The Leaders Paradigm is a continuation of conversations that I have been having with current university applicants, future graduates and recently- graduated professionals over the past year, about not just the current job market but also overall career prospects. Joining the conversation helps you to become your own paradigm-changer, someone who works, day by day, to alter their thinking and actions so that you can turn disadvantage into advantage.
There are 7 guiding principles here:
- 1. Every person has an impact - it is up to them whether that impact is negative or positive.
- 2. Predictable careers tend to be uninteresting ones, and are at most risk of drifting or failing
- 3. The choices you make TODAY have long-term consequences.
- 4. Good times often lull us into complacency while bad times always force us to focus (or ought to).
- 5. Scaling back on conspicious consumption does NOT mean retreating from improving your life.
- 6. Waiting until “tomorrow” to act, means adding one more day until you reach a goal.
- 7. Fear paralyses if you stop moving long enough for it to make its argument.
You might be thinking “well, in a recession, these things are nice ideas, but not workable”
If you are wedded to that line of thinking, then stop reading…right now! Leave this blog, and move onto something else. I am not trying to convince you to change your opinion. In fact, the people who will most benefit are those who are open to ideas and want to know how to exert maximum influence over their circustances. As much as I am sharing insights and creative ideas, I am also listening to yours. While there are no formal “rules” for joining this conversation, the one condition is that you come prepared to constructively contribute either publicly on the blog or privately. Have a different opinion? Great! Think that I am wrong? Please show me the error of my ways, but let’s talk about the subject at hand instead of wasting each other’s time on side-issues that have no bearing on helping each other or on helping members of our conversation group at large.
So come with the jokes, the frustrations, the anxieties and even the anger. Come ready to listen or to contribute. Either way, I think the worst thing that you can do - in good times or bad - is to sit on the sidelines, because when a lot of engaged, open-minded people come together as a group to inspire or be inspired, you never know what it could lead to.
A relevation about your values. Some much-needed perspective on how to define a career. A tip or insight into landing the job you need, rather than trying to make do with a job which you think you want. Strategies for making ANY job position a real win-win for you and your employer (or prospective employer).
By sharing or listening to ideas on how to improve quality of life and career, you could very well end up make a big difference on your own and on your future.