Owning Your Career

By Pauline Kiraithe

OWNING YOUR CAREER is a practical step-by-step guide for professionals seeking to ascend and become accomplished in the workplace. It is the product of Pauline Kiraithe's over 25 years' experience as a Human Resource professional, certified leadership and career coach as well as mentor.

Divided into three broad and simple to follow sections, the book offers valuable insights into how one can become intentional in achieving career success. It also details lessons for professionals to manage and prime themselves for career growth.

 

Pauline is a tireless process enforcer and a courageous champion of change. She is a knowledgeable and dynamic HR Team Leader.

– Joseph Odindo,

Former Editorial Director, Nation and Standard Media Groups.

 

Pauline Kiraithe is the CEO and Founder of TalentGurus@254. She is a Human Resource professional with extensive multi-sectoral HR leadership experience, having worked in different organisations, including telecommunications and media companies. Her last corporate role was HR Director at the Standard Media Group, a leading media organisation in Kenya.

In 2017, she received the Global Top 100 Training and Leadership Award for innovative thinking around people development. She is also an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation, the body that governs standards for the global coaching profession.

TalentGurus@254 has developed the 'Ignite Youth' and 'Ascend Self-Leadership' programmes that equip young people and professionals with life skills and leadership training. It has coached over 1,800 individuals since inception.

 

I have known Pauline for over 20 years, both professionally and personally. She has been exceptionally successful, and I attribute this to her passion for excellence, quality and accomplishment. She is a serial glass ceiling smasher.

– Maggie Ireri, CEO, Tifa Research.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Big Books
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201073770

Book preview

APPRECIATION

I would like to start by thanking God for ordering my steps this far, for destiny helpers, knowledge and experiences that I have gone through and which have truly shaped and enriched my life as a mother, daughter, sister, friend, HR professional, coach and mentor to many. It is truly an honour to serve in God’s kingdom.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the future leaders of Africa, both the youth and professionals. May they live intentionally and purposefully, so that they make a difference and leave a mark wherever fortunes take them.

And to my loving daughter, Ella; may this be a guide to you and your generation so that you can get it right from the get go.

Endorsements for Pauline Kiraithe

I have known Pauline Kiraithe for over 20 years – both professionally and personally. She has been exceptionally successful, and I attribute this to her passion for excellence, quality and accomplishment. Pauline is a serial glass ceiling smasher.

She has a strong background in human resources, having worked in leading corporates in Kenya. This experience allowed her to gain insights into critical competencies for successful career growth. I have found that she is passionate about mentoring and coaching the next generation of leaders, and she offers practical advice on how to best grow in your career.

I am delighted that she has made time to write this book as she puts her wealth of experience in a format that can be tapped into by those who are keen to inform their career destinies.

I am happy to recommend this book to you.

Maggie Ireri, CEO, Tifa Research;

Advisory Board Member, TalentGurus@254

In every HR team, there is that one manager whom employees, as if by conspiracy, open their hearts to and in whose office they freely daub their eyes. That person brings a unique quality to management, winning trust and confidence and serving as a lightning rod on the shop floor before discontent boils over. That was Pauline Kiraithe, both at the Nation Media Group and at The Standard Group, where I worked with her in senior management.

Pauline is a tireless process enforcer and a courageous champion of change. She doesn’t shy away from unpopular decisions, a quality every CEO values, especially during difficult reforms. She is a knowledgeable and dynamic HR team leader.

Joseph Odindo,

Former Editorial Director at the Nation and Standard Media Groups

My interaction with Pauline began in the corporate world over a decade ago. It has been an amazing journey with many life-changing experiences. Founding TalentGurus254 stands out as one of those shared moments which defines who Pauline truly is, most significantly a definite connection with her purpose.

Pauline loves to journal! Everything starts with a written plan in a well- kept journal. She is a true believer that journaling accelerates one’s ability to manifest set goals. The best part is the discipline and integrity that she applies to each process and how she accomplishes her mission with commitment and dedication.

This book is a labour of love that I am proud to be associated with. It is carefully crafted, subjected to high standards and served with continuously tested skill. It is also a testament that to truly unlock your potential you must first find your purpose.

Irene Kimani,

Sales & Marketing Professional,

Friend and Advisory Board Member, Talent Guru254.

I was referred to Pauline Kiraithe when I was a young professional confused about the trajectory my career would take. I was about to pursue a Master’s degree, just two years into my career. She asked me:  How   are you going to master in a field you do not have experience in? This one question shifted my career trajectory.

Eight years later, I saw great testimonials of her transformative coaching and immediately knew it was time for her counsel once again. Because of her mentorship, I started 2021 with clearer career goals, ambitions and strategy.

Alison Wainaina,

Head of Network Learning and Development,

FSD Africa

Managing talented, ambitious and impatient young employees in a fast-changing workplace is always challenging for any organisation. As a young restless journalist, I once approached Pauline waving a job offer that promised to double my pay. She listened patiently, asked probing questions, not to encourage me to stay, but to be sure that if I left, I got the best deal.

