Happy new years friends and welcome to the second season of the darn good leadership podcast. This show is all about being a strong and effective leader. One that can make positive impacts on your teams and communities and the next 20 minutes or less, you're going to get ideas and inspiration and practical advice. You can take action on to be a darn good leader. I'm your host, Emily Holting and we are kicking off the new year strong. In 2023, we are taking the driver's seat. We are taking extreme ownership and we are going to hold ourselves accountable for our own happiness, our own growth. And setting the example for those around us. So today we are discussing why you work, where you work. I want you to give us some thought, why do you work? Where you work? Maybe you just started somewhere new. And so it was a great opportunity. Maybe you've been at your company so long, you can't even remember why you started in the first place. Perhaps it's the money. Maybe you're just comfortable there. Maybe it's the convenience. It's the people, the culture, your boss, the mission, the benefits, the flexibility maybe it's a stepping stone to the next big thing. But go deep and consider the question for yourself. Why do you work there? Now I want you to remember that reason. Maybe even go write it down if you need to. And we will come back to that in a bit. Now every time I interview someone, one of the last questions I always ask them is this. What makes you not just stay at a company, but what are the two to four things that make you thrive at a job and become the best professional version of yourself? So I'll say that one more time. What makes you not just stay at a company, but what are the two to four things and make you thrive and a job and become the best professional version of yourself. Now I find that this question tells me a whole bunch about what that individual needs to be successful and what they value in a job. And I've done many, many interviews in my career. And the answers I get to this question are always different, even if slightly, but everyone has their own nuance of what is interesting to them. What is. Valuable to them. And what they are looking for in their own career. When we are searching for and eventually take a new job more often than that, people are really thinking through at that moment in time. What it is that they want. But oftentimes when we are in the thick of a job, we don't give this much thought. Either. We're just going through the motions and we're letting the currents of our workplace take us wherever it may. Or we get to a boiling point of frustration. Apathy and anger that forces us to pick up and just leave. What I'm encouraging instead is a different path. In this moment, you're not on an interview, but I want you to think about this question and answer it for yourself. What makes you not just stay at a company? But what are the two to four things? That make you thrive in a job. And allow you to become the best professional version of yourself. So let's break this down. The first part. What makes you not just stay at a company? And what does that mean? Not just stay. Well, I mean, I don't want someone to just exist. At a company I don't want to just exist at a company. I don't want to just go through the motions at work. I mean seriously, what a waste of time, what a waste of the company's time what a waste of your own potential. And what a poor example of leadership to just remain at a company to just be there, to just add dead weight. Don't do this It's not going to grow you or develop you. And it's certainly not going to inspire the team and individuals around you. So don't just stay at a company be intentional about your choice. The second part of the question. What makes you thrive in a job? What do we mean by thrive? But what is it that you need to be productive? To be a high performing individual and leader. To be motivated and be happy and have the ability to inspire those around you. What is it that you need to add real meaningful value on the day to day? And the last part of the question. What do you need to become the best version of your professional self? what do we mean by that? Have you explored in your own mind what the best version of your professional self looks like? Have you thought about how he or she moves through their day to day, how that person feels when they get up on a Workday and how that person interacts with those around them. What do they read? What do they watch? What energy do they project into their meetings and into their conversations? If you haven't figured out who that person is yet. No worries. This is where you could lean on those professional role models that you perhaps want to emulate. How do they operate? What might they need to be where they are? The best version of your professional self is not a perfect person, but it is one that is reaching your truest potential, whatever that might be. What would you need from a job and from yourself to evolve and iterate into that human. So the question in full, what makes you not just stay at accompany, but what are the two to four things that make you thrive in a job and become the best professional version of yourself? So how would I answer this question? Well, I'm happy to share that with you now. The two to four things I need to thrive and become the best professional version of myself. Is number one. I have to be consistently challenged. The ability to continually grow, develop new muscles, test myself, test my leadership and push myself outside my comfort zone. Those things are available to me consistently. I'm good. The second thing is I need to have the ability, the aptitude and the influence to create positive impacts and continual improvements at work. This means that for number one, I'm happy to be challenged, but I have to be set up for success that, you know, I can create these positive impacts that I can make a difference. So if I'm not set up and I don't have the ability and the aptitude and the influence to do the things I need to do, then this isn't a place for me. Chaos, in fact does not scare me. It does the exact opposite. Actually, it's the process of creating simple frameworks for teams to find order and empowerment. That is incredibly exciting and motivating to me. So I just have to have the ability, the aptitude and the influence to create those positive impacts and changes at work. The third. I must believe in the direction of the company. So this means that I got to feel like there's a plan. I got to feel like I believe the leaders at the top. And that I see that they want the best for the company, the customers and the people. If I feel that if I believe that I can be there too, and then I can lead effectively as well. If I don't feel it, if I don't see the plan, if I don't see the vision, if I don't see that there is a path forward. It's really, almost impossible for me to remain at a company. And the fourth thing I need is I want to have fun at work. I mean, I've said this a million times on this podcast, but