In about a month from now, I will be completing my eighth year at PwC. A lot has changed over the years at the firm. The most obvious change for me personally is getting married. Other changes stem from the creative disruption caused by technology in the industry, which has resulted in some pretty amazing tools I have used since joining. Amongst the personal and professional changes, one thing which has remained static are the personalities and characteristics of leaders that I have been exposed to internally at the firm and externally at clients. Within the uniqueness of each CFO/partner, controller/senior manager, senior associate or even associate I have worked with, the best of them have consistently exhibited (and continue to show off) the following five traits:
Ever since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated by aviation. The fact that a man made machine can take off from a strip of land in one part of the world only to land on another strip of land thousands of miles away continues to leave in awe.
Whenever I used to see planes cutting through the open skies as a kid, I would often close my eyes, extend my arms and lose myself in my thoughts. I would think to myself that I not only wanted to fly planes when I got older, I wanted to be a plane. Fast-forward 29 years, I am an auditor so we all know how that dream turned out. The thought of quitting has crossed my mind. Who said life was easy? Often times, days begin to feel like months and on the contrary, months begin to feel like days. It is a strange world that we live in. However, I am blessed to be in the position that I am in. If I were to count my blessings sent from above, I would run out of numbers to count (pretty sure infinity is not a number). I am surrounded by a family that is loving, friends that are caring and I work in an organization that is challenging yet rewarding. And that is where things begin to get a little complicated.
When was the last time you risked something in life? If I was fronted with this question 3-4 years ago, I would struggle to come up with an answer. Perhaps similar to you, I used to approach situations and potential opportunities with a risk-averse mentality. I was reluctant to come out of my comfort zone for a simple reason: I was comfortable “being me.” However, I soon realized that being comfortable quite ironically began to feel uncomforting.
There is no such thing as a perfect recipe when it comes to baking cookies. Some may argue with me, but I beg to differ. Even though I am no magician in the kitchen, I do know that I prefer certain ingredients over others in my ideal batch of chocolate chip cookies. Point being, the ingredients used to make the perfect batch of cookies differ from one person to another. Similarly, the ingredients used towards formulating a fulfilling career are unique in nature and only are perfected over time.
Here are my top three ingredients for fostering a fulfilling career: |
About my blogsI started my blogging career as the National Recruitment Blogger for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and then as a Motivational Blogger for the Canada Pakistan Professionals Association (CPPA). You will find a wide array of the blogs I have written to-date centralized on this website. I hope you enjoy reading them! Categories
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