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What Makes a Career Extraordinary?
Posted on : 9 - February - 2004
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A successful career isn’t about luck or clawing your way to the top. It isn’t even about being the best. It is a careful blend of talents that follow five distinct patterns, according to research conducted by two specialists with Spencer Stuart, the nation’s largest privately owned global executive search firm. Those who meet their potential as a leader never wait for success to find them; they understand how to take control of their destiny and build relationships and reputations that encourage others look to them. These leaders take a long-term view of career building, carefully choosing their cornerstones and reinforcing their values at every level of construction.
In The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers: The Guide for Achieving Success and Satisfaction (Crown Business), James M. Citrin and Richard A. Smith detail the discoveries of their research with more than 2,300 executive: average employees, those who have worked with a company for more than 20 years without reaching senior professional or executive level; successful professionals, top-level contributors at professional services firms; and extraordinary executives, those managers with a documented, consistent, track record of success in their fields.
What they found is that the best leaders: 1) understand their own value in the marketplace; 2) practice benevolent leadership, 3) find ways to gain the experience necessary to tackle new responsibilities; 4) look for ways to differentiate themselves with that 20 percent of their job that is flexible; and 5) Migrate toward positions that fit their natural strengths.
“Careers, like other important activities in life, are governed by subtle yet pervasive dynamics that significantly influence your value in the marketplace for professional talent. Once you truly understand them, you are bound for glory. Remain ignorant of them at your own peril.” Citrin and Smith argue that the talent market operates on the same supply and demand rules as any other product. At any time in your career, you offer an employer both perceived value (your potential) and exponential value (your experience), but these value types changes as your career progresses.
In the early “promise phase” of your early career, you identify your strengths and passions, while gaining concrete experience that builds your resume. The mid-career or “momentum phase” phase is when it all comes together. At this point you’re probably in your mid-30s, you have established a track record; and you’re getting promoted, recruited, or ignored by employers. You hope for a profitable “harvest phase,” when your expertise and knowledge allow you to pick and chose those projects that excite you most.
Understanding your value is just the beginning, because as Citrin and Smith point out next, it’s not all about you. The best leaders reach the top with the help of their empowered and motivated employees. “In the end, it is the ability to create an environment in which subordinates, peers, and even your superiors want to work—a place where they feel they can maximize their own personal success—that maximizes an individual executive’s chances of greatest personal career success.” The authors name this “benevolent leadership”. Unfortunately, not all managers are benevolent leaders. The trick is to navigate around the “Mercenary” and “Pirate” managers, who often make the loudest noise and grab the most attention. These renegade management styles may flourish when business is at an upswing, such as in the recent technology boom, but they nearly always fail to develop the loyalty and commitment that is needed over the long haul. Employees follow leaders who understand the individual needs of their team members, look out for them, and make it clear that everyone is working toward the same goal: the success of the organization.
You may not be able to pick your boss or your co-workers, but you can give yourself the skills you need to move forward in your career. The “permission paradox” is what Citrin and Smith define as one of the great Catch-22s in business: You can’t get the job without experience, and you can’t get the experience without the job. Again, successful leaders learn to walk the line between “implied” and “direct” permission, looking for openings where they can tackle a problem and gain new experiences. The hard part is to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes and appearing as a “ruthless self-promoter.” But the authors contend that there is an overall lack of leadership in the world and in most corporations, and that leaves room for a creative, talented employee to assume a leader’s role where none is clearly established. Offer to help your boss with a large assignment, volunteer for a staff committee, mentor a co-worker, and even barter responsibilities with colleagues. When all else fails, starting a new job at a new organization provides you with a clean slate in order to renegotiate your permission levels.
The best place to look for opportunities to expand your skills is in the 20 percent of your job description that is not cut in stone. First, you should look for ways to “triage” your assigned tasks. This isn’t an excuse to pass your work on to others. Rather, it’s an invitation to take a close look at your responsibilities and determine how they can be accomplished more efficiently. In reality, say Citrin and Smith, no one advances at an organization simply because they do their job correctly. Leaders advance by prioritizing their objectives, thinking creatively about their value and methods, and building a network of colleagues who trust in their vision. It is the ability to get beyond merely achieving what others want you to do and break through to deliver unanticipated impact that will give you—and your company—the most return, creating results that can truly distinguish you.
The authors also point out that too many of us equate success with money. Far too many people get caught up in career one-upmanship and lose sight of what success really means. The pitfall is that the trappings of success can catch you off guard. Before too long, you can awaken to find that you have stumbled into a life of financial dependence on and emotional detachment from you daily work. Your job becomes monotonous and life turns dull. The fifth pattern focuses on finding the right fit for your passions and skills. Citrin and Smith recommend that you macro manage your career, always keeping an eye on the horizon, or your personal vision. Look for and even create opportunities that move your career along in a way that you enjoy, whether it is starting a new business or transferring within your current organization. Seek colleagues and bosses whom you respect and enjoy working with, which may mean changing organizations to find the right culture. If you’re not having fun, it’s probably not worth it.
While Citrin and Smith’s research focused on individuals, they stress that these same patterns can be applied to organizations. With a focus on creating a culture of success, where the top performers are accurately identified and disproportionately rewarded, and where organizations use a deep understanding of the existing and required talent in order to compete effectively and consistently raise the bar, companies can position themselves to substantially outperform their peers.
The book is sprinkled liberally with examples of real-life success stories, from the authors’ own experiences to those of executives like Jack Welch, Michael Dell, Arthur Levitt, and Howard Schultz (Starbucks); and successful professionals such as Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods. Though the experiences and people reach across decades and industries, they have these patterns in common.
At times, the patterns will remind you of the basic rules you learned in as a child: play nice, respect yourself, and follow your own passion. It’s basic, yes, but much harder to implement in real life, Rick Smith told Knowledge@Emory. “When we talk with CEOs, most of them get it immediately – they say ‘that’s what got me to the top.’ To the people in middle management, those worrying about layoffs, competition, and internal politics, this can seem counter intuitive,” said Smith. “My advice is to expand your levels of permission. Part of it is the fundamental belief in doing the right thing, without immediate reward. Short term outcomes bring short term benefits.”
“If you do something positive for yourself and your organization, you will almost always be compensated, and almost never immediately,” he concluded.
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arati kadav |
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kahaan se copy paste kiya ..kindly acknowledge buddy |
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Aarav |
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Bhai hai tera, jane de :-) |
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