Said one participant, “I enjoyed hearing you speak at the WELV conference last week. I am inspired by you and your work. Your talk about women having it “all” was great for me to hear. Thank you!”

This past year I have embarked on two new career moves that individually would have been a huge endeavor, and simultaneously have been quite the undertaking—I feel like I’ve given “all” in this case a whole new meaning! At the beginning of 2012 I became the new owner and president of the Institute for Crisis Management, a crisis consulting firm. ICM has been successful for over 20 years, but needed to expand its offerings to include products and services related to risk assessment, crisis preparation and prevention, and change management and resilience.  Taking over ICM was a fantastic opportunity to take my years of work in this field and have a more hands-on impact on real-world companies, both domestic and global.

Then, later in the year, I was presented with an unexpected, but most welcome chance to become the new senior associate dean responsible for the Executive Education business unit of the Darden School, where I was currently serving as a professor in the MBA and Executive Education programs.  I had to make a quick decision about whether or not to accept the job, but at the end of the day I couldn’t pass it up. It would have felt hypocritical not to accept the offer.  In The Women’s Leadership Program that I lead for Executive Education, I convey passionately that women often hold themselves back with their self-talk.  This talk is frequently negative and focused on short-comings, weaknesses, areas for development.  When this is our focus, we can convince ourselves that we are not ready for the next big opportunity.  There was a moment during my contemplation of the job when I found myself succumbing to this self-talk.  I realized I was talking myself out of an opportunity for which other people had already deemed me qualified.  I forced myself to consider the reasons why I was the right person and accepted the offer from a position of strength, not weakness or doubt.   This is what I encourage all of us to do.  Focus on our strengths.

In addition to these new roles, my co-author and friend, Lynn Perry Wooten, and I are in the throes of writing our second book on crisis leadership.

Did I mention I have two school-aged children? And a husband in an executive position for a Fortune 100 company that requires extensive travel? I think my current situation fits the definition “having a lot.”  Whether I have it “all” is still up for debate. But I didn’t set out to have it all, not all at once anyway; nor did I necessarily define “all” as this many things. This new life of mine comes with a lot of pressure. Not pressure from being able to do multiple things, but the concern that I am not giving my all to it all. Are my children getting my full attention? Is my husband? Are the choices I’m making at work a result of a focused, decision-making process, or one that is distracted? Are the employees or consultants under my direction able to depend on me to help them develop and be successful, or do they see me as too busy? Time will tell, but one thing I know to be true about myself is I don’t know how to live any other way.  I lead a full, busy, big life and I like it that way.

Things seem to be off to a good start, and I am surrounded by great professionals, a loving family, and supportive friends who are in full support of the respective goals and objectives at hand.  Every one of these people contributes to me being able to manage my “all.” But I also respect and appreciate women who may have a different definition of what that phrase means; for some, “all” may mean accomplishing one thing.  You don’t have to be Marissa Meyer. Find your “all” and make it happen…according to what it means to you.