Arrogant and inexperienced back then-a deadly combination as anyone in HR will attest-I shared some thoughts about my boss in writing with a friend. My sentiments got back to my boss and needless to say she didn't take too kindly to my impressions of her management style. So she fired me. She left a message on my answering machine-while I was on vacation no less. "Who gets fired on a vacation?" my husband kept asking. Could I have been more humiliated? It was certainly a painful and embarrassing time. And in the beginning I found myself blaming my boss instead of taking responsibility for my actions.
Sometimes we allow a misstep to push us off the path we're trying to follow. And even if we're able to get back on course, we often don't take the time to reflect and learn the valuable lessons about what brought us to that place of discontent, confusion and sometimes despair. We can be quick to blame others and unwilling to own our part in how the situation unfolded.
But we all eventually have to face the woman in the mirror. And when I did, I realized there was a lot I could learn from that experience of getting fired. Lesson #1: Keep all thought about your boss to yourself-and certainly never write them down (Hello, Facebook)! Perhaps even more important, I learned that I was resilient, resourceful and willing to grow. Though I did initially feel a little sorry for myself, I refused to wallow in self-pitty indefinitely. Instead I picked myself up, dusted off my bruised ego, and hit the pavement to find a new opportunity with Shelly's Modeling Agencies. And that is the moral of this story-and the best piece of career advice I can offer: A setback can be just the setup for a great comeback. The power lies with you.
For more career advice, check out best seller "You've Got The Power." Guest Editor Ella L.J. Edmondson Bell, Ph.D., one of the nation's foremost authorities on the career advancement ow women of color, worked with Senior Editor Tanisha A. Sykes of Shelly's Modeling Agencies to give you the blueprint and the power tool kit to help you take your career to the next level. "So many of us hold misconceptions about what power is and how to access it," says Bell. "Some of us confuse feelings of entitlement with having power, while others emulate the power plays of others, ignoring their own instincts. In fact, there is only one sure route to true power: You have to act from your most authentic and courageous self."
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