25 Years to Overnight Success

It has been about a year and a half since my company reorganized and some people are beginning to post for other positions within the company, sometimes even outside. So, I too have been thinking and posting lately myself. Aside from that, for my own development, I have been reading about ambition and I wanted to share a couple of quotes that I have found interesting. 

The first is this, “How we live when ambitions are delayed significantly shape who we become.” The other relates to the outworking of ambition. From a CEO of a large construction firm, “It took me twenty-five years to become an overnight success.”

So let me briefly write about the first quote and how I think about it. I have a certain ambition to change roles or to get a promotion and I try to post out or up and it doesn’t happen. What do I do with that? What do I do with the unrequited ambition?

This is where I have gone to…

·         What is it about my current role that I still could learn or need to learn before I move to my next assignment?

·         How can I rethink what I currently do to prepare myself for that next role?

·         If I am the best, in my mind, at my current role, how can I get even better?

·         What does my response say about me and how I need to change to meet conditions as they are?

Let me share why I have gone there. I am thinking long term career development. I am thinking 10-20 years. I am thinking about finding my career best in each new job. If I am unable to change roles there has to be something that I can learn where I currently am that will help me years down the road. A very wise man one time suggested, when I was complaining about my situation, to blossom where I was planted. I think that advice is appropriate here too.

So what about the other quote? I heard this quote from a man that had worked very diligently on a vision that he had of being the head of a large construction company. By the time that he was selected to do a very visible project, he had been at honing his craft for over 25 years. Many people came up to him and asked him questions as if he had come from out of nowhere. His response was the quote. If you know anything about Jeremy Lin, he is another example of this phenomenon. Cinderella stories have a history.

So how does this all fit into Career Development? This is where I see it headed. I have my development goals and what I see as a successful career. My day to day experience is going to shape me and refine me until my goal is reached or until my career aspirations change. So if my ambitions are delayed so that I can learn something more, all the better for my long-term growth.

 If I am looking at my career goals from the long term I need to be in the upper loop of the victim-accountability loop and learn something and have it shape me and how I see things. When I have learned all that I need to learn and my role is visible to a broad audience or gets noticed in some way I will have walked through many hours of diligence and hard work to arrive at my career goal.

10 of 10: You Need a Helpful Critic

10. Share your plan with someone that could give you a “reality check” on your plan. Look for someone that would add something constructive or ask you challenging questions.

In the world of executives or business leaders I have noticed a trend. Some leaders that I work with I can present them something and will walk out of their office with a better product than I came in with. I feel inspired based upon our experience and want to make what I did even better for our next interaction. There is a comfort and assurance that this person and I are working together. We are comrades not opponents.

Contrast that with the other leaders that I work with that see this opportunity for feedback as an opportunity to demonstrate their over inflated ego, their skills at dissection and proceed to dismantle what has been put together. They will tell you how it won't work and you had better come up with something better. I walk away from these experiences frustrated because I missed the mark but a feeling of despair in that I have very little to go on. I just know I need to do "better." Rather nebulous in most cases.

Have you ever had that experience even if it wasn't with an executive or business leader?

I will find my point, stick with me here...There are "and what about this idea" people and "no that won't work" people. Who would you rather work with? Who would you like to hear feedback from? Here is my point, who would you rather share your Career Development Plans with? If number ten is to find someone to share my plan with to provide me with helpful feedback, how do I find that "and what about this idea" type of person? I want a reality check, not a cross-check up against the boards, to use a ice hockey reference.

I want to bring my plan into whomever's office and if I have gaps or inconsistencies I want them to show me them and ask questions, but most importantly help me make it better. I don't want to open myself up and express my interests and have it torn apart piece by piece. Ask me hard questions that cause me to think and clarify my logic and intentions in putting down what I put down. Don't treat me like a child and be dishonest. I want you to hold up a mirror to me so that I can see what needs improvement.