She gave me invaluable career advice on negotiating pay, how to offer and extract value at the workplace, and a pragmatic career roadmap that made me happy and super-productive. Those secrets are in this book. Read it and learn too.

Alphonce Shiundu,

Country Editor, Africa Check, Kenya

Pauline is a driven, energetic, focused, caring, principled and strong woman. These qualities lend well to her ability to guide people along their career paths. She is able to get this done not because she has read a book, but because she has lived the experience.

After starting out as an intern in a small nonprofit organisation in college, she has chartered her way through the corporate world with ease, grace and efficiency. Her ability to visualise and realise her objectives is phenomenal. It is rooted in how methodical she is with all she does, from writing down her goals, checking her progress and adjusting them as needed.

She was the first person I knew who journaled and boy, has it paid off! I am so proud to have known her for the last 25 years. I hope that you will learn from her wealth of experience and apply the principles she has shared.

Connie

Munge, Programme/project manager, PMO organisation

I don’t follow dreams, I hunt goals! This is Pauline’s mantra.

Pauline has often hit her personal and career milestones ahead of schedule. What is truly remarkable about her is that on her path to fulfilling her life’s purpose, she has lifted others and left organisations better than she found them. Indeed, she generously shares her knowledge and resources with her family, friends, colleagues, those that ask and often, those that have not. She has also been a mentor to many.

We are so inspired by this award-winning innovator, entrepreneur and indefatigable woman of faith and are extremely excited for her as she marks yet another milestone. We know her journey will inspire others too. Congratulations!

Irene Kiraithe-Muchene,

Elder sister, on behalf of our siblings (Linda Kiraithe-Omondi, Dr Anne Kiraithe-Gicobi and Jackline Kiraithe).

Foreword

In my three decades as a human resource practitioner, trainer and coach, I have come to appreciate that the issue of people being in the right careers is very important. However, the increasingly limited opportunities in a global economy that is slowing down has forced people to settle for less in an attempt to be pragmatic.

The tragedy of working in a space one has little interest in is that one ends up being neither happy nor functioning optimally. I’ve heard of a Chief Financial Officer who had a low score in mathematics in an aptitude test, yet he had a high rating in music. The individual was disinterested in the details of his job; talking about strategy, budgets and monthly report analyses. However, he would become animated when it came to talking about jazz, a possible indication that his heart was more into music, not into numbers.

That people of all ages should be taught how to nurture, manage and develop their careers to fulfillment and success cannot be overstated. Having potential and passion for one’s career is a good thing, but having a clearly worked out plan, the willingness to learn and someone to guide you is even better. This is what this book is about.

When Pauline informed me that she was writing this book, I was thrilled. She is a living testimony of the power of intentional living. She rose from HR Assistant to Director in a large media organisation within 15 years, through intentional living, drawing clear career plans and having a mentor.

This book is an extension of the work she is doing at TalentGurus@254, the organisation she founded to train people on how to climb the career ladder. It is a must-read especially for those starting off in their careers. Even those in institutions of higher learning and parents will be better equipped to have a firm grasp of the need to have structured roadmaps for career success.

I am privileged and humbled in having a hand in Pauline’s growth in her career, and in shaping her mind in the HR profession.

Abdillahi Mutwafy,

Certified Professional Coach

Founder and Managing Consultant, Human Capital Solutions Services, Nairobi, Kenya And Pauline’s mentor.

Introduction

Only rarely are instant, unscripted connections made in the workplace. As a rule, professional networks are intentionally and purposefully built over time. This, however, was not the case when I met Pauline. Her warmth and candour, natural curiosity and professional demeanour endeared her to me. A fast friendship was formed instantaneously.

In the time I have known Pauline, she has constantly challenged my point of view and has been a catalyst to my belief that God orchestrates for me, actually for us all, assignments which may be jobs, projects, organisations, networks, tasks or people to support, if only for a season. Each season must be connected to my purpose, and it must be deeply impactful to the people or organisation I am serving.

Pauline has held me accountable to undertake rigorous annual self- evaluation, to journal the highs and lows in order to read patterns; both of success paths to be retraced or failures to be avoided. She was a sounding board as I undertook my Executive Masters’ Degree in Business Administration and my coaching certification, challenging me to think differently about my career path.

She is a high calibre individual and seasoned professional with deep experience in developing people. What she has done for me, she is now doing for my children as she holds their hands in career choices that are aligned to their talents in our ever-changing global workspace.

I marvel at the way she has integrated her life, work and passion while supporting me – and others too – to do the same. However, what I truly admire about her is the sparkle she leaves on each person she mentors, coaches or develops and her strong sense of values centered on integrity and servant leadership.

Nkirote Njiru,

Group Company Secretary, UAP Insurance,

Personal Board Member and Friend

PART01

Understanding Self and Your Career

Getting Started

Understanding The Key Concepts

"If you are going to grow, you have to be intentional.

– Curt