<p>When I was a little girl, one of my favorite games was <em>What Shall I Be? The Exciting Game of Career Girls. (Selchow and Righter, 1966).&nbsp; </em>My Mom gave it to me for my eighth birthday.&nbsp; Frequently, I would negotiate with my friends to trade off Barbie time for game time when we got together in my parent's basement.&nbsp; </p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/90100" target="_blank"><img style="margin:5px;" height="100" src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic31442_t.jpg" width="188" align="left" border="0"></a>Careers for women - how cutting edge was that?&nbsp; Our choices:&nbsp; Airline Hostess, Ballerina, Nurse, Model, Actress, and Teacher.&nbsp; For a review of this edition and the 1976 edition (much more enlightened but still a ways to go) see <a href="http://www.collectorsquest.com/blog/2007/11/11/a-review-of-what-shall-i-be-the-exciting-game-of-career-girls/" target="_blank">Deanna Dahlsad's&nbsp; Blog.</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/90100" target="_blank"><img style="margin:5px;" height="239" src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic90100_md.jpg" width="297" align="right" border="0"></a></p> <p>My friend Jeanne Craft was very focused and almost always chose the nurse.&nbsp; She wanted to help people.&nbsp; Maybe the game was a bit prophetic.&nbsp; Today, <a href="http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-reports/Dr-Jeanne-Craft-MD-5A78C17E.cfm" target="_blank">Dr. Jeanne Craft</a> is a five star rated physician practicing Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.&nbsp; Her courageous quick thinking in diagnosing and saving&nbsp; a baby with infant botulism brought her to international attention when she was profiled on Roma Downey's "It's a Miracle."&nbsp; </p> <p>As for me, I never could decide on just one career. I would pick a different one every time.&nbsp;&nbsp; The choices were not exactly what I was shooting for but some of the roles had things that I liked about them.&nbsp; The funny thing is that over my own career I did end up exploring a few of these roles.&nbsp; Modeling turned out to be a great way to earn extra money when I was in college.&nbsp; Community Theatre helped me forge a closer relationship with my future mother-in-law early in my career. (A great actress I was not and will never be.)&nbsp; As the Mom of two active boys,&nbsp; I've nursed my share of bumps and bruises. In 2008, teaching graduate courses on Leadership at Innovation at Grand Canyon University was both challenging and enlightening.&nbsp; And, my love for travel by air was satisfied when my role as a corporate executive had me flying around the world 13 times in a 3 year period.&nbsp; Never did master the ballerina thing.&nbsp; That was way too much hard work.&nbsp; </p> <p>While my feminist friends probably shudder at the very thought of this game, I remember those days fondly.&nbsp; It was a simpler time and a simpler place.</p> <p>If I was redesigning this game today, my game would have choices like CEO, Entrepreneur, Investor, Author, Mom, and Speaker.&nbsp; You see, that's what I grew up to be.&nbsp; I'm enjoying being a 'career girl'. It is exciting.&nbsp; I wonder what's next.&nbsp; Time to roll the dice.</p> <p>Thanks for checking in... Stay Tuned -</p> <blockquote> <p>Joan Koerber-Walker</p></blockquote> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:67e18f9a-32a3-4b1e-998e-dccdb4b3c159" style="display:inline;margin:0;padding:0;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Joan%20Koerber-Walker" rel="tag">Joan Koerber-Walker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/CorePurpose" rel="tag">CorePurpose</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Speaker" rel="tag">Speaker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/What%20Shall%20I%20Be" rel="tag">What Shall I Be</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/The%20Exciting%20Game%20of%20Career%20Girls" rel="tag">The Exciting Game of Career Girls</a></div>