Having a robust career is the best gift you can give yourself.  You are the owner and leader of your career.  You are the CEO of your career!  You are solely responsible for keeping it vibrant.  While there are many attributes of a strong leader, these 6 will keep you in charge!

Keep your skills sharp

• Know where you are in your career, what it takes to be the best?
• Know where you want to be in 5 years
• Seize every opportunity to grow

Manage perception

• Take note of how you are perceived – listen and ask for input only from people that you trust
• If that perception is not what you want or need to progress, take action to change it

Seek out opportunities

• Never be complacent
• Always look for ways to take on new challenges
• Be sure you always have new accomplishments to add to your resume

Network

• Find comfort in networking
• Continuously build and solidify your relationships
• Be true to your personal brand

Give Back

• It’s the right thing to do for your community/profession
• Demonstrates you can take on more than just work
• Provides meaningful networking
• Helps develop skills of importance to you and your career

Last but not least and vitally important….

Courage

• Having a robust career takes a lot of courage – any action you take is brave – honour that!
• Take personal accountability for everything that happens in your career
• Take risks and get out of your comfort zone
• Give yourself credit when you deserve it
• Find the ‘gift’ when things don’t go as planned – there is a valuable lesson there

 Learn from each day, remain diligent and you will be a great CEO!