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Pat Roque

419

Speaker, Career Transformation Coach, Mastermind

07/11/19 at 2:21PM UTC

Career

What is a Mastermind and why should you care?

Do you have a personal advisory council, a circle of trusted advisors to help you navigate your important career decisions? Who do you turn to, and is it harder when your family or friends love you too much to give unbiased advice? Has it backfired when you trusted a work colleague? Ask questions or let's share your war stories...what works and what have you learned NOT to do again.

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Pat Roque

419

Speaker, Career Transformation Coach, Mastermind

08/31/19 at 8:01PM UTC

Love your last line: it’s important to find someone who will bring a sense of calm vs escalate situations. You and your sister are very lucky! It’s funny because many of our mastermind members have close family confidants, yet they also seek an impartial outsiders who can keep emotions and personal bias out of the process. I know that my sister is a super smart attorney yet she loves me too much to offer impartial advice lol!

Lori Schmitz

234

Girl Friday and much more in SFO Area

07/18/19 at 11:09PM UTC

I am lucky to have a very supportive network in family, friends former and current co-works, as well as partners from projects, etc. that I have worked with over my career that I can reach out to for a "gut check" when I am dealing with concerns / issues with career, work relationships, etc. I have also built a network via professional online sights that have provided good feedback (like this one) as well as a "gut check" on behavior or issues at work that I am not sure how I feel about. Again, the key issue is trust... I trust my sister; who has been working as long as I have (almost 30 years, gulp) when I am concerned about actions or different dynamics at work. She has a great balance and I know she's in my corner but she can be objective when I am feeling unhappy or underappreciated at work. I provide the same, a cooler head, someone who she can trust but can be objective and provide possible strategies that are not emotionally charged / motivated. Finding someone who can defuse vs. escalate a challenging situation or event at work should always be a part of your "mastermind".

Anonymous

07/17/19 at 5:12PM UTC

At my last role, there was a close group of us that started a chat we called the "lunchtime rant association" for planning out off-site lunches where we could speak freely about office challenges, ways we could see the company growing, and how we'd like to see our careers grow with it. It quickly turned into a rant chat where these discussions continued on the chat at work. Cathartic, to be sure, until two members of the group left the company, and a review of the chat by management found that I had encouraged them to move on. I had also took to the chat to complain about sexual harassment and used "vulgar language" to do so. Leadership used this as an excuse to fire me. I was too much of a firebrand. HOWEVER: that sure backfired. There's now a larger group of us from my former company, and we're working together to help the folks who are still there find other roles. I've moved on to a role with a salary 30% higher than what I was making, and in a much more supportive organization. Long story short: It's important to build a network, but it's even more important to have people in your life who you work closely with to grow, change, develop, and move on to the right role.

Pat Roque

419

Speaker, Career Transformation Coach, Mastermind

08/31/19 at 7:56PM UTC

Thanks for sharing that important lesson: while it’s great to have supportive work colleagues, you experienced a very real downfall of such relationships. There’s much risk involved, and using a work chat to share “openly” cost you your job. Luckily you’ve made a bigger, better leap forward and learned to lean into others. Congratulations on helping others move forward, too. Btw May I ask what your new role entails?

Robyn Wick

736

HiEd Professional/PT Fitness Inst

07/17/19 at 3:17PM UTC

I don't have a formal advisory council - although, really we all should - but I do have a small subset of my close friends that I trust to talk through career issues and give me solid advice. We work in different functional areas but understand the landscape. I also have a few women and men who I have met through work (but don't work directly with) who I trust to give me solid feedback. These are people who I met in a professional capacity but now consider to be a friend. They are typically more experienced than I am and people I feel have solid judgement. Trust is key.