We had the good fortune of connecting with Karen Atiles and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Karen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Being in the military (US Air Force) for 20 years, I was honored to lead and develop the next generation of Airmen. So when I retired in 2016, I wanted to continue that passion of developing the next generation of leaders. It’s what led me to start my business, Lifelong Development LLC, where our mission is to add value to leaders who multiply value to employees and customers. Employees usually come into an organization with a skillset. They are technical experts in a field. Along the way, they are noticed for their expertise and selected to lead others. However, most of the time, these experts have no knowledge on how to lead, which is where we find gaps in organizations. To fill these gaps, we created a ‘Mind the Gap Leadership Program’ to help organizations intentionally develop their next generation of leaders. Individuals identified as future leaders go through the year-long program, learning leadership principles and engaging in coaching to help facilitate proper application of leadership behaviors. Starting this business and program has not only helped organizations, but it has continued to fulfill my passion of supporting the next generation of leaders.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
For several of the years that I was in the Air Force I was a Master Resilience Instructor, and through my research and facilitation with hundreds of military members, along with my personal journey and work to manage my own PTSD, I developed two significant resilience programs—one for personal resilience and another to help teams. In building these two curriculums I have been able to work with leaders and teams across four continents, and help humans from all industries enhance their resilience, play to their strengths, and lean into their leadership potential, so that the sum of collective resilience within organizations soars and teams are equipped to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to City Club Raleigh (28th floor of the Wells Fargo Building) in downtown Raleigh for dinner or just to hang out. There are lots of great restaurants and hang out places in downtown Raleigh, as well as The Carolina Ballet. Aside from those things, there are a ton of great walking trails in the Triangle area so we’d probably check out a few of those. And since I’m a huge traveler, we’d probably catch a flight to visit another country (I’ve visited 47 countries so far – goal is to reach 50 by the age of 50).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There have been so many individuals along my journey to where I am today, that have helped mold and shape my values and character. From my youth, where my grandparents instilled hard work ethics, to my handful of military mentors, who showed me what great leadership looks like, it really has taken a village to lead me to where I am today. But the people who deserve the biggest shoutout are my husband and daughters. They are my biggest supporters. My sounding board. My inspiration. And my heart. They allow me to be me, and to pursue my passion. True resilience lies in a foundational support system, and I am able to ride the waves of being a business owner because of the love and support my husband and daughters provide.

Website: www.lifelongdevelopment.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenatiles/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenatiles/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LifelongDevelopmentConsulting 

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