<div style="width:340px;"> <p>Whether you are charting the course for your personal career or the path your company will follow, there are two questions that have a significant impact on future success:</p> <ul> <li>What do you want to be?  <li>Why you want to?</li></ul> <p><a href="http://www.andertoons.com/cartoon/5032/"><img style="display:inline;float:right;border-style:none;" alt="Family Cartoon #5032 by Andertoons" align="right" src="http://www.andertoons.com/img/cartoons/5032.jpg"></a> <br></a></p><a style="text-align:center;padding-right:5px;display:block;" href="http://www.andertoons.com/cartoons/family/">Andertoons Family Cartoons</a></div> <p>Mark Anderson’s cartoon may make us smile at the perspective of children on a playground – but the bigger question is one that as adults many of us struggle to answer or even are afraid to when we honestly assess career or company.</p> <p>Let’s look at it from the personal and business perspective:</p> <p><strong>In your career:</strong></p> <p>Is your primary goal focused on money or personal satisfaction? </p> <p>When you tell people what you do, are you proud of it? </p> <p>If you could do ANYTHING, would you be doing what you do today? </p> <p>If you were asked WHY you do what you do – would you be happy with the answer? </p> <p>Would you want your children to follow in your footsteps?</p> <p>These questions may sound basic, but when you consider that we spend 5 out of 7 days …or more in our chosen careers, it’s worth giving some real thought.</p> <p><strong>In your business:</strong></p> <p>Is your primary goal focused on the bottom line or a broader mission? </p> <p>If an outsider was asked what your company is all about, would it match what you&nbsp; say internally? </p> <p>Management jargon aside – what business are you REALLY in. </p> <p>Do you and your team have what they need to achieve your mission? </p> <p>Are you a leader in your industry or space?&nbsp; Do you even want to be? </p> <p>Is your goal to innovate and push the boundaries of your industry or are you better positioned to follow trends.&nbsp; (There are draw backs and benefits to both.) </p> <p>If you could only invest in one company in the whole world – is this the one you would choose – and why? </p> <p>If you asked&nbsp; a random 10% of your employees these same questions, what do you think their answers would sound like?</p> <p><strong>What do you want to be… and why?</strong></p> <p>Here’s how I answer these questions:</p> <p>For myself, I am what I want to be… a business builder.&nbsp; The title does not matter as much as the work.&nbsp; Seeing a company or organization that has&nbsp; great potential and can lead in its field and helping it get there makes the hard work and risk worth while.&nbsp; Some might call this entrepreneurial, others call it corporate leadership. To me, the process of identifying opportunity, creating the structure and delivering value for customers, employees, investors and partners in a way where everyone benefits excites me.&nbsp; It’s who I am and what I do well.&nbsp; </p> <p>Why do I do it?&nbsp; I cannot imagine doing anything else.&nbsp; </p> <p>At <a href="http://www.corepurpose.com">CorePurpose</a>, we do the same things.&nbsp; By providing services and solutions that build businesses and working with others to help find the answers to THEIR questions, we help them create value for their customers, employees, investors, and partners and create value for ours too.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p>Why do we do it? Because we chose for our team people who are the <strong>best</strong> at what they do and share a belief that businesses grow when they can ask the right questions… find the right answers…and act on them.</p> <p><strong>Feel free to share the answers to yours in the comments below.&nbsp; </strong></p> <p>They may sound simple, but if you really think hard …and honestly, you might be surprised by what your answers are.</p> <p><strong>Thanks for stopping by.&nbsp; Stay Tuned…</strong></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Joan Koerber-Walker</strong></p></blockquote> <p><strong>About the Joan: </strong> <p><a href="http://jkw.typepad.com/.a/6a01053650f43d970c013489b143d5970c-pi"><img style="margin:5px 10px 5px 5px;" border="0" alt="Koerber-Walker-056" align="left" src="http://jkw.typepad.com/.a/6a01053650f43d970c013489b143e3970c-pi" width="83" height="103"></a> An entrepreneur, author, speaker and corporate advisor, <a href="http://jkw.typepad.com/www.linkedin.com/in/joankoerberwalker">Joan Koerber-Walker's</a> journey has spanned from corporate America to entrepreneurship and non-profits as well as to community leadership and into the halls of Washington D.C.&nbsp;&nbsp; To learn more about how CorePurpose and the CoreAlliance can help you grow your business in 2011, you can contact her by clicking <a href="http://corepurpose.com/contact.html">here</a>.  <h6>CorePurpose&nbsp; is a registered trademark of CorePurpose, Inc.&nbsp; CoreAlliance is a&nbsp; service mark of CorePurpose Inc.&nbsp; All rights reserved</h6> <div style="display:inline;float:none;margin:0;padding:0;" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:1a2c0d57-abf7-4434-a23f-f55a4fc10be8" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Joan+Koerber-Walker" rel="tag">Joan Koerber-Walker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/CorePurpose" rel="tag">CorePurpose</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Entrepreneurs" rel="tag">Entrepreneurs</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/corporate+growth" rel="tag">corporate growth</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Careers" rel="tag">Careers</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Success+Tips" rel="tag">Success Tips</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Business+Tips" rel="tag">Business Tips</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Career+Questions" rel="tag">Career Questions</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Career+Search" rel="tag">Career Search</a></div>