Personal Growth Fuels Professional Success
When Ben and I were at the Field Museum in Chicago this summer, we stopped at the Indigenous Peoples exhibit. Like any good mom, I saw an opportunity to tease Ben a bit, and took it.
I pointed to a young boy in the display and said, “Look at him. He was responsible for sewing fur pelts to make boots, hats, and gloves for his tribe. And look at you: Nikes delivered to the front door, a warm meal every day, and a smartphone you can doomscroll on for hours.”
Without missing a beat, Ben replied, “Bruh, low-key, it’s not like he had anything better to do with his time.” (who can relate to this teenage talk ;)
Fair point.
I kept thinking about Ben's very true comment after listening to Theo Von’s conversation with Laura Delano. They shared a striking analogy: if the roughly 300,000-year history of modern humans were a 24-hour day, the Industrial Era would occupy less than the final two minutes.
Since then, the pace of change has only accelerated… from factories to smartphones to AI. Our tools keep changing how we live and work, but our need to feel, connect, understand ourselves, and belong to one another hasn’t gone away. We’ve been experiencing the need for human connection since the beginning of time. Long before tech and AI changed how we work.
I saw that firsthand this week at a credit union’s annual all-team meeting. Over the past year, I’ve been working with their team through an ongoing consulting and training program, with virtual sessions on emotional intelligence and Positive Intelligence - including how our saboteurs show up at work and at home. For this week’s event, they invited me to bring those ideas together in a keynote and Butterfly Goal activation.
We explored the human skills that matter in an age of technology and AI: emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and the ability to build strong relationships.
Then five people shared goals that mattered to them: running a turkey trot in a turkey costume, building a cabin, winning a bowling tournament, starting a podcast, and auditioning for a musical.
The room changed. Curiosity rose. People encouraged one another. There was more laughter, more empathy, more connection.
That’s what happens when we make room for people to grow as people…not only to achieve at work.
And that’s why personal goals matter beyond the fun of having something to look forward to. When we work toward something meaningful, we’re practicing emotional intelligence in real time.
We notice when we’re frustrated. We manage the urge to quit or rush. We adjust when the plan changes, ask for help, and keep going through setbacks. Along the way, we build patience, problem-solving, persistence, and self-awareness - skills we may not even realize we’re developing.
Planning, adapting, and choosing how to respond involve executive-function skills supported by the prefrontal cortex and connected brain networks. A personal goal gives us a chance to practice those skills in our own lives, and we can carry them into how we work and lead.
Personal growth helps us bring more confidence, resilience, and our best selves to work.
So, what’s your Butterfly Goal? Tell me... I’d love to support you in taking the first imperfect step!
And if you’re looking to build connection, leadership, and camaraderie in your organization, I’d love to bring The Human Advantage™ or The Butterfly Goal Effect™ to your team.
Be who you came to be.
Don’t just achieve more.
BECOME more.
