In this first episode of the Be the CEO of Your Career summer series, Tammy Gooler Loeb explores the initial practice in her framework: Define Your Why. At its core, this practice is about identifying the values and priorities that matter most so career decisions can come from clarity rather than expectation, pressure, or simply following the next logical step.

To bring the practice to life, Tammy revisits her podcast conversation with Rashmir Balasubramaniam, a transformational leadership coach and consultant whose earliest memories include asking her father, "Why am I here?" That question would consistently surface for Rashmir throughout her career in accounting, investment banking, nonprofit leadership, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, consulting, teaching, and coaching. Again and again, Rashmir learned to recognize when her work was moving closer to, or further away from, the values of learning, growth, purpose, and impact that mattered most to her.

Rashmir's journey illustrates how defining your why isn't something that happens once but rather serves as a thread that drives discovery, meaning and fulfillment along the way. It requires listening to the inner and outer signals that emerge throughout a career and reassessing what feels significant as circumstances evolve. Tammy closes the episode, offering a C.E.O. of Your Career Move to help listeners uncover their own why by reflecting on their best career decisions and identifying the threads connecting them.

In This Week's Podcast, Learn More About:

• How Define Your Why sets the stage for the five practices within the Be the CEO of Your Career framework
• How values and priorities provide a compass for career decisions
• Understanding the difference between logical choices and an inner sense of knowing
• Why Rashmir repeatedly chose learning, growth, purpose, and impact
• Recognizing when a successful career path no longer feels aligned
• Why letting go can create space to discover what's next
• How reflection helped Rashmir to navigate multiple career transitions
• The power of curiosity throughout her professional journey
• Listening for the inner and outer signals pointing toward what comes next
• Defining your why matters at every career crossroads, including retirement

Learn more:

• Explore the Be the CEO of Your Career Framework
• Visit: rashmir.net
• Follow Rashmir on LinkedIn
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Your CEO of Your Career Move:

Look back at every job, opportunity, or career decision that has ever felt genuinely right.

Write down the thread, or perhaps several threads, that appeared across most of those experiences. Was it learning? Creativity? Service? Independence? Impact? Connection? Leadership?

That recurring thread is a piece of your why.

Pull on it. Consider where it is showing up in your career today and where it may be missing. As Tammy reminds listeners, defining your why isn't only useful when making a career pivot. It can provide clarity at any meaningful crossroads in work and life.

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