you're at work a lot of times. So if I can't have fun, And I am not working with people who also want to work there. I can't be at that place. I am a person who, you know, we talked about those three words that represent your leadership style and mine were bold, bright and optimistic realist. Right? So. I need optimism in the workplace. If it's all doom and gloom and negative people, I'm interacting with. Oh, man. I can deal with some of that. Uh, of course you're going to have that, but on the day to day, if every meeting every person, every interaction that you have, whether it's with an individual or the customer is just sucking your energy and sucking the life out of you. That is not a place for me. So I got to be challenged. I've got to have the ability, the aptitude in the influence. To create positive change. I got to believe in the direction of the company and I want to have fun at work and work with people who actually wants to be there and actually give a damn. Those are my four things. Everyone's is going to be different. so find what it is for yourself and you, if you haven't given this much thought, well, here's your opportunity. Think about it, pause this. If you need to, or just come back to it later when you have time, but you owe this to yourself to figure this out in order to chart your own path. Be intentional. With your growth with your development. And with your leadership in 2023. I mentioned before the holiday that I've currently taken on a new role at my company. It's the same company. It's a very different role. I'm 60 days into this role. And although it is incredibly different. There are strangely more and more commonalities. I'm finding as the days tick on. And over the last couple of weeks, I've had several people at my job. And my family and friends asked me, you know, Emily, how are you doing? Are you liking this new role? Is it working out? Why did you take the role? How are things feeling? And the way I answer them. Is I take those four things I need. And I kind of broken down for myself. Is this role and my job providing me the things I need to thrive. And to continually keep pushing towards that best version of my professional self. And the answer is yes. Yes. This new role is consistently challenging me. And it's giving me these opportunities to learn, grow, and test my leadership. And it's pushing me outside of my comfort zone for sure in the best possible way. So that one ticks the box. The second one is, do I have the ability and the aptitude and the influence to create these positive impacts and incremental improvements? Yes. Yes. I believe I do. I am a person who I know nothing is going to, happen overnight. Everything takes time and patience and energy. And I have all those things, but I also for myself see that I can help, I can make a difference is going to take time, but I see the path. The third is, do I believe in the direction of the company? Yes. Yes, I do. I was fortunate enough to attend these two different events. When I first came into this role. And they're called these connect events and I really got. A different taste of the vision and direction. The company has also been incredibly fortunate to sit down with our CEO and a sit down with our line of business leader and hear from them personally about their vision. And I believe in their vision. I believe in the path. I see a path. So for me, that takes the box too. And the last one is I want to have fun at work and I want to work with people who want to be there. Well, I'm in a leadership place where I can create my own fun. And it's not to say that there aren't challenges. And there aren't things that we are, you know, very serious that we have to take care of and issues that we've got to sort through, but I view them all as opportunities. And, there's definitely people. In this role that I want to work with, I want to learn from, and I can tell that they want to be there. They want to make a difference too. We want to be on a winning team. We want to see. Us take what we're doing and create something even more wonderful. So for me, the answer is, yeah, this is working for me because it's ticking my boxes. So I'm just showing you that as an example for yourself, that even when you're not starting a new role for you to take some time to figure out is your current job in your current role, meeting your needs to help you thrive at a company and become the best professional version of yourself. And if, so, if you do this exercise for yourself and you're like, yeah, spot on, will. Awesome. You are in the right spot. amazing. If you do this exercise and now it's not checking all of your boxes. Okay, well, again, 2023, we're in the driver's seat. So think to yourself, is there something you need to take ownership of and changing at your work to help you thrive? Are there actions you need to take with those around you? Are there conversations you need to have with your boss or other leaders to get the things that you need out of your job? Because sometimes it's also, you've got to come to the table. You can't just expect things to happen at any job. No job can do everything for, you've got to put yourself out there and you've got to meet people halfway. So are you doing your side of things to help yourself thrive. And grow into this best professional version of yourself. And if you can look at yourself and say, yeah, you know, I'm not, then go do those things and see, see what a difference that can make. If you feel like you are doing everything and it's still not taking all those box for you. Well, then you got to think to yourself and figure out what that means. Are you settling? Are you happy? Are you miserable? Because if you're miserable and you've been miserable for a while, Gosh, well, maybe this is no longer the place for you. And I've been there before at a company where I've been miserable and it just, it was not meeting my needs. And so then you got to figure out what the next steps are, but you are in that driver's seat and you need to be intentional about what you're going to do with your career this year. So I'll ask you again. Why do you work where you work? And is your work enabling you to thrive? And are you moving towards the best version of your professional self? In 2023. And here's the thing. Only you can answer these questions. And only you can change those things, life is short. Your time is the most precious resource. And your value is your security. The most exciting thing about all this is you can change things. If you want to, you are in control. And the sooner you take extreme ownership and hold yourself accountable for your own happiness growth and setting the example for those around you. The sooner you will start to thrive and move towards that best version of your professional self, whatever that looks like for you. I'm wishing you all a kick ass start to the new year. Be bold, be bright. Be a leader who takes that steering wheeled. Doesn't make excuses. And who is intentional with their leadership and career and 2023. Cheers.