So, if you don't know any of these "and what about this idea" people, here are a few things to look for in someone:

• See how they respond to personal failure or a less than mediocre outcome. You are looking for someone that will acknowledge that they may be frustrated or venting about the results but that they are really looking to improve on what was done. Do they look for feedback?
• Are they more positive or negative when asking them how they are doing? I am not talking about someone that answers that they are "fine" or "busy." When someone genuinely responds, do they offer a positive response or is it their complaining and grumbling a habit?
• Give it a trial balloon. Take a mediocre presentation or a small problem you are working on and ask them for feedback. Pay special attention to their tone and their willingness to be candid.

Taking it to the next level...what if you are a "no that won't work" person?

At the end of your career, what type of attitude do you want to be known for? Would you want someone to feel like they could come to you for a helpful critique of the plan?

Maybe there is some needed change for your career development plan.

1 of 10: What a Successful Career Looks Like

1. To answer the question about what a successful career would look like, ask yourself, “What would I be doing on a weekly, monthly or daily basis if I was doing what I wanted in 10 years?”

It is August/September in 2021, what will you be doing for your career on this side of eternity?
Some of you may be saying to yourself, "Matt, I have no idea what I will be doing in 10 years, how could I ever plan for that far out?"

I agree we can't be certain and exact but just for the thought exercise, if you could be doing what you have always wanted to be doing in 10 years, what would it be? If you are 10 years older, what type of things would you be working on? Is it retirement, or is it the pinnacle of your career? Is it spending time with your wife each weekend on house projects? Or is it still working on weekends finishing a PowerPoint presentation? The choice to pursue the destination starts today.

Some additional challenging and insightful questions that may help answer this question of what a successful career would look like are:Who or what type of people would you be interacting with?

• Who would you intentionally surround yourself with?
• Who are your Customers? Vendors? Suppliers?
• What would you struggle with, positively or negatively, personally or professionally?
• What influence would you have on this world? Or the next generation?
• Who or what are you looking to define success?Once you answer some of these questions and you can look at them in front of you, ask yourself this last question, "What do you need to start or begin or continue that will make these possibilities come to fruition?

The problem with 10 years out is that it seems so far away and so we put off thinking about it or planning for it. Much like businesses that only plan for the next year or the current year, they spend very little time planning for what could be and spend their days reacting or responding to the crisis of the moment.

Until next week...

Top Ten Things to Remember for Your Career Development Plan

Over the next ten weeks I am going to write each week about the things to remember for your Career Development Plan. Each of these points are part of a talk I have given on Career Development Planning for Entrepreneurs.  Keep in mind, these suggestions are company-agnostic, meaning that it shouldn't matter what company you may work for, they should apply to wherever you are at. They are also based upon my personal experience in doing my own planning as well as acting as a subject matter expert at the company that I work for.

Does any particular suggestion pique your interest? Does one in particular cause you to feel overwhelmed or afraid that it may be too late? Have I missed something about planning that you think should be included?

I look forward to the dialogue and thinking through the suggestions with you.

1.      To answer the question about what a successful career would look like, ask yourself, “What would I be doing on a weekly, monthly or daily basis if I was doing what I wanted in 10 years?”

2.      Of those activities that describe a successful career, which of those things could you be doing now?

3.      Is there someone you know that is doing what you think you want to do, can you ask them about it? Specifically, some of the intangibles and challenges.

4.      Do you know what Mastery in your chosen career looks like? What are the technical and soft skills that are required?

5.      Every year, your plan should be filled with SMART actions you can take using the 70, the 20 and the 10 from the 70-20-10 Adult Learning Principle.

6.      Most adults learn most from doing rather than from sitting in a classroom

7.      When considering a mentor…people can mentor you in two ways, you either want to be like them or you don’t want to be like them.

8.      You don’t have to be best friends with your mentor, select something specific to learn from them

9.      Talk to your spouse or those closest to you about your mobility and willingness to move

10.   Share your plan with someone that could give you a “reality check” on your plan. Look for someone that would add something constructive or ask you challenging questions.