Many executives I talk to ask me, “What do successful professionals you interview have in common?”
Despite always answering that when it comes to someone’s career there’s no right or wrong, or success formulas, there’s is something I think successful professionals have in common.
If competence is a combination of Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (KSA) part of the answer lies in this concept. The philosopher Ralph Emerson once said, “Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.”
And I truly believe in what Emerson was saying. In essence your career success depends on your attitudes, but it’s also built upon how your attitudes are perceived by others.
And it’s no use thinking, “I don’t care about what others think of me,” or yet, “I’m not here to make friends but to do my job,” because your most important personal marketing is actually done by others, and in this sense it’s possible to say that perception equals reality.
Having a successful career is closely related to how others assess you, so each work day and each step you take in your career is a chapter you write about it, which others will read and tell as stories.
You can’t dissociate one from the other. Your career will be what you make of it. There’s no use blaming it on your boss or company; it’s in your hands.
Yes, I know your company is not perfect, that your boss isn’t nice, that your team is difficult, that nobody sees the world like you do, and that sometimes it REALLY feels impossible, but as Michael Jackson used to sing, it’s about “...starting with the man in the mirror...”
GOOD LUCK!!
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