For many of you who follow or have connected with me, you will be familiar with my hashtag #CIOforchange. I remember when I came up with this. I had been desperately trying to get a role as a CIO (chief information officer).

It was my dream as an IT professional to finally break through to the next level, but I just couldn’t land the role. I had been trying for 8 years and even the most resilient of us might have given up at that stage, but I persevered.

It was when I attended a Women in Leadership conference that I saw an executive coach speaking about this very thing. How to be recognised, how to build your brand and how to focus on your key skills and what you truly wanted to be able to achieve the next steps.

The answer was clear to me.

Engage an Executive Coach, which is exactly what I did, and I have never looked back. You see, we all need a little helping hand at times. Someone who can help us see the bigger picture and provide guidance on how to get there. It can be a minefield and having that support goes a very long way.

So, what does this have to do with my hashtag?

Well, as I was working with my coach, she suggested that I should think about my own personal hashtag, something to be known for. We work shopped this and eventually we came up with a cheeky little hashtag. The idea was to put a future focus on where I wanted to go and to link in my love of transformation.

The hashtag #CIOforchange was born.

It had many meanings for me:

1. A way forward and the future I was creating.

2. A link between IT and Transformation.

3. A different way of thinking.

4. A new way of leading by switching the focus from IT to people.

5. A way for the market to see what I was reaching for.

However the time has now come for a small change. It can no longer be #CIOforchange because I have pushed even further than I ever thought I could.

It now has become #CEOforchange, because that is where I am now.

And with this little letter, the meanings have changed too:

1. It still represents a way forward.

2. Now it links Strategy and Transformation.

3. It represents a different way of thinking.

4. A new way of leading ensuring we put people first.

5. A way for the market to see what can be achieved with resilience and tenacity.

So, what is in a letter?

It may not seem like much, but for me it represents a long journey to here. To now. A path of growth, change, joy, sorrow and so many other emotions that we have all experienced in our careers. That is quite a lot for one little letter, isn’t it?

When have you reached for a goal and achieved it, only to find that another even bigger opportunity was just around the corner?

I would love to hear your story.

What's in a letter?

How do you push past discomfort?