Essence_USA__February_2018

MONEY & POWER : CAREER ADVICE
When it’s time to move up in your career, many experts and mentors suggest
enlisting a business coach to help you push past blind spots and notions that
can keep you from being your best self. And for good reason: Outside counsel
can assist in strategically navigating your road to success, whether it’s climbing
the corporate ladder or striking out on your own. It all starts with knowing your worth: “You have
a set of phenomenal traits that make up who you are authentically,” says Lenore Champagne Beirne,
founder of Bright Coaching. She’s spent ten-plus years working with start-up creators. “You can
harness those good things in you to produce any result you desire. If you can focus more on what
isfantasticaboutyouandlesson the thingsthatholdyouback,youwillbe able to access a level
of peace and power that may feel inaccessible right now.” While that may seem easier said than
done, we’ve asked five coaches what’s worked for their clients. Get ready to put the advice into
practice and see big payoffs. Let’s get started.
Ditch the five-year plan.
Instead figure out what you’re
really trying to achieve—beyond just a
title. “Oftentimes people aren’t chasing
a job as much as they’re chasing
a feeling,” says Pauleanna Reid,
cofounder of New Girl on the Block, a
mentorship program and consultancy
for female entrepreneurs. “So based
on what that feeling is, you can
reverse-engineer it. What kind of
funding or resources do you require?
Do you need additional education?
Should you grow your list of mentors?
Or do more informational interviews?”
Homing in on the feeling you’re
seeking will make it easier for you to
reach your potential. And you’ll be
more satisfied when you get there.
Stop treating networking like
a transaction.
“A lot of people go into networking
events like hunters,” says Reid.
“They’re trying to close the deal.
They’re trying to make the big pitch.
What about just saying, ‘Hi. How are
you?’ Don’t treat people like an
ATM. Get to know their interests—
what they love, what they hate. Ask
yourself, How do I nurture this
relationship? How do I turn this
stranger into a genuine friend? Don’t
try to close the deal right away. I
teach my clients to play the long
game. Plant the seeds today for a
relationship that you’ll still have
years from now.”
If you see someone
out there you want
to be like, call
them or investigate
what they did,
and model it.
—COURTNEY A. SEARD
Limit your backup strategy.
For Beirne, the number one question
people come to her with is,
“What’s next?” She says: “That’s
what they say the question is, but
what they mean is, ‘How can I most
effectively align my career with who
I am?’ First narrow your consideration
set. I find that many people
have ruled out the possibility of the
thing they really want before
they’ve even articulated what that
is. Say you want A. Most of the time
when I ask people, ‘Will you tell me
what’s next?’ they respond with A,
B, C, D and F. It’s a laundry list. In
having such a wide consideration
set, they’ve set themselves up not
to get what they want.” But Beirne
isn’t saying you shouldn’t have a
plan B—it just has to be something
you could see yourself doing as
well. “If you have a backup because
you don’t think you can get the
thing you want, you’re taking power
out of your pursuit before you even
get started.”
Imagine your perfect day.
“Most people look at the things that
aren’t working,” says Courtney A. Seard,
who has spent more than 15 years
consulting with and coaching corporate
execs and professional athletes. “It’s all
about what they don’t want and don’t
have.” Seard says the way to concentrate
on the positive stuff is to start
each morning by imagining your ideal
day. When you wake up, write in a
journal as if it were the end of the day
and chronicle all the amazing things
that happened. It could be something
like this: “I had a meeting, and it went
the way I wanted it to. I navigated a
tough client, and we had some ups and
downs, but we ended up seeing eye to
eye, and everything is working well.
Traffic was a mess, but I was able to get
an audiobook and sit through it
effortlessly.” She says, “Focus on what
you want because you get what you
focus on,” she says.
Prioritize your well-being.
There will always be more work to
do, so quit thinking, I just need to
get this done and then I can rest.
Beirne tries to get clients who
fixate on their output to understand
that they can accomplish
more at work through practicing
self-care. So how can you do that
when you feel as if you don’t have
the time? “Think about someone
you love a lot—maybe it’s a child, a
sibling, your mother,” she says. »
76 ESSENCE.COM FEBRUARY 2018