Welcome to the celebrate brave podcast. 

I’m Nicole Trick Steinbach, your host, and the international bravery coach. On a mission to redefine brave. How we identify it, live it, and most importantly, celebrate it. Because when you build your brave, you change your world and that changes the world. Talk about something to celebrate. Let’s go. 

Hello brave people. Today, I’m going to address a misunderstanding, a misconception that comes up somewhat frequently, when I’m discussing my build your brave framework with new groups of people. And that misunderstanding is that you have to know where you’re going before you start building your brave. This is not true. This is so not true. And let me be even more specific, you are A-ok when you’re not sure exactly where you’re going. 

Okay, you are A-ok. And for some of us, maybe many of us, I know I put myself into this category for sure. It’s A-ok if you don’t know where you’re going at all. To many people and speaking from experience to many people, especially women in technology, who are implicitly and sometimes explicitly told that we’re super lucky to even be in this space, which is a load of bull copy, but y’all know that already. Right? We get used to and we accept, we settle into, okay, this job is okay. This manager is okay. My salary is okay. You know, it’s all right. And it would take so much energy to do a shift. And this is okay. 

And a quick side note. Quick, quick side note, this idea that I don’t have the energy to find something because my job takes so much energy because it’s “okay”, let me tell you something, personal experience but also the experience of tons of my clients. That job, that energy that’s required to be okay, or even worse than okay, it sucks the energy from everything else. Shift into a job and a manager relationship, a career, a location, whatever project, whatever the case may be, that gives you energy, because then you’re going to have the energy to actually do everything else that you say you prioritize, okay, side note, I just cannot let that stay. 

Okay, let’s go back to being A-ok. When you don’t know exactly where you’re going, or even where you’re going at all.  And I’m going to share my own personal story. So as I’m recording this podcast, it’s 2021. I was inspired because of some of the conversations I’ve been having, like I mentioned when I speak with groups, also my clients, and I ran into some….. ran into my five-year plan from early 2013. So set the stage: still living in Germany, I have one child, he is a year and a half old, and I’m still in my corporate career. I was in a position I enjoyed I had a manager who was and remains a fantastic human, who genuinely invest in the people that she’s managing. Seeing that “she” there? Love it!. And I was looking five years out. I laughed so hard when I saw this. 

So my five-year plan included either a move to Asia, or a role focused on Asia. Driving transformation across this amazing amazingly diverse, incredibly fascinating especially for girl from Ohio, right? Fascinating cultures, languages, approaches, teamwork styles, etc. And I wanted to be leading a team. So that was the 2013 five year plan, either in Asia or focus on Asia, driving transformation, inside of a company, leading a team, okay. And then I discovered I was pregnant, which was kind of news. Discovered I was pregnant, and the pregnancy, and the birth, were eventful, let’s just say it that way, ended up six months on bed rest, it was fantastic. 

The company I was with the strategy completely shifted, and suddenly Asia, the APJ area was carved up in these different ways. And the innovation centers were actually shifting. So it wasn’t very interesting anymore to be driving transformation,…. for me. I’m not saying their strategy was wrong, I’m just saying it wasn’t very interesting for me. And then now this is all over like two years, I think. And then I was offered the chance to work with the new head of transformation inside of a specific business unit -marketing -, the opportunity to work with the new CMO who also was one of the I believe, 3% women of color, she had an Asian background, oh, I just put that together anyways. And she was new to the company. And I found her introduction and her way of being very fascinating. And this was, I think, a year after I got the chance to work with a new transformation lead, think SVB or something. And the CMO, I was offered the chance to work with an incredible leader in both tech and in the DEI spaces. So,……did not go to Asia, did not focus on Asia, a lot happened. 

I actually moved to the United States in early 2016. And that was not on my plan, not on my plan at all. And if we go past that five-year plan, you know, I had zero intention, even as late as 2017, to return to consulting, to leave an executive role to leave a corporate situation and go back into consulting. And quite frankly, even though I had been coaching for a while, it wasn’t even until early 2018 that I was willing to call myself a coach at all. I was doing the work. Clients were seeing the results. And I still wasn’t even calling myself a coach. Right? I did not know where I was going. So what did I know? 

Why is it A-ok, if you don’t know where you’re going? Because we know that okay, isn’t enough. Hopefully, you know, what your values are. What your magic is. All right. So all throughout this, I knew that part of my magic was running into situations where everything, the poopoo had hit the fan and it was spread everywhere. And, where brand new opportunities were being created. I knew that that was part of my magic. That was clear. And throughout this whole process from 2013, early 2013 until mid-2018, it became more and more clear to me because that’s where I was spending my time that I was super jazzed. No, let me say that I am, I AM SUPER JAZZED about serving others as they go through their personal change their personal transformation, their personal development into their brave to change their world. 

Look, clearly I do not know exactly where I’m going in 10 years. I’ll be 50 and fabulous because I’m 40 and ferocious and fierce. Wow. I’m so excited to be 40 but what I do know is that it is A-ok. A -ok. To know where I serve, how I serve, and to step forward with ever more clarity; tell it to your dentist. Evermore momentum; experience it like a kindergartner and to own it like a boss. Don’t get twisted. You don’t need to have ultimate long term clarity. It’s enough to know that you want more. 

Thanks again for listening today. If you are ready to build your brave for more money, deeper relationships, and more opportunities in your life. Reach out to me, Nicole Trick Steinbach. I would love to help you. And please remember to rate and review this celebrate brave podcast so that more people can support our movement to redefine brave, how we define it, live it, and celebrate it.