2023 can be your best career year ever, following these 12 principles for growth, leadership and excellence.

It seems everyone starts the new year with a sterling list of goals aimed at making this a shiny year of professional successes. Some are reachable, some are aspirational, all seem plausible in theory.

To make this year 2023 truly monumental and to zero in on actively achieving the goals you assign yourself, it is important to be realistic about where you are in your career, who you are and what skills and resources you have at your disposable—and can acquire.

Take The Lead has a bounty of instructive and inspiring content, resources and courses available for you and your team to make these goals a reality and to see that 2023 is your best year ever in terms of reaching your heights as an entrepreneur, leader, innovator, manager and colleague.

“@Takeleadwomen has a bounty of instructive and inspiring content, resources and courses available for you and your team to see that 2023 is your best year ever in terms of reaching your heights as an entrepreneur, #leader, innovator, manager and colleague. #professionaldevelopment”

To that end, here is a game plan you can refer to and check in on to make sure you are on your way.

1. Define your purpose. Name specifically what you are going after. Do not just claim you want to be successful, draft a plan as to what your mission is, what your title will be and how you can make that concretely come to pass. Nothing happens without intention. Cosmina Esanu, founder of Limitlashes, tells Forbes: “Having a purpose is your north star; it's what helps you make business moves and choices with a strong sense of direction. But passion is the fire that enables you to get up every day to keep working at it without grumbling or resignation even if things go bad."

2. Discover all you can about yourself and your abilities. Do some serious self-reflection about your past, present and future and your own capacity for change and success. How do you react in a new situation? How prepared are you to embark on serious shifts and pivots in your career? According to Connie Habash writing in Thrive Works, “When we engage in self-reflection, we’re developing what is known as an inner witness. This is the ability to look at yourself—even your own thoughts and even what is beneath the thoughts and emotions—from a slight distance. It’s almost like peering at your image in the mirror, except that the potential and importance of self-reflection goes much deeper than your outer appearance. With self-reflection, we look at ourselves with interest, curiosity, and inquiry, particularly when exploring our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. First, you notice exactly what you are feeling in your body, experiencing in your emotions, and thinking in your mind. That is the essential content of your experience.”

“Do some serious #selfreflection about your past, present and future and your own capacity for change and #success. How do you react in a new situation? How prepared are you to embark on serious shifts and pivots in your #career?”

3. Honor the diversity of your team and your support system. The best projects and the most stellar outcomes arrive when the team working on them represents a broad swath of ideas. And that happens when you have input from a team that is inclusive and diverse, considering all identities as equal—race, age, gender, geography, socioeconomics, abilities, education, religion, experience and expertise. As a leader, making sure there is a wide spectrum of input is optimal. Stephanie Whitley, Chief of Staff at Dubit, tells Pocket Gamer, “Put a regular process in place to assess internal policy - hiring practices (even down to job specs and candidate requirements), training policies, upskilling opportunities, and salary policy. Consider hiring an external consultant who isn’t as close to the business and culture. Be prepared to listen and make changes.”

“Honor the #diversity of your team and your support system. The best projects and the most stellar outcomes arrive when the team working on them represents a broad swath of ideas. #DEI #leadership”

4. Support colleagues. You climb up and you lift up as you climb. It can be that simple. Interview, hire and refer colleagues you mentor and colleagues who mentor you. Fast Company recently reports, “Women leaders also hire other women, helping close the equity divide. And women with intersectional identities are rich sources of creative innovation for the many perspectives they bring. Women also outperform men in coding, interpersonal, and leadership skills (if you’re still keeping score).”

“Support colleagues. You climb up and you lift up as you climb. It can be that simple. Interview, hire and refer colleagues you #mentor and colleagues who mentor you. #community”

5. Keep learning. Whether you attend lectures, events, webinars, read books and content on strategy, listen to podcasts with advice from experts, or take online courses, maximizing your skills comes from you having the best information from the most reliable sources. Consider Take The lead’s 9 Leadership Power Tools course in 2023. “Without being passed over for positions and promotions you are qualified for and deserving of, gaining clarity as needed if you are rethinking your path, even if you have no extra time for an in-person course (who has time for that?),” you can take on this opportunity.

6. Honor your mental health. Not to minimize any mental health concerns with a dismissive, “Take a spa day,” it is best to perpetually consider your sense of wellness a top priority and to also gauge your stress levels and burnout, and those of your coworkers, management, staff, customers and clients. COVID-19 exacerbated mental health concerns. Be empathic, never dismissive. Know it is serious. Take The Lead reported in 2020, “Depression, alcohol, other substance misuse and anxiety have all skyrocketed because of COVID,” says Sagar Parikh, M.D., professor of psychiatry and associate director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center. “It’s having an impact on the business bottom line because sick employees mean decreased productivity and increased accidents at work,” according to the University of Michigan Health Blog. “Mental health problems exist everywhere,” Parikh tells the Health Blog. “We know that in order to help people, we should go where they are rather than waiting for them to come to us.”

