As you make progress in your career, remember that it is all about developing and building upon competencies and constructing a brand. Let this guide your career decisions.

Your competencies are what you are able to do and bring to the table. Your brand is what you are known for and the story that you tell as an employee.

I was part of a company’s leadership program. It was widely respected and had a good reputation. But the higher ups decided to re-position the program from experienced hires to early careers (those directly from undergrad).

If I dreamed of having my whole career at the whole company or if I had actually just started my career (i.e. just graduated from undergrad), I probably would have thought nothing else of it. But at the time I had been working for 8+ years.

I also was developing my own brand. And as any marketing professional will tell you, associations matter. So, I made the tough decision to leave the program early and to go company that would enhance my employee brand and where I could still have experiences that would help build and develop the competencies that I needed.