On President Barack Obama's Inauguration

I wrote several weeks ago about the 30 Career Lessons one Should Learn from the Obama campaign.

I am hoping that in his inaugural address, President Obama will challenge us as Americans to take greater responsibility for our individual and collective lives and our future. That translates for me to personal ownership of our careers and our lives, especially in a time of such economic crisis.

I think these 30 career lessons from, now President Obama's career, are worth repeating on this outstanding day!

1. Set personal goals
2. Stay away from those who say “You Can’t”
3. Be true to who you are, regardless of the job
4. To land a meaningful job or grow professionally, expect some hurdles
5. Keep learning even through your job search and beyond
6. Develop a personal board of advisors for support
7. Surround yourself with diverse people with diverse thoughts
8. Develop a backbone. Even successful careers will have disappointments
9. Think around, outside and under the box; the way forward may not necessarily be clear or straight ahead
10. Don't expect your career path to be logical to everyone else; It must make sense to you
11. Don’t burn your bridges behind you; your affiliations are important
12. Be mindful of what your associations could say about you
13. You don’t need to have all the experience in the job description to apply
14. Push the envelope; job descriptions get rewritten all the time
15. Know you might be underestimated; Rise above it!
16. Some people will like you for the job and some will not
17. Know and understand your competition; do not underestimate them
18. Think transferable skills
19. You may have to say things during an interview to impress your future boss
20. Know how to build consensus and move ideas forward
21. Keep track of your accomplishments; no one else is obligated to do that for you
22. Beware people who hang around you, because you are successful – not because they care
23. Education and training mean something
24. Hard work and discipline will pay off
25. It is not a shame to strategically plan your career
26. Many people are not working in their college majors
27. The more people who support you and your ideas, the more successful you will be
28. You are always preparing for your next career opportunity, regardless of what you are doing
29. Savor your accomplishments; be confident and gracious when the accolades come
30. Know that the real work begins after you land the job!

Happy Inauguration Day!