“Consider your sense of #wellness a top priority and to also gauge your stress levels and #burnout, and those of your coworkers, management, staff, customers and clients. COVID-19 exacerbated #mentalhealth concerns. Be empathic, never dismissive. ”

7. Be accountable. Anyone can claim they have achieved something by revising or tweaking a resume or exaggerating an outcome. But those fabrications help no one and in severe cases can be criminal. According to Take The Lead, “If it seems as if everyone is lying, it is easier to lie. But if everyone in an organization, particularly those at the top, model integrity and truth-telling, then lying will seem out of place. And if someone gets information wrong, owning up to the mistake and apologizing is what needs to be done, not hoping everyone forgets. Business News Daily reports, ‘One of the hardest people to work with is someone who lies. ‘Lying is a common strategy that is involved in building and maintaining relationships,’ said Dr. Russell Thackeray, a licensed clinical psychologist at QED. It is simply much easier to work with someone truthful than working with someone whose veracity you have to question.” Create a transparent system of accountability on your goals, whether you have a “kitchen cabinet” of supporters to whom you report on your progress or on the checklists you have created for your end goal.

“According to @Takeleadwomen, “If it seems as if everyone is lying, it is easier to lie. But if everyone in an #organization, particularly those at the top, model integrity and truth-telling, then lying will seem out of place.” #leadership ”

8. Understand your corporate culture. If you are a leader and in a position to effect and even transform the culture of your workplace, do so mindfully. Cassie Paton writes in Take The Lead of five distinct workplace cultures, how to create them and how to manage them. “Culture affects every aspect of your company, from the public’s perception of your brand to your employees’ job satisfaction to your bottom line. Because there’s so much at stake, it’s important that your corporate culture is adaptable and open to improvement – which starts with being able to articulate just what kind of culture your company has.”

9. Maintain your ethics. This may seem obvious, but in stressful situations, it may feel expendable, whether cutting corners or not fully investigating concerns that would be easier to ignore. This advice ran in Take The Lead: “Leadership that’s grounded in strong core values can make a strategic business decision that combines organizational needs with community benefit — and neither is diminished in the process,” writes Shawn Vij, author of Moral Fiber: Awakening Corporate Consciousness, in Thrive Global. “And we’re seeing more leaders taking a stand as our moral core is etched into sharper focus. Senators argue for country before party, CEOs insist on innovating for a sustainable future, board members insist on repairing a toxic workplace not just for the sake of its people, but the long-term viability of the organization itself,” Vij writes.

10. Be positive. Dianna Moore, COO of Hire Runner, business and lifestyle coach and former senior program manager at Boeing, tells Take The Lead, “Mindset coupled with consistent action” are elements within an individual’s influence. “When you look at where you are versus where you want to be, there can be a huge gap. I was a single 18-year-old mother on welfare and truly didn’t know how I would overcome obstacles, but I did know I needed to take steps forward.” Another key component to changing life circumstances is surrounding yourself with “people who believe in you and sometimes even more than you believe in yourself,” Moore says.

“ Be positive. Dianna Moore, COO of @Hirerunner, business and lifestyle coach and former senior program manager at @Boeing, tells @Takeleadwomen, “Mindset coupled with consistent action” are elements within an individual’s influence. #lifehacks #mindset”

11. Give back. Whether you want to individually volunteer or donate or you head a large philanthropic foundation, acknowledging you have a duty to help others is key to your own well-being and success. According to Take The Lead, “Each generation wants their kids to have it better than they did,” says Jane LaRocca Roig, vice chair of the board of directors of Helios Education Foundation that has invested more than $300 million in educational initiatives and scholarships since 2004. “Every child in this country deserves access to education and the ability to be successful in their educational careers. These young people are going to be our leaders and controlling our destiny.“

12. Forgive yourself. Every entrepreneur and leader knows the mistakes they have made only make the next move sharper and the big success sweeter. And the fear of making mistakes needs to be assuaged with the fear of not taking the risk. Kate Isler, founder of TheWMarketplace, explains to Take The Lead why she countered each possible failure with the possibility for success: “With every business and career decision that has taken her—and her family—around the globe in top positions at Microsoft and other companies and organizations she founded, Isler says she asks, ‘What is the best that could happen to us?’” Her venture launched during the pandemic now has 500 sellers, 3,500 products and services and a new wave of training for sellers.

“Forgive yourself. Every #entrepreneur and #leader knows the mistakes they have made only make the next move sharper and the big success sweeter. #leadershipadvice”

Take The Lead Leadership Tip of the Week:

“Culture affects every aspect of your company, from the public’s perception of your brand to your employees’ job satisfaction to your bottom line.” –Cassie Paton, Internal Communications Specialist

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com