The concept of alignment can be as powerful on a personal level as it is when applied to the direction of a firm overall.
Personal alignment is how well we play the hand of cards we are dealt so that over time, our decisions match our capabilities and aspirations. Achieving personal alignment requires asking – and answering – tough questions about one's future:
  • What do you want to accomplish, personally and professionally?
  • As a professional, how do you want to allocate your time and efforts among your various roles?
  • Beyond your career, what are your goals with respect to your family, your community, and yourself?
  • What relationship are you seeking between your work and these other aspects of your life?
Like an organization, an individual’s decisions and behavior can be aligned with his or her own capabilities, goals, needs, and values - or not. Such personal alignment is hard to calibrate on any given day. But its presence (or absence) almost always becomes apparent over time, as a life unfolds.
The career perspectives that follow will help you achieve personal alignment, as you build a life, not just a resume.
Career Perspectives: Build a Life, Not a Resume
  1. Yours is a unique life, grounded in its own meaning and sense of purpose. Explicitly understanding and shaping your beliefs is critical to "aligning your star." At the end of the day, what do you really believe in? What matters most to you? What is your "life’s work"?
  2. Always aim high. Stretch your goals to drive you toward your full potential. Define yourself by your aspirations, not by circumstances or past practices.
  3. Everyone needs periodic repotting, and so do you. The risk of failure may loom larger than it actually is; don’t permit your fear to imprison you. The important thing is that repotting be motivated by running toward a life objective, rather than running away from a challenging problem.
Download the complete list of Career Perspectives: Build a Life, Not a Resume.


The Road to Self Renewal

For another viewpoint on career management, download the article, The Road to Self Renewal, by John W. Gardner (taken from STANFORD, an Independent Publication of the Stanford Alumni Association, March 1994).