Lately I have been on the road a lot and fortunately have had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of professionals from various fields.  The topics of organizational development and continuous improvement discussions ranged from customer service to personal growth to innovation in the workplace.  No two conversations are ever the same…and no pieces of creative, innovation advice I offer are duplicates.

Interestingly one of my sons recently asked: “What do you tell people when they ask you specifically to describe yourself as a professional?”  Well as you might guess I was NOT prepared for this type of question.  Deer hunting, fixing the lawn mower or playing music might be on my “expected questions” list…but not one on professional status.

Well I told him that I let people know I am a STRATEGIC DREAMER.  And before he asked just what the ____ is that?” …I went on to explain that a STRATEGIC DREAMER is someone who offers ideas, thoughts, projects, advice and/or recommendations that always keep people looking to the future.  Too often workplaces spend critical planning time discussing, debating and arguing about what happened in the past…and not near enough about the future!  I also stressed that A STRATEGIC DREAMER professionally encourages individual workers and entire organizations to direct more focus on something you can change…THE FUTURE…instead of trying to change the past.

As you can guess I’m not sure he thought his Dad was that deep a thinker.  But today for the sake of solid professional development, think about adopting a STRATEGIC DREAMER philosophy! Think about taking calculated risks, using technology to better help you, modifying cool customer service approaches, and thereby creating your own new future.

It just might put FUN back into your day job!