OGL 482 Pro-Seminar II

Unit 3 Assignment:
Career Plan Template
Section 1: Creating your BHAG
Following the information in the “Good to Great Connections” PowerPoint presentation and all
of the additional information provided under the Module 4 content area, and taking your Personal
Mission Statement development efforts into consideration, carefully develop your own personal
long term BHAG (***one amazingly HUGE, your world changing goal***). The timeframe for
your BHAG is 10-25 years out, however it will depend upon your age. For example, a 55 year
old person might be closer to the 10 year BHAG, whereas a 30 year old or younger person
should be considering a BHAG 25 years out. This BHAG may be related to your overall
life/lifestyle aspirations, or it could be related to some organizational, protean, or
entrepreneurial vision you have for the future. Dig deep and and go beyond the job. That is up to
you. What it needs to be is BIG! HUGE! REALLY HAIRY! STRETCH YOURSELF! LOOK
BEYOND GRADUATE DEGREE! LOOK BEYOND A JOB! HOW WILL YOU MAKE A
DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD???? I RECOMMEND WE MEET TO DISCUSS IT TO
ENSURE ITS HUGENESS.

Answer the following:

1) What is your BHAG (***one amazingly HUGE, your world changing goal***)?

Well, since I am in my mid to late 40’s (46), and we are looking at 10-15years out, My

BHAG is actually kind of started and put into place now. My goal is to grow within an

organization to a Director Level within a Finance/Deal Formation/Pricing role that

establish the financial security to enable me to move to South Carolina or Florida once

my son graduates high school in 2024, and establish my retirement estate. Initially this

was supposed to happen starting in 2024, but just recently I started the plan by selling my

house now and establishing my funds for my South Carolina or Florida home. In

addition, I’ve established a Budget Goal and am saving towards the goal that I should

achieve by 12/31/2031. The goal is to be prepared for retirement in 15 years, be debt free

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 (despite a mortgage) and be able to live off of a slender retirement stipend as to not dive

too much into savings. The biggest part of this goal is to have enough stored away to also

pay for my son’s college while also being able to save for my retirement. Based on my

calculations, this will be achieved by the above-mentioned date. The final aspect of the

BHAG is that with retirement by the age of 57, I will hopefully have enough time and

peace of mind to be able to travel the world, support my son in his goals and dreams, and

enjoy all of the fruits of my labor. My father and his twin brother both passed away from

Alzheimer’s, and it’s been one of my biggest fears. As a result, I want to be able to

achieve the timeline of my BHAG so that I still have the peace of mind to enjoy the

remaining years of my life. I want to have the opportunity to look back and reflect on just

how far I came, the impact I had on the world, the impact I had on my son and the other

kids I coached, and the impact I had on my friends and family. This really came into

fruition with me as a result of the OGL program, but really the reflection of assessments

and sitting back and thinking about what I want out of life and what my goals really are. I

knew some of it, but this exercise really helped me paint the full picture and connect all

the dots.

2) Why is this your BHAG?

The reason I’ve established by BHAG as moving up to possibly a Director Level role and

retiring to either South Carolina or Florida is in a way to reward myself for everything I

have accomplished in life, as well as being able to be close to my son while he attends

college. Another reason for this goal is that I have suffered Chicago winters since

February of 2005, and I think it’s time for me to retire my snow shovel and winter

wardrobe for good. I’ve worked very hard to get back on my feet after several major

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 setbacks (divorce, losing jobs, and a long unemployment). In addition, I’ve done a lot of

sole searching and re-development of who I am as a person and as a leader to improve

my professional perception and success. These changes also made me a better person,

and as a result, rewarding myself with a warmer place to retire to and live out my life is

the best way to compliment the life changes I made. As for the Director Level, I’ve

settled on this level as I believe it is just the right amount of head count that will fit with

my work/life balance and stress level threshold. Anything higher, and I’d think I’d put

more pressure on myself than necessary, and wouldn’t enjoy my work or role as much. In

closing, I kind of summed it up in the above response, but really this is my BHAG

because it allows me to reflect and remember the pride I have in my impact on the world,

friends and my family.

