who are you

the most difficult question that a candidate for a potential job with me and my work is;

"who are you?"

invariably the candidate will answer with an excerpt from her resume.  i am a national merit scholar; i am a Harvard MBA; i am a chief financial officer, i am a business consultant for productivity.

these are or may be statements of fact and they may be what you presently do for a living, but they are far from the answer to the question which was asked.

the question is meant to get at who you are are as a person; what do you value, what are your beliefs, what makes you happy and fulfilled, what makes you run away, what are your current interests.

few of us take the time and apply the intellect necessary to truly know who we are.  yet figuring that out is critical to your long-term success.

during my career i saw myself as smart, committed and sociable, team player.  however, what i didn't know is that my partners saw me as smart, committed professional (possibly only to myself) and a loner.

when they asked me to attend a workshop at the Aspen Institute on self-identity, i believed that it was unnecessary but agreed to attend.

during the first week of the event, we were subjected to 5 tests to measure our sociability and team spirit.  a top score for the tests would have been 5,5,5,5,5, while possible scores ranged from 0 to 5 in each test -- the way that i saw it was all 5s would mean that i new and understood myself and that my partners were incorrect, for i was a real team player.  my score was 0,0,0 1,0.

this meant that not only was i truly a loner and far from a team player, but also that i had long failed to understand myself.  the me that i saw in the mirror each morning was far from the me that everyone else was experiencing.  my dream of self understanding was in actuality located on a distant, far off mountain top -- way out of my current reach.

that very knowledge gap, internal view of me to external view of me, can be a real killer of a career.  self understanding is not only an important driver of a fulfilling life, but also an important driver of career success.

take the time to step outside of yourself and see as others see.  you can do this through tests, training and a class or through persistent meditation and self reflection.  take your choice, but do it.