If you don’t invest in yourself, no one else is going to invest in you or your goals. It’s about being your own CEO; take inventory of how you lead your life. Giuseppe Cenzuales, District VP at LA Fitness, shares how you can observe, adapt and apply what you learn to your next career pivot.

More about Giuseppe:

I am the son of Italian immigrants-- My father works two jobs, full time tech delivery and a server. My mom works for the Italian embassy. My entire life I grew up with a very specific set of values: Cherish your family and work harder than anybody else in the room. Quietly, but harder.

Prior to my LinkedIn background, I had about 10 years of retail sales and leadership experience. All I knew was technology and people. I dabbled in the entrepreneurial life in my mid 20's when a previous electronics employer went bankrupt. That was the moment I learned we as a species can do anything we put our minds to if the circumstances arose. The company I was working for went bankrupt and in a matter of a week, I was able to pull in two friends to start a home automation consulting business. I would go into people's homes or businesses, and design their theatre rooms, multi-room audio configurations, networks, and simplify the entire setup through automation. I essentially would design the project, sell the equipment, and then come back with my installers/programmers to then do the additional labor for it. That moment in time did something to me. It created this professional explorer bug inside me where I wanted to learn more, do more.

After a few years, I exited the business and began my work in the Health and Wellness industry. Back to retail, but in a different industry. I trusted my newly earned skill sets of consulting and project management; while continuing to develop my existing leadership and sales capabilities. In a year, I was able to grow my career at LA Fitness from an assistant General Manager in NY to District Vice President overseeing Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. That role and the responsibilities it came with, opened me up to a ton of new skills in people management. That's where I learned the difference between a leader and a manager. I wanted to be a leader. I wanted to help people be better. Get better. In their jobs, their lives, their minds. I wanted to inspire people.

Fast forward to today, I am working with LA Fitness to design their talent acquisition & recruitment function nationally, I just finished my first children's book named 'My First Resume' (It's a how-to series for kids and readers), I am working on a fun active wear clothing line and I have my hand in a few private projects in which I am testing my boundaries.