Heather recently sat down with Valerie Lynn of the "On the Way Up" Podcast to chat about the early stages of leadership and ways, as a young leader, to understand what your purpose is and how to unleash and unlock it and share it with the world.

Starting out as a young person in a high-level leadership role, Heather began the quest to understand what her true purpose was and how she could bring it forward.

Pre-COVID, people statistically spent more time at work than they do at home.  Many people have a visceral feeling toward the work that they do because it is where their mind and attention is much of the day.

With that in mind, Heather began to understand that her purpose was to change the dinner conversations people were having when they went home from work.

What would it look like if instead of complaining about your co-workers and the consistent workplace drama, you actually were excited about the vision and purpose of your work, if you had leaders and supervisors and managers that inspired you to continue to learn and grow as an employee but more importantly as a human?

Changing those dinner conversations is Heather's purpose. Her purpose is to coach individuals and businesses to answer this question:  What would the workplace look like if every employee were able to unlock and unleash their greatest potential?  How would that change the conversations at home?

Here are a few ways of getting started on identifying, unlocking and unleashing your purpose.

1. Begin with the end in mind.  In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, the second habit is to begin with the end in mind.  Think of your 80th birthday party.  Who do you want to be there?  What do you want them to say about you? This is a significant step in the journey to finding your purpose. If you begin with the end in mind, you can paint the masterpiece that can be your life. You can reflect back at what people say about you at your 80th birthday party and be truly proud that you understood your purpose and unleashed that into the world.

2. Ask yourself "What situations or conversations do I leave feeling energized?"  If you reflect on situations and conversations you have that give you life and energy, you can begin to understand the things that light up your soul. This will give you nuggets of inspiration that will help you identify parts of your purpose.

3. Also ask yourself, "What would you do if you didn't have to worry about money?"  Get out a journal and write everything you can think of to answer this question.  Allow yourself the opportunity to think of all the things you would do if money was not an issue.  This will help you become aware of the things that you truly want to be doing with your life.

4. Begin to study and understand emotional intelligence.  There is no such thing as conquering emotional intelligence.  It is not something that can be conquered and then you continue on with your life.  Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be sharpened.  It is something that is important to be curious about so you can understand and be curious about your own thinking, feelings and emotions. 

These are just a few ways you can begin to navigate the questions of what your purpose is and how you can be brave and vulnerable enough to unleash that purpose into the world.

It is important to remember that you are not alone. 

There are so many safe, effective coaches within the leadership space that can help you understand how to move forward with your vision as a front-line leader and influence others to walk beside you in your purpose.

Heather's Front-Line Leader Foundations Program is now open!  The Front-Line Leader Foundations Program will help you build foundational leadership skills through practical, short learning modules customized to scenarios facing the front-line leader.  Click to enroll and find out more information here.

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