that it almost seems impossible to start acting until we have a clearly defined goal and a master plan to bring us the results we are looking for.

When people are facing a major professional decision, it´s so easy to fall into procrastination mode and start using excuses for not taking action. I should know, as I did it for years.

What strikes me after looking back on my own professional journey and now benefiting from helping others play bigger professional games is that there are a few, key success factors characterizing those who start acting without knowing exactly what they want.

First of all, they are able to visualize what it feels like to be in professional role they are passionate about. Secondly, they are willing to learn new skills, to experiment outside of their comfort zone and to reflect about their insights. And finally, they are assuming an open attitude towards opportunities emerging as part of the process.

When I decided to enter into my current professional adventure as a small business owner, I knew what I wanted to do more of and less of when moving on. I had basically no knowledge nor any guaranties of business partners nor the supplementary services and tools I was about to discover. In fact, some of them did not even exist when I made my professional move, and today these partners, services and tools allow me to offer create my own, unique professional platform.

Which moves did I make? I decided to learn, explore and experiment with services in demand and stayed open to new opportunities coming my way. I made mistakes, I lost time and I stumbled to define my niche. Move-by-move, I started to align more and more with my professional intentions of becoming a business woman supporting my ideal clients no matter where they are located in the world.

I have mentioned it many times before: Everyone has an opportunity to attract professional opportunities in line with their area of passion, but sometimes we need to remind each other to play the BIGGER game. To learn, explore and experiment as part of the process. Nobody should have to feel checkmate in their professional opportunity game. So, which move is next for you?

The post How to avoid checkmate in your BIG professional game appeared first on Katy Caroan.

When did you last declare your professional ambition loudly to someone else? Or to yourself? Is it a secret well kept, only available during job interviews or performance reviews?

Or is it a topic shared only with friends when you discuss missed opportunities?

Looking back on my own experiences as an employee and manager, that was exactly what it looked like for me.

When I started my own business, I knew that I needed to become bolder in sharing my professional ambition with others. It took me a long time to feel confident in doing so. Why?

First of all, I was afraid. I was afraid of how others, both previous colleagues as well as new colleagues, would perceive me if I shared my ambition. Second, I was pending formal pieces of evidence, such as certifications and acknowledgement from role models, to feel more confident in involving others in my plan.

Finally, I was afraid of failure. How would I handle people around me, family, friends and colleagues, if I didn’t succeed in getting the results I had shared with them?
It was only after involving others in my plans, sharing vision boards and getting insights on how other professionals really perceived me, that I got more confident in sharing my ambition more openly. In fact, today it is a pre-requisite for attracting the right business opportunities.

Is there anything stopping you from sharing your ambitions, in real life and in social media, more fully? Maybe you are in a position to list your own top 3 reasons why your professional ambition is vague or totally missing on your daily schedule. If so, you are in a great place for professional expansion.

The post Bringing the professional ambition back on your schedule appeared first on Katy Caroan.

Then, I ask them to tell me more about what they did previously when they successfully made a change to their career! Often there is silence. And more silence. “What do you mean? It just happened.” Or: “I was lucky”. Most often: “I don’t know”.

Here is the opportunity to uncover your personal recipe for professional success. What exactly did you do to get that promotion? Or to be found by a headhunter? What characterized the circumstances when you were the obvious choice for the recruiter, internally or externally?

When uncovering their stories, there seems to be a pattern of behaviors and actions that happen for each and one. This is the formula that can be used over and over again to attract new professional challenges and use your potential more fully. To some people, acting as your own headhunter comes naturally with ease, others might need a trigger to get focused. Whatever your situation is, you will always be in a position to pursue new professional adventures if you are fully aware of your personal recipe. Maybe it’s high time to test and refine your recipe this time of the year?

The post How to unlock your own recipe for professional success appeared first on Katy Caroan.

This seems like opposing principles until further investigation.

When people are facing a professional decision of  LEAP nature, it´s so easy to fall into procrastination mode and start using excuses for not taking action.

I should know, I did for years.

What strikes me after looking back on my own professional journey and now benefiting from helping others make professional leaps is that there are a few, key success factors characterizing those who start acting without knowing exactly what they want.

First of all, they are able to visualize what it feels like to be in professional role they are passionate about. Secondly, they are willing to learn new skills,  experiment outside of their comfort zone and reflect about their insights. And finally, they are assuming an open attitude towards opportunities emerging as part of the process.

When I decided to enter into my current professional adventure, I knew what I was passionate about. But I had no idea of the business partners nor the supplementary services and tools I would find out there to define my new professional platform. In fact, some of them did not even exist when I made my LEAP. I decided to learn, explore and experiment with services in demand and stayed open to new opportunities coming my way. I started to align with my professional intentions of becoming a business woman supporting my ideal clients no matter where they are located in the world.

Everyone has an opportunity to attract professional opportunities in line with their area of passion, but sometimes we need to remind each other to align more with our intentions. So, to which degree are you aligning with your professional intentions?

The post When you do not know what you want professionally appeared first on Katy Caroan.