3) How does your BHAG align with your vision statement from Module 4?

It’s really the narrative behind both of my vision and mission statements. My vision

statement is: My joy and sense of fulfillment comes in bringing success and growth to

others. This vision statement doesn’t really align with my BHAG, but I view it as a

reward for living up to my vision statement. By the time I am set to retire, I will have felt

accomplished in my professional career for bringing success and growth to others. As a

father, well that job never ends, but I’ll have more time to dedicate to bringing success

and growth to my son and eventually his family as well. So, I guess overall in a

roundabout way, my goal of retiring to the warmer parts of the east coast so that I can

have more time to support my son, does somewhat align my BHAG with my vision

statement. My vision statement will bring me the success myself to achieve my BHAG,

so one can’t exist without the success of the other.

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 4) How does your BHAG align with your mission statement from Module 4?

My mission is to be open, honest and direct with business partners, friends, and family;

while also demonstrating my great desire to help see them achieve success and greatness.

I would say that although my BHAG and mission statement don’t align, my mission

statement supports my ability to achieve my BHAG. In staying true and aligned with my

mission statement, it should enable me the professional success necessary to not only

build my 401(k) and savings nest egg that supports the investment into the retirement

estate. In addition, the mission statement will maintain the relationships personally and

professionally that will also support me of achieving the BHAG in the allotted timeline of

my BHAG. It’s my opinion that it’s because of my mission statement that I was and am

able to start the planning and timeline for executing on my BHAG.

5) List your top five (5) obstacles in order from number 5 being least difficult and
number 1 being most difficult you need to overcome in order to obtain your BHAG
and explain the relevance of each one.

Obstacle 1 -most difficult: The biggest obstacle that is difficult to overcome is that of

employment.

In order to achieve my goal, I must be able to keep working for an organization, continue

to develop at the rate expected or faster, and from the retirement goal side it’s being able

to maintain or grow my salary that I am presently at and keeping to my budget. Being

that I can’t predict the state of the economy and the future of my company, this is the

biggest obstacle that could derail my entire BHAG. The only controllable aspect is that I

continue to incorporate my vision and mission statement into my daily professional life,

do my best to be the best employee that I can, meet all my objectives as outline by my

leader, and don’t do anything on my side to not give them a reason to sever my
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 employment status. The relevance of this obstacle is obviously about generating the

funding necessary to execute on my BHAG. Without income, I’m not able to build up the

funds I as well as not contributing to a retirement account. This will elongate the timeline

and possibly completely derail the execution of the BHAG.

Obstacle 2: Inflation or Recession

If inflation continues and doesn’t level out and come back to pre-inflation levels, this will

mean that my savings will not be able to generate and the projected rate it is set to now.

In addition, inflation could cause the cost of my retirement home to exceed the allocated

amount budgeted today, which would then either mean moving to a less desirable area of

either destination state, or not being able to move to the states desired. If there is a

recession, this could have the same impact on a different part of my savings. This could

negatively impact the retirement savings account (401k) that is supposed to fund my

post-work lifestyle. In addition, a recession could lead to the biggest obstacle list above

becoming a reality and derailing the whole thing. Is there a way to overcome this, I

honestly don’t know other than to try and invest in conservative funds least likely

impacted by recessionary conditions.

Obstacle 3: Lacking Development:

If I’m not able to meet or exceed the developmental expectations necessary to grow into a

leadership role, this obviously would derail the larger aspect of my BHAG, but may not

necessarily derail all aspects of it. Since the BHAG is a two-pronged aspect (Director and

Retirement), the lacking of development and skills required for the desired leadership

role would lead to the failure of the Director component, the retirement component could

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 still be achieved. That being said, failure to meet or exceed expectations could also lead

to demotion, lack of annual merit increases, or worse: termination. So, I need to make

sure that I’m having regular check-ins with my leadership to ensure I’m tracking

correctly and that I’m doing the things necessary to achieve the BHAG.

