Katie C. Kelley - Career Courage: Discover Your Passion, Step Out of Your Comfort Zone, and Create the Success You Want

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career courage

Discover Your Passion, Step Out of Your Comfort Zone, and

Create the Success You Want

Katie C. Kelley

To my mentor and father, Patrick D. Curran, who inspires and elevates my professional life.

And to my agent and friend, Michael Snell, without whom I could not have written this book.

Writing this book turned into one of the most enriching and arduous communal projects I have ever attempted. I cannot thank that community enough. It began with my father, Patrick D. Curran of King City, California. Dad, thank you for blazing a trail so fearlessly. Kevin and I will continue to carry your torch with us wherever we roam.

The project could not have gone forward without my literary agent, writing coach, and friend, Michael Snell. Michael, I deeply appreciate your patience, good humor, and wisdom as we took this journey from idea to published book.

Below my name on this books cover should appear the names of hundreds of friends, colleagues, and mentors who have helped and supported me on my journey to a fulfilling career. They taught me everything I know.

My personal and professional network spans from New York City to San Diego. So many people have sponsored and endorsed my work and opened doors that I could never have opened. They include Cindy Tortorici of The Link for Women, Tiffany Bean of Mabel and Zora, Carmen Voillequ of Strategic Arts and Sciences, Valerie Berset Price of Professional Passport, Traci Reandeau of Fuerst Group, Heather Buser of KPMG, Janice Bangs of AM Northwest, Emily Leach of Capital Pacific Bank, Janine Fracolini of the Flawless Foundation, the Colorado Kelleys, my aunt and uncle Gail and Bob OLeary, Karen Taylor, Emily Kaiser of Boston College, Shana Carroll of Northwestern University, Christina Rasmussen of Second Firsts, Kedma Ough, Melody Biringer of the CRAVE Company, Sabrina Bracco McCarthy of Perseus Books, Christopher Flett of Ghost CEO, Katy Kippen of Grayling Jewelry, Agapi Stassinopoulos, Rick Petry, Steve Weiss of Hurricane Marketing Enterprises, Seni and Bob VanZant, Susan Clark of Heartspark, Lisa Hunefeld of Nike, Christina Cacioppo Bertsch of CCB Educational Consulting, Maria Ramirez Dodson, Maria Gamb of NMS Communication, Arwa Jumkawala, Bruze Hazen of Three Questions Consulting, Katy Mollica of Turner Broadcasting, my Godfather Rob Bond and Leslie Bond, Suzanne Martin and Julie Rollauer of Google, Catherine Marshall of Reebok, John Minardo of Novartis, Jennie Day Burget of Prichard Communications, Jennifer Ruwart of Roger That Agency, Traci Bagli Hooper of The Confidence Project, Theresa Lowe McDonnell, Liz Gaige, Susanne Roberston McComic, Jamie Fornsaglio Hull, John Ragan, Nathalie Molina Nio, Bridget Baker, Stephanie Vaughan Miller, Suzie Sandoval of OrganiZEN, Mindy Lockard of The Gracious Girl, Cari Thomas, Robyn Knox, Michelle Franesconi, Yasmin Nguyen of Vibrance Global, Maggie Palmer of MKP Creative, Saretta Holler Brown, Madeline Roosevelt, and Margot Feves of Opal 28. Thank you, one and all!

My deepest appreciation also goes to the scores of people who granted me interviews for this book. I could not directly cite all of them in the book, but I drew inspiration from each and every one. Their stories helped me craft the books themes and teaching points. Thank you Kelly Howell, Sandra Reder, Corinne Phipps, Allison Fountain Garrigan, Catherine Marshall, Taryn Edgin, Dr. Debra Hull, Fabiano Cid, Heather Daley, Gerry Reidy, Peggy Leimkuhler, and Naja Hayward. Thank you does not come close to expressing my feelings for what every contributor taught me.

My heartfelt gratitude extends to my mother, Joan C. Curran, from Brooklyn, New York, who serves as my bedrock of strength, a sounding board for major decisions, and a source of more coaching than this child deserved. She faithfully proofread every page of my manuscript. I love you, Mom.

Last, but never least, I thank my holy trinity: my husband Tom and my daughters Ashlyn Marie and Abigail Rose, whose tireless cheerleading made this book a reality. Tom, you have served as my informal business partner and my coach every day of this process. Ashlyn and Abigail, you soldiered on while your mother spent long nights and weekends writing this book. Thank you, dear joys of my life.

Ten years ago I reached a pivotal point in my life. At the time I was a driven thirty-year-old professional, living in New York City and working hard to carve out a successful career as a psychotherapist. Yet, I was feeling increasingly dissatisfied with and disconnected from my professional role and saddened by my party of one status on the home front.

What had gone wrong? I had faithfully followed my carefully crafted career plan from the age of sixteen, when I first dreamed of running my own private practice in Manhattan. But, here I sat in my tiny studio apartment, one confused young woman with a graduate degree from Smith College on the wall, far from my California hometown, wondering how on earth my once bright-eyed, exuberant self had turned into this sad, lonely, workaholic drudge.

Obviously, the conventional practice of psychotherapy had failed to bring me the joy and fulfillment I imagined it would. After three years working on the locked psychiatric ward of the New York Presbyterian Hospital, I had begun to feel like a disturbed patient myself, locked in a cell and strapped into a designer-tailored straitjacket.

Then one day, while I was reviewing a patients case with my supervisor during a regularly scheduled mentoring session, I finally figured it out. Sitting in my supervisors carefully appointed office, I had been describing a particularly harrowing experience my patient had suffered. She reacted to my rather dull recital of symptoms and a possible clinical assessment by stopping me with a virtual slap on the wrist. Katie, you need to climb into your dark hole and be one with your patient! Bingo! I did not want to crawl down into a black hole; I wanted to climb up to a bright light.

I went home from that session determined to ask myself some really tough questions about my work and my life. After many months of sometimes painful soul-searching, I began to uncover answers that might take me in a much more promising direction. As it turned out, I had actually found my true calling. I did want to help people create better lives for themselves, but I needed to redirect all my talent and training and experience beyond the confining walls of the clinic. It took me several years to get to where I am now, reaping daily joy and fulfillment, not only from my work in people development and as a speaker, but also from my home life with my husband and our two cherubic daughters. Is my life perfect? Of course not, but I have traveled light-years from that dark, lonely studio in Manhattan.

The tough questions I asked myself at that low point in my life marked the beginning of a new direction in my career. It also gave birth to this book. I have written