8 Lessons Learnt That Can Help Your Career.
Introduction
Careers are like driving on the road; one hits the delightful spot and the terrible spot — Jose Tannous.
We live in a post-COVID-19 world today and, a lot has changed significantly in the last 12–18 months. A lot has changed since I began my career several years ago working for a multinational company. I have been lucky to have met and worked with talented people — men and women alike; I have learnt a lot from them, and I hope I have contributed to their careers.
As I look back and forward to the future, I realize that I have learnt a lot from my successes and failures. I have narrowed them down to eight lessons learnt in my career.
8 Career Lessons Learnt
1.Vision
It is essential to have a vision that goes beyond making money or accumulating the trappings of success. I started with a clear career vision which my university Professor helped shape. It was to join a global company, covering all business aspects, from manufacturing to sales and distribution. In my vision, I pictured myself successful, travelling the world, working on things that mattered and then transitioning to owning a business.
I am fortunate to say that I have lived this life, travelled to over 30 different countries and started a business of my own. I remember vividly living that dream one morning in Amstelveen, Netherlands. As I walked into my home office and looked out the window, I had a déjà Vu moment in which I felt I had done this before.
Having a vision is the most important lesson I have learnt. Vision is the vehicle through which we create. It is the most critical thing to have in a post-COVID-19 and digital world.
2. Work with talented people
Look for opportunities to work with talented people. To achieve your vision, you must cultivate and nurture the opportunity to work with talented people. I remember vividly not quitting a job because of the people in the company. Every day was a great day working with this group of men and women. It took me time to understand this until I joined a team of not so talented people in London. I realized that working with the right people gives you a greater chance of career success and realizing your vision. Henry Cloud captures this in his book, the Power of the Other. To work with talented people, one must also manage getting out of working with not so talented people. I made this mistake and suffered dearly for not deciding early enough to extricate myself and my career from teams and organizations that are not great. I have the scars to show for this. As I write this, I recall the names of the talented people I have worked with from different backgrounds and cultures. It has been an honour and privilege to work alongside these men and women. I am still in touch with several of them.
3. Cultivate and Nurture relationships
Cultivate and nurture meaningful and healthy relationships with those above you, on the same level as you and below you. Looking back, where I made progress was because of the right relationship. Hard work and being exceptionally bright will only take you so far. In a post-COVID-19 Digital world, this might need to be tweaked a little, relationship matters. It is now possible to cultivate the right relationships with talented people in your area of expertise. Social media, especially LinkedIn and Twitter, have given us the ability to do this within the boundaries of the ethics of cultivating and maintaining the right relationships. There are several groups and online communities that one can join to foster; the right relationship.
4. Trust your instincts
We are all wired with instincts that seek to guide us in taking the right action and avoid trouble ahead. These instincts can raise a red flag when there is no evidence to suggest danger. In all the instances where I have failed to trust my instincts, I have regretted my decision. I can recall two situations where I disregarded my instincts for financial benefit and fame. First, I took a position when everything within me said no, do not take this position. Secondly, I sought someone out despite my instincts flagging danger. The lesson here is to learn to know how to listen to your instincts.
5. Have a Mentor
The right mentor will help you achieve career success.
A mentor is not a personal coach and having the right mentor is not easy. For to have the right mentor, you must be the right mentee. The right mentor may not look like what you have in mind, be open-minded. My first mentor was my dad. It took me years to realize this. After he passed away, my boss’s boss was my mentor. No one person can fulfil all your needs as a mentee. It is not strange to have different mentors in different areas of your career. Besides having a mentor, have a personal coach and, where possible, a sponsor. Having this group of experienced and knowledgeable people behind you will help you achieve your career vision.
6. Reinvent Yourself
I use the word reinvent because it involves rebirth. To reinvent yourself requires you to make time for self-reflection to confront areas of your life to grow. It may include self-defeating habits, thought patterns, wrong associations, skills upgrades and facing your fears so you can grow. It is necessary to upgrade your skills through continuous self-learning. Part of reinventing yourself is having faith and addressing areas of self-limiting belief. We are fortunate to be living in an era like this where the amount of information, knowledge and access is unlimited. As you reinvent yourself, new doors of opportunity will open, and it will position you right to take advantage of opportunities.
7. Work.
The above 6 points require you to put in the work. You will need to work hard and smartly. One requirement towards putting in the work is raising your productivity by learning how to use productivity-enhancing tools to manage your time and achieve tangible results that move you closer to your career vision. One thing the global pandemic has taught us is to focus more on getting results as against busyness. You can be busy doing the wrong thing that destroys your career vision. Learn to focus on achieving results that move you towards your career vision.
8. Learn from failures
Learn from your failures and those of others; you will fail at something but never let failure get to your heart. We inevitably have failures and setbacks before succeeding. As Thomas Edison noted: “I have not failed; I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
The challenge is to bounce back from failure. Learn the lessons and be determined to bounce back. As an old colleague taught me, “Careers are like driving on the road, you hit the delightful spot and the terrible spot” The point is failure is like hitting the terrible spot on the career road; after the setback comes success if we bounce back.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these are exciting times and the technological changes we have witnessed and the ones to come will equip us all to pursue the vision we have for our careers. In the words of Harry S. Truman, “Yours is not the task of making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world which you will find before you.”
It begins with having a vision and applying the eight lessons above.
Go. Conquer.
