Building Career Resilience – with Darren Mitchell

What is career resilience, and how do we build and strengthen it over the course of our careers?

This is one of the key questions that Darren Mitchell and I discussed on his “Exceptional Sales Leader” podcast. While resilience is typically defined as the ability to quickly recover from setbacks or obstacles, I believe that we also need to apply the concept to a more far-reaching strategic outlook.

Resilience is not only the fortitude in the face of present-day instability or uncertainty. I believe it has to be a deeper devotion to the core values and principles that drive our careers.

What mission do you serve in your career? Is it promoting and inspiring a level of excellence through the work that you do and recognize in others?

Whom do you serve through your role? Is it your customer, your colleague, your company’s vision?

What long-term impact do you want to make through your work?

Understanding your relationship to these and other core questions helps you better define where you fit today. But it also helps you maintain traction when others are struggling with how they define and represent themselves to potential employers – or their colleagues and allies trying to help them land their next gig.