Take Your Talent to Work
Discover how embracing your natural talents and authentic self can transform your career into something truly fulfilling.
People often ask how they can have a job or career that they like, inspires them, isn’t boring, and allows them to grow. This suggests that the answer is outside of you rather than within you. I believe the latter is true.
Consider this: we are each born with personality and natural gifts. It’s a wonderful thing, and you can’t take it on and off like an article of clothing. I take that back… you can, but I don’t recommend it. You’ll end up unhappy and dissatisfied if you do.
How does an artist and a history major end up being a data subject matter expert in a corporation? That’s where my path led me. In my mind, I separated making money and supporting myself from utilizing my natural talents of drawing, writing, and acting. Sure, it worked for a while, but eventually my gifts found a way to wriggle out of me and present themselves in my job.
One of the sections in our self-performance evaluation (I guess you could call it a KPI) was to “think outside the box.” I don’t think my manager and VP understood that I would take them up on that! I educated end users on our complex data warehouse and found a way to make it easy, continuous, and funny. How did I do it? Simple. I was me. I didn’t suppress my natural talent. I decided to take it with me to work every day. And you know what? It resonated with people.
