Stage 1 Success Stories

Jennifer Cares About More Than Cars

Jennifer had been in auto sales for the last seven years, always one of the top two or three in an organization of 15 to 20 salespeople. She made great money, but she wasn't happy.

When I started working with her, one of the things we focused on was the concept of reinventing herself, and seeing how her skills would transition to other areas. We used the career-planning ideas discussed in this Stage and talked about how she could start changing her persona at work.

What she was really changing was how she viewed herself, because by viewing herself in a different light, her actions would be different. As each of us see ourselves as capable of doing more, we begin to contribute more at meetings and bring in new ideas. We'll become that capable person. And the results will be different, too.

After working at reinventing herself for the better part of a year, she became convinced she could be effective in other fields. She might have to take home a smaller paycheck initially, but the trade-off was shorter hours and no more nosebleed lunches with high- powered executives who wanted to know the bottom line every hour of the day. An easy decision for Jennifer.

She reinvented herself to the extent that she was offered and accepted a position as the Director of Admissions at a college in her hometown. She took a slight cut in pay (which she was more than willing to accept), but there were no more long hours, no more Saturday and Sunday sales blitzes, no more nosebleed lunches with the ulcer crowd.

She likes the fact that there is balance in her life today. And she continues to practice being a change agent, for herself and for others.

Got a question for Gordon? Ask it here.

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