“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose”. I first heard this on the former hit television show Friday Night Lights. It was the guiding principal for the show’s fictional Texas football team striving for athletic victory. While this quote is referenced in an athletic context, I believe it speaks to the attitude and perspective one should have in all aspects of their life to be truly successful. As a young leader, just starting out in the field, I find my career plan is constantly changing. When I graduated college I had one plan and three years … [Read more...]
The Career Path of a Nonprofit Generalist
About a year ago, I was accepted into the Chief Executive Program at National Arts Strategies. This particular cohort is focused on leaders using cultural organizations to change/alter/improve community. Unlike the prior cohorts, this third cohort is heavily populated with founders – creatives that saw an unmet need in their communities and started a new organization to address the gaps. They are artists and activists following their passions. I was three months into my new position as CEO of a mid-size arts/youth development organization … [Read more...]
Sit Back & Enjoy the Ride: The Roller Coaster Career Plan
When I was younger, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up: Theatre Director. But after a few years in that world, I didn’t feel like it was a good fit anymore. So I dabbled. I transferred colleges. I changed my major four times. And I finally settled with art history. This led to working in a museum for a few years following graduation. I felt a bit more confident about my career plan at this point. I wanted to work in the administrative side of museums, leading a team towards a shared vision. I also understood that I … [Read more...]
Picture this:
You’re interviewing for your dream job at a great company and you know you’d be perfect. You’ve practiced in the mirror, are wearing your lucky blazer, you have your nerves under control and are ready to showcase the 5 things any employer must know about you. But the interviewer never asks the questions you prepped for. What do you do? Blurt out the 5 things in the last three minutes Politely ask if you may provide additional information even though the interview seems to have wrapped up Use your follow-up thank you email to include … [Read more...]
Why is it important to have a career plan?
Our paradigms dramatically affect our judgment and our decision making by influencing our perceptions. Paradigms are sets of rules and regulations that do two things: 1.) They establish boundaries 2.) They provide rules for success by allowing for problems to be solved within these boundaries. In order to make a good judgment about career planning (the future) and to successfully accomplish crafting a career plan, we must recognize our current boundaries and be ready to go beyond them. Example: Yes, I believe I can achieve the 'American … [Read more...]
Clarity & Observation
Developing a career plan was natural for me, as I was fortunate to discover what I wanted to do at a very early age. Initially, I figured out the general steps to reach my goal, which included finding the appropriate college degrees to earn. However, after completing both undergraduate and graduate school, I recognized that there was so much more I needed to know, and wanted to know, before reaching my ultimate goal. I realized this journey would be a lot longer than I initially anticipated. As with many emerging leaders, the biggest … [Read more...]
Kill Your Darlings!
“Kill your darlings!” we were told by William Faulkner, a sentiment we take to heart in our writing and our creative practice. Authors must often rid themselves of their most labored over, most precious passages, for the greater good of the literary work. Unfortunately career planning and career paths ask you to “Kill your darlings” as well, and for me this has been the harder lesson to learn. In careers, as in writing, those things you spent the most time on, that you poured yourself and your heart into, sometimes do not have a place in the … [Read more...]
It’s About Defining Your Values
I think that defining your values is far more important than defining your career path. Careers change, values do not. Know the impact that you want to have in the world and set goals towards making it happen. When you let your values be your guide, the career path reveals itself! It may take years or decades, but you'll get there eventually. … [Read more...]
Get A Mentor
I got my first CEO job at a nonprofit because the woman who hired me as her second in command told me she would invest in my development and ensure that I was prepared to take over when she retired – and she did just that. Her investment in me cut 3-5 years off of my career plan. Thinking back, some of my best positions came as a result of a referral from a mentor or because someone advocated for me to be hired into a position where I was not a clear ‘fit’. On the other side of this is the time I spent languishing in positions where I knew I … [Read more...]
It’s Not A Career. It’s A Lifestyle.
It's hard to plan for how to follow your dreams. And those of us who work in the arts have landed here because of a personal calling, following an often non-linear path because dreams don’t form a straight line. Individuals have been taking care of the business of arts for as long as art has existed, but arts administration still isn't often a profession your high school counselor talks to you about or you see in children's books about what to be when you grow up. In my experience, arts management chooses you. I am a classically trained … [Read more...]
Your Career Plan: It’s not always a straight line!
Even though I am not an arts administrator, I have had to wear small versions of that hat in my career as a professional musician. In my past life as a member of a string quartet that was a non-profit, my colleagues and I were responsible for many aspects of the business, from planning tours to working with our board, to fundraising and everything in between. That kind of work made me realize that there were many gaps in my training to be a professional. Yes, I received excellent training to help me be the best musician I could be, but as … [Read more...]
Feeling Alive
The following two thoughts cross my mind nearly everyday. When I forget why I’ve chosen to build an unconventional career, they remind me. The first is of my friend, Seth Vidal, who was killed on July 8th, 2013 at the age of 36 when he was struck by a car while biking. The second is of Mister Rogers, who said, "You rarely have time for everything you want in this life so you have to make choices. And hopefully those choices can come from a deep sense of who you are." My time, a huge portion of which I spend working, is limited. … [Read more...]
The Career Knapsack
As a recent MA graduate in Arts Management, I thought I had lots of career plan steps under control. That was not the case. Though I’d had a semester-long career prep seminar, a team of cheerleader colleagues behind me and a very clear idea of where I wanted to be, I could not answer the seemingly easiest question, “Where am I now?” I found myself caught in career purgatory like a little gypsy with a collection of read-between-the-resume-lines experiences in my nomad’s knapsack. I’d packed a couple years of field experience, a slew of … [Read more...]
Career Paths: Giving You the Last Word
This week on Field Notes, we’re talking about career paths. We’ve broken this conversation down into four questions. We’ve looked at a different question each day. Today, sadly, is the final day of this week-long conversation. Whew! It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of activity and information. I hope you have been able to grasp a few useful ideas. If you walk away with only one nugget, remember that planning your career is simply asking these four questions… over and over and over again: Where am I now? Where do I want to go? What are … [Read more...]
Training Today
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today is the final day of this week-long conversation. The last question we're exploring centers around overcoming the obstacles you've identified. How do you close your learning gaps? How do you convince your boss to take a chance and give you that project? When pondering how best to tackle the obstacles in your way to career advancement or change, you must first … [Read more...]