Obstacle 4: Unforeseen Expenditures

This obstacle could include medical expenses, vehicle maintenance expenses, home

repair expenses, etc. Basically, we are talking about things we didn’t anticipate coming

up that requires unbudgeted spending. I can always try to reduce this risk, but it is most

likely an unpredictable aspect regardless of how careful one is. I’m pretty good about

budgeting for future things I know about, but it’s those that you don’t that could derail

the BHAG. Again, the derailment could be the location or timeline for executing on the

BHAG.

Obstacle 5 -least difficult: My son choosing a college other than Clemson or University
of Florida

My BHAG is based a lot on my son’s current goal of playing baseball for Clemson or just

attending Clemson for the purpose of obtaining a degree in Architecture. Now, if he

chooses to go somewhere else, I have to either deviate from my plan and desire to remain

close to my son, or stay the course and just deal with being father away from him. Most

likely, I wouldn’t choose to be father away. This obstacle is obviously the least impactful

as it is more about whether I want to deviate the location that I choose to retire or not.

Section 2: Career Vision

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Consider your long-term vision for your career. Respond to the following questions, and make
connections to your personal mission statement, your BHAG(s), the themes you developed in
Module 4, and the textbook/supplemental readings (as applicable).

Answer the following:

1) Analyze the type of career you want to have, in terms of an organizational career or
a protean career, make sure it is clear you understand the concepts as outlined in
the textbook. Why?

This was a little tough for me to answer, mainly because I’m associating the BHAG with

more of a Career Lattice approach vs Career Ladder. Although the program is around

being a leader, my BHAG does involve me being a people leader, but not trying to climb

the ladder to high per say. My goal is to continue to advance and develop as an individual

moving into roles that enable me financial success while also providing the psychological

achievement that brings me joy. So, to summarize, I’m looking for a hybrid career that

incorporates the position, level and salary along with organizational commitment of a

traditional career; while incorporating the freedom, growth, high degree of mobility,

individual control, and work satisfaction and professional commitment of the protean

career. I truly believe I have found that with my organization, so looking to continue to

expand upon it.

2) Analyze your career with an explanation as one that moves you up the organization
or one you develop seeking alternative career paths. If you see yourself taking an
alternative career path, which one(s) sound the most likely? Why?

My career path will be one where I hope to grow within my current organization. I was

just asked by my leader last week what is next for me? My response was to continue to

develop in my current role, which should be another 2-3yrs. At this point, I should be at

the max capacity of value-add and ready to explore the next challenge. That next

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 challenge would be to expand more into other Finance based roles. I summed it up with

him, that I do not see myself exploring other career paths that what I am on, because I

have found a career path that brings the joy and fulfillment, I look for in a career path.

3) Discuss and explain if you see yourself working an alternative or flexible work
schedule/arrangement? If so, which ones and why?

This is a great question, as I am pretty much doing this now, and established this when

going through the interview process. Since I am a 100% remote employee, and will be

regardless of pandemic status, I’ve established working hours and flexible time of work

during the summer. Since my son plays high school and travel baseball, games are at all

times of the day. With travel baseball we can have a weekday game at 8am in the

morning. So, what was established with my boss is that I would be able to be available

while at the field, and make sure that my deals are reviewed and approved within a 24hr

timeframe. This means I might work a little in the morning, a little in the middle of the

day, and a little at night after all of the games are over. I am available via cell phone and

can do my job from the cell phone of iPad. This was agreed to and understood by my

leadership and has worked pretty well so far. In fact, our whole team has a flexible

schedule and we work at all hours of the day with the main goal being: approving deals in

a timely fashion and being responsive to our business partners, while also maintaining a

healthy work/life balance.

Section 3: Long-Term Strategy

Develop a strategy for moving toward your ideal future work/life situation and the realization of
your BHAG(s). Consider the timeframe for your BHAG(s). Provide a vivid description of life
“the way it will be” once your BHAG is realized.

