From Management to Leadership
My Leadership Journey From Micro-Managing to Leading with Vitality
My name is Amanda Aileen Carpenter and my life story is my leadership story. I believe leadership is defined by the willingness to step into the unknown with grounded confidence when more than just your own interests are at stake.
My leadership story begins after I completed my doctorate in Physical Therapy and working as a contract physical therapist at multiple clinical settings across the country. In 2006 at the age of 28, I found myself about to take on a new career challenge. Armed only with a vision and no business owner experience.
Raised in Upstate New York Born 3rd in a family of 4 children, my parents taught me how to work hard. Certainly, I thought this would be enough. My father, a Logger and Carpenter, and my mother, a stay-at-home mom, exemplified the Yankee work ethic. In retrospect, my only obvious qualification for business ownership was my ability to work hard.
You can’t take someone somewhere you’ve never been.
Today, I am truly grateful for all the lessons I learned on my journey and to all the people that contributed to my growth. There is no way I would have tolerated working under the boss that I was back then. During those years, I felt incredible lonely. I felt that no one could do things as good as I could, and I kept myself busy with tasks that took me away from spending time with friends. Now I believe we are never alone. In every moment, we carry with us the energy of everyone who taught us a lesson on our journey. The good and the bad, the energizing and the depleting, I am grateful for it all.
It takes courage and consistency to break the patterns in your life that are no longer serving you. Self-transformation is a gift to the world. You can learn something and teach others, but when you live it, it’s a whole different gift you give the world. Becoming aware of the patterns in your nervous system and choosing to rewire them is the greatest gift you can give yourself and others. Being a legendary leader and changing the world begins with first knowing and accepting the person in the mirror.
