Reflections on a Career Pivot

Two years ago, I began a journey to increase the amount of time that I spend in spaces where I feel my sense of vitality. What does that mean – my sense of vitality? It’s what makes me smile, what energizes me, what helps me go to bed at night feeling happy, what makes me feel good about myself.  Energy, light, happiness, contentment… vitality.

I have had, for more than 23 years, a fulfilling career in higher education. My undergraduate and graduate years affirmed my intellectual leanings. My first job, working in the provost’s office at the University of Pennsylvania, taught me an extraordinary amount about how the academic side of a university works and how to navigate the swirl of administrative change that seems increasingly present in colleges and universities. Seventeen years of service to the higher education community at the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) were engaging, thought-provoking, frustrating, joyful and, above all, useful. Usefulness, I have discovered, is one of the lynchpins of my sense of vitality (along with coffee, yoga, wine, lakes & mountains, cars with manual transmissions, and a few other Important Items).

For the past 6 years, I have been both humbled and inspired by my service to HERS, a networking organization that provides leadership development for women in higher education. As an alumna of the HERS Leadership Institute, it has been my privilege to serve as a member of the Institute faculty since 2015.  The career pivot in which I am currently immersed has allowed me to take a deep dive into the work of helping prepare women for leadership roles in the academy.

This pivot also has created space for me to explore new directions in my work. In 2018, I launched a relationship with Academic Search, an organization which partners with colleges and universities to fill leadership positions. I also completed an intensive program in leadership coaching at Georgetown University’s Center for Transformational Leadership and achieved certification from the International Coach Federation.

Usefulness and intellectual engagement also have taken root in my civic life as a K-12 parent and advocate for equity and inclusion in Arlington Public Schools.

And so as I pivot in my career, I am circling around a set of themes—exploring the qualities and characteristics of leadership, partnering and using my expertise to fill leadership positions, the development of women as leaders, and  coaching individuals seeking to advance their leadership in ways authentic to who they are and how they want to show up in their work.

It’s a fascinating space to be in. And, remarkably, I do feel my sense of vitality ever more present. Even in the messy middle of something that at times does not fully make sense, I can follow the fundamental anchors that inspire me and seek new ways to capture the service—the usefulness—that sits at the heart of it all.