Reruns from the Dusty Archives No.6: This is one of the first things I ever posted on this blog. I thought it pertinent to these wobbly and uncertain times.
I saw myself quoted on Wikipedia some time back on the subject of careers:"You can define the word 'career' in two ways - as a noun or as a verb. I recommend pursuing your career as a noun."What can I say? Career as a verb doesn't usually have a happy ending: "Today a bus careered off a cliff. All 47 people on board were killed. Film at 11.00"
Career as a noun is all about management. And career management is a perfect illustration of the gulf that exists between a person's IQ and their EQ. Unless you have married very well, or have a major inheritance coming to you any day now, it is likely that your career is your sole revenue stream. Ally that to the one thing we can rely on in the 21st Century marketplace - uncertainty - and you arrive at what I call a "Gulp moment."
Now, your IQ is very pointy, sharp and clever. Your IQ enables you to instantly evaluate what I've just written and say, "Yup, he's right. The market is very dicey and likely to remain so, I really need to get on top of this career whojamy." But the majority of people just can't seem to take the next step, which is to alter their behaviour (EQ) on the basis of that understanding. My advice would be to try it, just for a little while. And right now would be a good time to start.
Make a deal with yourself: for the next eight weeks, take one hour, just 60 minutes, per week to read, think, talk with useful people and do some of those tedious, prudent, I-really-should things in relation to your career:
- Do some meaningful research. Read everything you can get your hands on in relation to your chosen or future paths. What are the big thinkers and pundits saying? What's the theme underpinning all the articles in your trade association journal? Or on the best blog from your sector?
- Next, having got the basics under your belt, get out there and start talking to people about the realities of the market. Colleagues, competitors, representatives, journalists, politicians - they all have an angle and they all have an opinion.
- Then, you are in a position to start thinking about what you want and how you are going to go about getting it.
If your competition are doing this, and some of them are, you simply MUST do it too. If they're using firesticks, you can't beat them with tomahawks and bows and arrows. Without this kind of thinking, without this knowledge and insight, you will find yourself wandering along a very shaky and uncertain career path, dealing with circumstances, good and bad, in a reactive way. And with the world markets doing an credible impersonation of a headless chicken right now, you do not want to be in reactive mode.
Two people set out by car on a 250km journey. One knows exactly where the destination is, has pored over maps the night before, plotting the optimal route. She has adequate fuel, detailed maps with the journey marked out, a fully-charged mobile phone and contact details for the person she is meeting at her destination, and has sufficient food and drink in the car to last the journey.
The other traveller knows that he is heading more or less south and has a vague recollection of the name of the place he is going to. He has no map, no phone, no contact details and no provisions. Who is going to get there first and who is going to be stopping at every junction checking road signs and asking for directions?
Now envisage that ‘destination’ as a senior post that will become vacant on the incumbent’s retirement in say, six years. Decide your destination and plan your journey – that is the essence of career management.
People shy away from this sort of thinking. They seem to feel that they have little or no control in these fast-changing times and therefore, long-term planning is largely a waste of time. I suspect this may have something to do with the fact that so many people in the private sector see their employers thinking and behaving in a very short-term mode and have absorbed that mindset by osmosis. Monkey see, monkey do ...
You have to have a plan. Have to. It doesn't need to be etched in granite, but it does need to be released from your head and captured in some form. Even something scribbled on the back of an envelope is a good starting point. "By the time I'm XX years old, I'd like to have achieved the following: A, B, C, D, E." It brings a surprising degree of focus to your thinking on a day-to-day basis.
Related Posts
What is career management? (Part 1)
What is career management? (Part 2)
Career change - size of market
Two people set out by car on a 250km journey. One knows exactly where the destination is, has pored over maps the night before, plotting the optimal route. She has adequate fuel, detailed maps with the journey marked out, a fully-charged mobile phone and contact details for the person she is meeting at her destination, and has sufficient food and drink in the car to last the journey.
The other traveller knows that he is heading more or less south and has a vague recollection of the name of the place he is going to. He has no map, no phone, no contact details and no provisions. Who is going to get there first and who is going to be stopping at every junction checking road signs and asking for directions?
Now envisage that ‘destination’ as a senior post that will become vacant on the incumbent’s retirement in say, six years. Decide your destination and plan your journey – that is the essence of career management.
People shy away from this sort of thinking. They seem to feel that they have little or no control in these fast-changing times and therefore, long-term planning is largely a waste of time. I suspect this may have something to do with the fact that so many people in the private sector see their employers thinking and behaving in a very short-term mode and have absorbed that mindset by osmosis. Monkey see, monkey do ...
You have to have a plan. Have to. It doesn't need to be etched in granite, but it does need to be released from your head and captured in some form. Even something scribbled on the back of an envelope is a good starting point. "By the time I'm XX years old, I'd like to have achieved the following: A, B, C, D, E." It brings a surprising degree of focus to your thinking on a day-to-day basis.
Related Posts
What is career management? (Part 1)
What is career management? (Part 2)
Career change - size of market
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