Volume XXIII, Number 3 (Issue 1112) | January 20, 2025
Career Origins
Are you able to trace your career to something in your origin story? Perhaps you followed a family member into the family business. Maybe a childhood mentor or teacher opened your mind to a career path based upon an aptitude you demonstrated. In some cases, a childhood event may have set your feet on your current track. If none of those are part of your story, I am willing to bet you know others whose career was ordained by something in their youth.
In my case, with a bit of creativity I can draw something approaching a dotted line in the direction of my choice of a career. But while my connection is tenuous, I have friends and colleagues whose path from childhood experience to career is clear. Without naming names, I know several people who chose a career in medicine as a result of their or a close family member’s health struggles. Similarly, a former business partner of mine, following a stint in the Navy, chose a career in psychotherapy due to a childhood experience. There are others who opted for a career in the law while some gravitated toward social work based on something they experienced in their youth.
Thinking about my story, when I was young my dad owned an insurance agency. Not surprisingly, he invited me to follow him into the family business. However, it was not something that appealed to me. That decision was driven primarily by my reluctance to make a living in either sales or customer service. Combine that with what I knew to be the horrendous hours he worked (long days, Saturdays included) to build a successful business, and I simply wanted no part of it. On the other hand, another aspect of his business life did land though not without a couple of detours.
As I said, my journey was not a straight line. When I was a teen, in addition to my dad being in the insurance business, he served on the board of a community bank. Having declined the offer to join him in the family business, he suggested an alternative career: banking. He even went as far as to recommend a path beginning with a stint as a bank examiner. While I did not set out to go into the banking business, as fate would have it, my best job offer following college was with a large commercial bank. Following three impactful years of learning and growing in that role, a consulting firm approached me to join their team. It was as a consultant that I discovered what felt like my calling. Fast forward two decades and a pivotal event in my spiritual journey prompted a redirection of that consulting career – one that led me to focus on human capital and unleashing human potential. It was that last shift that helped me to realize more of my own potential.
All of this is to say that one never knows where their origin story might take them. For those of us who are into our career, we need to remember that we can have a meaningful impact on the life choices that future generations will need to make. May each of us therefore resolve to be both a shining light and wise counselor for those who come after us.
Soli Deo Gloria
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
J. Keith Hughey
Mobile: (210)260-0955
E-mail: keith@jkeithhughey.com
Website: www.jkeithhughey.com
Transforming Potential into Unmatched Performance
Copyright 2025 by J. Keith Hughey. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for reproduction and redistribution of this essay as provided under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Recent issues of Musings may be found at www.jkeithhughey.com. Your comments are always welcome.