When we look towards the future we are also searching for solutions, particularly if we are going through transitions. Sometimes we find them quickly, other times we keep on searching. There are moments when we have to admit that we cannot find solutions by ourselves and need to reach out to people who can guide us through these moments of uncertainty or doubts. You are fortunate when you find someone with deep understanding and knowledge about this dilemma. The Leadership Forum under the guidance of Carole Hyatt is one of those who would assist you. Ms. Hyatt, with more than 40 years experience in this endeavor, has clearly defined this mission. In the "Getting to Next" program she has been guiding women into successful careers and lives. Her observations over these many years are the following:" Forty years ago it was seldom that one had more than one career, today the average person has four or five, the next generation will have six to eight." Yet the more she learned by analyzing women, the more she realized that even the most successful ones still needed help navigating the shoals of life.
Now this program of Mission: Getting to Next is shifting to include women in the military and work with them on their transitions from military life to a civilian one and the challenges made upon them. The goal is to partner with women executives in business, in government and non-profits to provide the platforms to move into a new career. The workshops provide a greater number of mentors and participants throughout the United States, with training coaches to elevate this program into a broader availability.
Joan Firestone is the Executive Director and Associate of Carole Hyatt and has created many executive and policy positions during her career and is saying the following:
Mission: Getting to Next is poised to assist in servicing the unprecedented number of military transitioning into the public sector. We draw from in-depth discovery of personal and professional strengths, revealing unrealized potential, while helping to articulate actionable goals. Expert professional guests and cross-disciplinary participants provide immediate networking, opening up new possibilities. The talent available to the American workplace is immeasurable, particularly in the underutilized and overlooked population of women military officers, Mission: Getting to Next's specific target population.
Do women help women? In Ms. Hyatt's orbit thousands of women in countries around the world have benefitted from her deep understanding by guiding them in transition. In her many books she writes of different passages in life, speaks of practical applications as she does in the workshops of Mission: Getting to Next. These seminars provide ample networking possibilities, which again are also empowering and create action. Ms. Hyatt's books with titles like When Smart People Fail or Life-Time Employability or Shifting Gears... all have the underlying theme of empowerment and building a successful career.
There are many books written by women about their journey to success. Each one tells of her moments of doubt and all have found a solution...but not alone. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook speaks in Lean In... Women, Work, and The Will to Lead...of her beginnings, Arianna Huffington, Founder of The Huffington Post and Huffington Media, writes in Thrive...The Third Metric to Redefining Success...how she had doubts and how she was encouraged by many people but mainly by her mother and then we have Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic Senator of New York writing in her book Off the Sidelines....Raise Your Voice, Change the World...how often she had to fight to elevate her self-esteem and her deep disappointment in not winning the vote to pass the bill protecting survivors of sexual assault in the military. It takes courage to speak out...and none of these women's success was ever an easy task.
Several of the participants spoke of their experience in Mission: Getting to Next:
Major General Sharon K. Dunbar, Unites States Air Force (Retired) -- "These workshops helped broaden the aperture of my understanding of 'transition' from both the professional military and the civilian career perspective, I gained great insights and ideas from others through brainstorming and focussed exercises."
Maria del Pilar Ryan, Ph.D. , Colonel U.S. Army (Retired) -- "It was the perfect mix of highly experienced women speakers, an exploration of personal interests and possibilities, the participants were a rich blend of experience. This triad will serve as a support network as we pursue our new careers."
Brigadier General Eden J. Murie, Director of Air Force Services (Retired) -- "This is an excellent program and should be attended before one makes a transition. The wealth of data from personal experience to professional data was awesome, it will help focus where one wants to go next."
In these seminars, Carole Hyatt and Joan Firestone define the solutions and give the participants the tools to create and negotiate a career in a different environment. Emboldened by a sense of direction and purpose, they now can master this new life-experience. It is like reinventing yourself and shifting gears! These extraordinary women have been devoting their lives to protect this Nation within its borders and in troubled spots around the world. Now they are standing at the brink of a different life of the 21st Century. Certainly there are things, which need to be thought and talked about -- self-esteem, speak your mind, be clear about your perspective, fearless, courage, look for equal pay for equal work, defining your passion, capturing things you wish to accomplish, you are in control of your life, setting goals and with the Mission: Getting to Next these goals can become reality.