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 1) Critically think about and then list out (not a narrative format) the interim steps or
milestones you have laid out for yourself that will aid you in reaching your BHAG
(you should have at least 10 to earn a rating of excellent and be referenced by time)

1. Establish budget guidelines and financial time-table that achieves the BHAG at the

designated time.

2. Adjust budget accordingly as unexpected incidentals occur derailing program

3. Communicate the BHAG, timeline, and budget guidelines with those closest to me

and most likely impacted by the BHAG and budget guidelines

4. Establish the regional search areas for my new home as part of the BHAG for Florida

and South Carolina based on desired geographical location to the universities my son

has established as “wish list” colleges.

5. Establish criteria and budget for the new home that is part of the BHAG and create

search engines for this on realtor sites

6. Balance my budget on a weekly basis to ensure targeted financial goal is still in line

with expectations and adjust spending accordingly if not, but do not decrease

financial goal associated with BHAG.

7. Work on continuing to enhance my knowledge and skillset that enables me to

continue on the career lattice I’ve established within my organization.

8. Continue training within my organization to maintain current role and keep career

path in line with BHAG timeline and objectives

9. Build and strengthen network within the organization in order to achieve the career

lattice goals established with my leader doing quarterly development meetings.

10. Continue to guide, coach, develop and support my son as he works towards his high

school graduation in May 2024.

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 11. Continue to support, guide, coach, and provide the resources for my son as he

continues to pursue an opportunity to play baseball in college

12. Work with coaches and trainers to sharpen my skills to better be able to assist my son

on his goal of playing college baseball as it is a key component of my BHAG.

2) In addition to career-related roles, consider your other life roles in relation to your
career goals. Revisit your responses to the Identities Exercise that you completed in
Module 1 of the course. Based on your long-term strategy what are the 3 most
precious things you are willing to sacrifice, besides time, to achieve your BHAG?
Why?

Sacrifice 1: Personal Agenda: What I mean by this, is that everything I do is 99.99%

based on what my son needs, what he wants, and what is best for him. It’s not about me,

everything I do is for him. I sold my house in two weeks’ notice and rented a new place,

just so he could stay in his high school. I don’t have much of a social life as I dedicate my

time to him. I’ve never missed a single one of his games, and have actually been to more

games than he has. I coach, I volunteer, I’m there early and stay late, whatever he needs,

he knows he can count on me to deliver it.

Sacrifice 2: Luxuries: In order to achieve my BHAG, there are financial goals involved.

In order to achieve those goals, I have to sacrifice spending on any luxury items today. I

have to make sure that I am spending based on necessity not based on something that is a

nice to have or want. It has to be something that is needed. This is a change because since

I’ve always lived within my means, I could afford to splurge on items, and now I’ve got

to be a little stricter about this. I don’t need to buy the $20 item when the $5 version will

do the same job. So, the luxury items of life will be sacrificed at times, unless of course

it’s for my son.

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 Sacrifice 3: Social Agenda: While I listed personal agenda above, I consider the social

agenda as something different. This means that I will not go out even when I don’t have

my son, if it means I need to do homework, have a work project deadline I need to meet,

or need to complete a training. I will prioritize my time to be about achieving my career

lattice goals and objectives over going out for dinner and drinks with friends. I will

sacrifice having a social life to make sure that I stay on budget and live within my budget

guidelines. This is different from my personal agenda, as I feel the personal agenda is tied

to location of where I live, what we do when my son is with me, and how I spend my

time and energy, and to be more of an internal aspect that is within the home. I interpret

social agenda to be more of an external aspect as to what happens outside the home with

others and on a big stage so to speak. My BHAG and long-term objectives are far more

important to me than to have them derailed based on an in the moment lapse of

judgement or indulgence. I do not want to risk not being able to fulfill by BHAG, so to

me, this is a very worthwhile sacrifice.

