Book ~ "Reinvention: Changing Your Life, Your Career, Your Future" (2019) Arlene Dickinson

From Goodreads ~ Do you want or need to change your life but aren’t sure where to start - or whether you have what it takes?

At fifty-seven, Arlene Dickinson’s life was turned upside down. Her company was on the brink of disaster. Her sense of herself as a strong, confident leader was in tatters. She was overwhelmed by feelings of loss, fear, and shame. Five years later, her business is booming, she’s never been happier or more excited about the future, and she’s raised tens of millions of dollars and built a whole ecosystem to help other entrepreneurs.

How did she turn things around? By following the process she’s always used to transform underperforming companies - only this time, she used it to transform her own life. Applying business principles to her personal life helped her figure out very quickly where she wanted to go and how to get there. Having a clear set of practical steps to follow kept her on track when emotions threatened to derail her progress.

In "Reinvention", Dickinson shares this blueprint for locating your sense of purpose, realistically evaluating your strengths, assessing opportunities outside your comfort zone, and charting a bold new path. Whether you have a big career dream to achieve, or you need to rebuild after a personal setback, this step-by-step plan for reinvention will help you change your own life - for the better.

In 2013, heavy rainfall in Alberta triggered flooding.  Venture, Arlene's company, was in Calgary and water rushed into the building where her company was located, flooding the basement offices ... computers, desks, files, office supplies, etc. were are destroyed.  Financially and personally it was a trying time for her.  But it provided her with the opportunity to take a step back and figure out what she wanted to do with the company (should she shut it down, carry on or change direction?).  Plus she also wanted to figure what she wanted to do with her life.  In some ways, she was just coasting and she wanted to have passion again.  She ended up reinventing Venture to focus on helping entrepreneurs, which tapped into her own entrepreneurial spirit.

In this book, Arlene provides the steps if you want to reinvent yourself, your career and anything else in your life that you feel needs changing.  She encourages you to "go backwards" to find out who you are versus who you think you are, to find your purpose (your "why") and how to move forward.