FD Career Challenge 2010 Entry challenge 2

1. Waartoe leid jij? Because I don’t lead other people first I need to lead myself to that position. So what is the normal route? I’ve finished my study; I found a good job and I’m becoming an expert in what I do. The route so far has been pretty clear and straight forward. Now it’s time to get to the next level. But how? When I become an expert in what I do the chance is that I get promoted to a supervisory position. Would I be a natural talent doing that? Maybe not, so what should I do? The easy way is to let it run its course and hope that I would be a natural talent. And that is if I get that chance… And if I got the chance, would I be a manager or a leader? Would I manage to meet set goals or set (new) goals to lead to? Trusting on being a natural talent at it isn’t much of a plan to become a leader. Being an expert in what I do doesn’t qualify me to be a good leader either. Also there is a big difference between leading in an environment I know and I’m comfortable in and doing that in a changed or even a new environment. And what if I would be asked to not only lead a department I’m familiar with but something else. All the expertise would be out the window and it would come down to pure leadership and management skills. “ Waartoe leid jij?” led me to a lot of questions and hardly any answers. So what to do next? Be prepared! A (future) leader should have a plan, sets new goals to achieve. I’ve set the goal to win this challenge and be prepared for my future.