What Do You Stand For?

I am in the middle of a course which centres around building my coaching practice. After three and a half weeks of introspection, however, I realise that the course is more about taking a stand for what I believe in and thinking about how I want to put myself out into the world. Or at least that is my interpretation.

Having analysed companies most of my career, I am more familiar with how companies do this – or don’t. Companies like to tell you about their mission statement and about their corporate values. One of the red flags that comes up when looking at a company is when I don’t know what - or who - they are trying to be. For me, it either means they don’t know or don’t want me to know. Either way, that isn’t a good sign.

What about individuals, though? We tend to forge through life without thinking much about these things. Or least you do if you are anything like me. This course has got me thinking. What is my own personal mission statement? What are my core values? How do I want to show myself to the world? What actions do I want to take to support my mission statement? Although I can’t control how others interpret what I say and do, I certainly can control my words and actions.

In today’s world of high visibility, we are always creating our own ‘brand’, whether we know it or not. My challenge to you is to think about what you stand for. Who do you want to be today? It matters.