Section 4: The one to two year plan

Using a SMART goals-based approach, as well as project planning and management skill best
practices, create a detailed project plan for at least two specific goals. At least one must be
related to your long-term BHAG. The other may be related to some other aspect of your career
development or career-life integration. Both of these goals need to be things that you are
passionate about accomplishing.
Your selected goals and SMART plan (see SMART goal information provided in the module)
should be structured based on a one to two-year timeline. It should include specific milestones,
action items, sub-tasks as well as task-related interdependencies as applicable. With respect to
each goal, critically think about what specifically are the things you will do in the next one to
two years to achieve these goals.

Develop a clear and detailed SMART plan, with facilitating goals and steps/actions required
to accomplish your selected goals. It should be evident, by looking at the format and structure

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of your plan, that you have developed some significant skills respect to project management.
Include Gantt charts (T) or other visual project representations as you see fit, and be sure to
address your approach to tracking/measuring your progress (M).

1) What is your #1 Goal? (at least one of the following must be related to your BHAG)

My number one goal is in fact part of my BHAG and is the Personal Life goal of being in

a position to officially retire on June 4, 2032, my 57th Birthday. I’ve established this goal

based on a series of events, financial goals, and life achievement milestones. A lot of this

also comes from just how short and precious life is, and I want to be sure I’m in a state of

mind and position to enjoy the fruits of my labor. As you will see below in the short

answers, I set this goal as a reward to myself for successfully turning my life around and

getting on the right course.

a. Specific: Retire by my 57th Birthday (June 4, 2032).

b. Measurable: This is a measurable goal based on being able to manage and

monitor my savings and 401k balances as well as my budgeting skills to see how

long I would be able to live off of my savings and 401k balances. I’ve scheduled a

series of check-ins beyond my weekly and every other day budget validations, I’ll

be able to evaluate if the end goal date is realistic or if adjustments need to be

made.

c. Attainable: Based on my current projections, even with the market instability, this

is an extremely obtainable goal based on current balances, budgeting discipline,

budget projections and ongoing 401k and stock option maturity. This goal and

timeline are definitely obtainable. Had I not chosen to go back and get my

bachelors in OGL, this goal would not be as obtainable as it is. In large part

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 because of what I have learned and been able to apply to my career, it’s enabled

me to be more successful and get on the right career path.

d. Relevant: This goal of retirement matters to me because it is a reward for all of

the sacrifices, challenges, struggles, battles, and success’s that I have experienced

over my life and career. To be able to retire means that I got my life on track, I

was successful in effectively managing my finances, and I was able to turn my

life around enough professionally to achieve the goals I set for myself. It’s also a

tribute to the hard work I put into achieve my degree, become a better leader, and

become a more positive contributor to society and those around me.

e. Time-Based: I’ve set the timeline to achieve this goal at just over 10 years away

from today. As you will see from the Gantt chart below, there are a series of

milestones that need to occur as well as lead up to aspects that impact the

timeline, location and probability of me achieving my goal.

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 2) What is your #2 Goal? (at least one of these must be related to your BHAG)

My number two goal is also part of my BHAG and actually feeds in and supports my

number one goal. Basically, my number two goal is to successfully grow within my

current organization (Pure Storage) into either a leadership position or just as a team

leader within a Finance based role in the organization.

a. S: Successfully grow into a Finance role with Pure Storage until my 57th birthday.

b. M: This is easily measurable as if I do not move into another role within the

organization, then my goal has not been achieved.

c. A: Based on conversations with my leader and the companies focus on career

development, this is an extremely attainable goal I’ve set for myself.

d. R: This goal is important to me because it’s a reflection of me finding my grove

and the role and company that brings me the most joy and fulfillment. This is

ultimately what I’ve been looking for all along and I’m so fortunate to have found

this when I did.

e. T: I’ve set a pretty aggressive timeline, from my point of view, to achieve this

goal as you will see from the Gantt table below. I say that, because I only really

started saving and planning for this about six years ago, and to have the goal be in

just over ten years from now, I think is really aggressive but attainable.

(Insert Gantt Chart)

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