Shift’s Expert Talks feature industry experts having a chat to provide career advice to veterans.

In this talk, we’re joined by Monnica Manuel, Vice President of Operations at GoHealth. Early in her career Monnica became fascinated with how to help people make a decision and act on it, call people out on their excuses, and help them find a reason to take action.

This curiosity and tenacity propelled Monnica up the career ladder to her current position as a VP of Operations. In her role, she has learned how to bridge the gap between marketing and sales, and it’s all about Finding Your Why. 

According to Monnica, it’s the most important lesson she’s learned. Let’s hear it straight from her:

“People decide things for their reasons, not yours. And you do things for your reasons, not theirs. And if you aren’t aware of what your reasons are and you aren’t controlling for your own need, you’re going to mess up any attempt at communicating effectively or facilitating someone else’s decision because you’ll be all wrapped up in your own need. That’s not the arena where the decision is being made unless you’re the one making the decision. So being aware of what that person needs, what they’re there for, what they’re looking for, and being able to help understand and navigate through and see things that are relevant to that, ask questions that are relevant to that, you’re just not even playing on the right field. And so if it’s a negotiation, if its a sale, a relationship, and you aren’t understanding the needs that have brought the other person to the conversation, you’re missing it, and that applies to pretty much any interaction with another human being.”

This is the crux of Manuel’s “Finding Your Why” Expert Talk and it’s certainly something that service members transitioning to civilian life can relate to. 

The “why,” therefore, is the basis for decision making. Whether it’s where you want to live, what you want to buy, or what you’d like to do for your next career, finding your why will help you make that decision.

Manuel continued: “You can ask the right questions to find out, ‘Where are you?’ ‘Where do you want to go?’ ‘What do you need to do to get there?’ But if you miss the “Why?” you’re missing a big part and you aren’t going to overcome the fear of action to get there.”

And if you don’t know your “why” right away, that’s okay! Continuing forward progress helps you get there, and Manuel gives you strategies to take that first step in the talk. 

Other takeaways:

• Self-compassion gives you room to make mistakes.
• Allocating your precious resources
• A neurological deep dive on the fight or flight response
• Mindfulness training
• Tips