Explore career clarity, leadership development, and purpose-driven planning with Alysia Kehoe’s proven framework from her recent presentation to Gen X and Millennial leaders.
On May 15th, I had the pleasure of speaking with the Senior Care Professionals of the Midlands, an inspiring group of approximately 50 Millennial and Gen X leaders navigating their careers, teams, and and their own “what’s next” questions. My presentation, The Next Phase: Where Are You Today?, was rooted in my core belief: wherever you are in your career, there’s still time to reinvent, refocus, and reengage with purpose.
Why I Wrote Two Books
Whether you’re Gen X thinking about an encore career (switching or enhancing your path) or a Millennial searching for your next job opportunity, I get it. I’ve been there myself and I’ve also coached many others through the same crossroads.
That’s why I wrote Reinventing Yourself… for Gen X and Boomers, and Design Your Career… for Millennials and Gen Z. Both books offer strategies and simple tools to help readers move from confusion to clarity and burnout to purpose.
The Presentation – Questions That Create Change
To kick things off, I asked the audience a simple but powerful question:
What is the most challenging part of your job today?
The answers I often hear include:
- Staying focused in a distracted, driven world
- Keeping teams engaged
- Reconnecting to personal purpose – “Why am I doing this job?”
- Balancing your professional and personal lives
These themes formed the structure of our session.
1.) Engagement: Are you engaged or disengaged?
Leaders know how costly disengagement is. U.S. companies lose over $5 billion annually (Gallup) due to disengaged employees.
In organizations, 20% of employees are actively disengaged or at low engagement (30%). How will you move employees from disengagement to active engagement?
For individuals, ask yourself: On a scale from 1 to 10, how engaged am I in my profession today?
Identifying your own level of engagement is the first step toward reenergizing your career and the people around you.
2.) Focus: Strengths > Struggles
Instead of asking ourselves what we need to fix, try: What strengths do I already have? These are the best for me to focus on.
Focusing on what energizes you is a more effective and sustainable use of your time. Make a list of your top strengths. What would it look like to improve them even further? What do I need to learn and who could mentor or coach me?
3.) Purpose: Ingredients of meaningful work
Purpose is your guide, not a buzzword. Examples of purpose include helping others, making a positive impact, personal growth, and inspiring others. Within these categories, we can break it down even further to a specific focus.
In our session, we walked through a Purpose Exercise to help identify the ingredients that matter most to you. Your gifts, passions, and impacting others are strong purpose anchors in helping you determine your purpose.
4.) Values: Your personal operating system
Only 17% of Americans can name their core values. Values in a career context include autonomy, collaboration, achievement, innovation, creativity, honesty, recognition, compensation, security, loyalty, growth, and many more.
I walked the group through how to identify their values, and more importantly, how to define them through behavior. Values aren’t just saying “growth” or “compassion,” but it is a defined action!
And when it’s time to communicate who you are, instead of the lengthy elevator pitch, try a 9-second, 22-word snapshot instead. This pitch is short and sweet, to capture and maintain attention without rambling. See mine below:
“I coach individuals who are in transition to reinvent themselves, and help others achieve their career goals or cultivate their life’s passion.”
5.) Enjoyable Skills & Competencies
When you build your career around your energizing skills (the ones that bring you joy and flow) you not only excel, but maintain momentum for the long haul. I coach individuals on how to create a Competencies Grid and fill it with stories that exemplify those skills.
6.) Life Balance: Find the sweet spot
True balance comes at the overlap of:
- Health
- Financial stability
- Life purpose
The overlap is the sweet spot. One way to maintain it is through a Social Portfolio: a mix of individual and group activities that keep you connected and reduce isolation, especially during times of transition.
Final Thoughts & A Gift
Before closing, I asked: What do you want to work on first?
Each insight from the session is backed by practical exercises in my books.
To support your journey, I’m offering a Complimentary Introductory Session (15-20 minutes). In our session, we’ll dive into practical techniques like the Purpose Exercise, review your goals for the year, obstacles in obtaining those goals, and what success looks like to you. Both of my books (Design Your Career for Millennials/Gen Z and Reinventing Yourself for Gen X/Boomers) contain practical techniques like engagement analysis & exercises, the Purpose Exercise, crafting your 9-second pitch, and building your personalized Competencies Grid. Coaching sessions are the perfect companion to the book. Book your complimentary consultation below!
The next step is up to you. Let’s talk about your goals!
Book a time below:
About Alysia Kehoe
Founder of Kehoe Consultants, Certified Coach through the Hudson Institute, and author of Reinventing Yourself and Design Your Career, Alysia has spent 30+ years helping individuals in education and corporate leadership reconnect with their strengths, build meaningful careers, and lead with clarity.
Interested in learning more?
Visit www.kehoeconsultants.com or reach out at alysia@kehoeconsultants.com to schedule your coaching conversation.