Finding a career path
Meet these pioneering women who share their candid opinions about their careers.
I asked Kat Cole President, Cinnabon:
Did you know early on you were on a successful career path?
For me, early on my purpose was helping to build businesses — and loving the franchising and hospitality industry was so loud and so powerful that it convinced me to not listen to that voice that said, “Oh you’re on this path and this is what you use to define success; if you quit, you’re a failure.” I thought, “No, I just found a new definition of success.”
But it was a real potential barrier, it was a fork in the road – in how I viewed myself, whether or not I viewed my opportunities and successes through failures, whether or not I viewed my choices as successes or failures, and then how I would use that choice, that fork in the road to reshape who ultimately I would become.
And I made the choice to quit.
For most of my career, I have been a college dropout. It was only a couple years ago that I went back to school and got my MBA while I was already a vice president of a very large company. And I did it for different reasons than those for which I had originally pursued higher education.
It was no longer the definition of success or achievement for me, it was about fulfillment and connections and rounding out my leadership abilities so I could be a better leader.
But it’s interesting to look back and see that something that I had used to define success for me. I got to a point where I realized I may have to drop that completely and follow a different path.
So, for some women, that definition of success may be academic achievement, like for me. For others it may be family, children, marriage, moving, travel – we’re all faced with decisions along our journey that we may need to make that are contrary to everything we set in thought, leading up to that point, and that is totally okay.
For lots of reasons – life goes on. If you’re a great person and you want to do good things, you’ll lead a good life no matter what path you choose, and ultimately it comes down to what you believe your purpose is.
[The above is an excerpt from a live interview the Producers had with Kat Cole.]
I asked Suzette Cotto Principal, Innovate Social Media:
What tools did you use when creating your successful career path?
ALWAYS look two steps ahead in your career path by looking for problems to solve rather than tripping over something right in front of you that is unpleasant or inconvenient. I cut my teeth on reading Stephen Covey books like the “One Minute Manager”, “First Things First” and Spencer Johnson’s “Who Moved My Cheese”. If you’re stuck in a bad personal place, “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck is a lifesaver.
Seek out these and new thought leaders.
Have a clear written plan that makes you accountable and gives you a path like a checklist so you can move from one task to the next and be able to know if you’ve accomplished a long term goal.
ALWAYS look to continue your education. In this fast paced communication driven world, we have to keep up with constant change.
Pioneers in Skirts is a feature documentary that shows every woman how to #BEaPioneer in pursuit of her career. The film follows filmmaker Ashley Maria as she investigates why she is experiencing obstacles and challenges unique to women of the past. In the film, Ashley travels the United States speaking to women and men about their experiences and interviewing other young women who are going through their own unique setbacks.
Learn more at Pioneersinskirts.com.