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Conversation 2: Dreams Lead to Vision

Dream jobs as a way to identify long-term visions and skills required for achieving them.

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Thoughts about dream jobs can help better articulate more specific Career Vision Statements.
Manager:
Start with an open-ended conversation with your employee about their dream job(s) — getting to their fuzzy lighthouse(s) in the distance.
Then focus those aspirations using the three questions featured in Chapter 15 of When They Win, You Win; this step plus the last step should take no more than :60.
Employee:
Write out 3 Career Vision Statements below. Make sure these Career Vision Statements align with your stated values from Life Story Conversation.
Your vision is a career vision, not a life vision, like “live on a houseboat”. That’s a fine idea, not a career vision. The idea is to think about the dream job, which is what you’re doing at the pinnacle of your career, when you are happy, challenged and not longing for more. Not “5 year plan” or “10 year plan” nonsense. The end state, the dream job.

Step 3: Document Career Vision Statements

After discussing your dream jobs with your manager, use the tools on this page to turn these into actionable Career Vision Statements.

Employee: Create no more than 3 Career Vision Statements (1 is just fine)

Start by first deleting the sample Career Vision Statements below:
Clear sample data
Click on the Career Visions cards below and then enter your CVSs.
To help clarify each Career Visions Statement (CVS), use our three-question guide to help create focus, clarity, and differentiation among these CVSs.
The 3 Questions:
What is your preferred industry?
What is your ideal company size?
What is your desired position? No problem specifying a specific company.

Career Visions

You've identified 3 vision statements. You're ready to the next page to identify Big Rock skills.
New Career Vision
CMO of midsize tech company
Company size
Mid-Size
Industry
Tech
CMO for travel/leisure company
Company size
Small
Industry
Travel and Leisure
CMO at Patagonia
Company size
Very Large Enterprise
Industry
Health and Fitness



Next Up: (Master Skills List)

Now that your Career Vision Statements are settled, move on to complete your Master Skills List — this a list of “Big Rock” skills (explained in Chapter 16) that represent high level skills you will need to work on to support all of your Career Vision Statements.

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