Building a Successful Career while staying true to your values

Similar to building a house, it is important to lay out a strong foundation on which you will build a long-lasting and dynamic career. Your values are part of who you are, but how you relate to them changes over time. How you serve those values could be different now from when you were younger and will likely be different 10 years from now. Our panelists Karen Taylor (Udemy) and Linda Brown (Strategic Sales Leader & WISE Member) shared their perspectives on building a sustainable career by using your core values as a foundation and “Four House Pillars” as the main structure

It's usually not the big choices that make the difference.

It's the small choices that you make throughout every single day that really indicate how true you're being to your values. If you value family, that everyday choice might be choosing to log off at 6pm to make and eat dinner with your family each night instead of working late. Determine what you value and what’s important to you, and as you build your career, learn from your experiences and adjust your behavior whenever you’re misaligned with your values.

Your core values likely won't change.

However, your relationship with them and the ones you actively prioritize will evolve as you progress in your life and career. Your values do not change but how you respond to what you value changes. As you build your confidence and own abilities, you can still achieve what really matters to you and be more strategic with your choices.

Building a sustainable career is like building a house.

It is important to start with a solid foundation (your core values) and to constantly invest in these “Four House Pillars”:

1. Skills - keep them up-to-date and always be learning.
2. Visibility/Networking - take visible roles and build your network beyond your current job.
3. Work-life Choices - you can't do everything perfectly, so know where you can make compromises in work and in your personal life based on what you need.
4. Personal Board of Directors - you need sponsors, mentors, and people that you admire to cultivate a group of individuals who will support, encourage, and challenge you.

Building a career, and life, that aligns with your core values is a journey and every path you take is a learning experience and an opportunity to grow. There’s always more than one way to get to a career that you want, so remember to give yourself some grace and welcome every decision that you make. Want to learn more? You can stream the full event recording here. Thank you to all of the WISE partners that made this event possible and our panelists for sharing their time and advice.