4 Bad Habits I Picked Up in Corporate America.

How to Avoid these habits and position yourself for success

Photo credit: Gratisography

1) I started waiting to be told what to do.

This is crucial, you are classically conditioned through formal education, to be a drone. I mean think about it, day 1 of college, you get a syllabus that tells you word for word how to succeed. I mean, how dumb and contrary to the real life is that? But this article is not about college, it is about corporate companies.

I had a crazy conversation this weekend with a friend that said: “Chris, I really want to get into what you are doing, what certifications do I need?” I literally gagged when I heard this….

If you want to build a company, be a founder or work in the startup game. PLEASE don’t ask permission, unless someone is going to pay you to ask for their permission, then it’s a maybe.

In the startup space, you need to do first and then ask permission later. Now yes, if you work at a large company, for the most part, they want you to be a drone, they need drones. If you want to build something then you are going to need to piss some people off you are going to need to disrupt, and the fact is no one will ever tell you “Hey go break that”. So, being a drone is out of the picture.

Example: “So I meet one of the Founders of Dollar Beard Club this week, immediately contacted one of Wasabi Ventures portfolio company, and was like come pitch this guy, NOW.” If I would have picked up the phone and called the founder of Wasabi and asked for permission, I can only imagine he would have just hung up.

DON’T ASK FOR PERMISSION ASK FOR FORGIVENESS

So here is the pattern, you get into work you have a “to-do list” of things your boss is telling you to work on, that are things their boss told them…and so on and so forth. With this logic, you better hope the person at the top knows WTF they are doing.

Go out and start ACHIEVING things without someone holding your hand. This is what your to-do list should be:

1. Kickass
2. Kickass
3. Kickass

2) I stopped networking

Worst mistake someone can make.

So you work a 10 hour day, doing something you don’t really enjoy. You need to workout, eat, and drive home. Where do you find the energy then to put your “I like people” face back on, go out into the world and go to networking places or meetings with people in your ecosystem? The short answer: YOU DON’T!

So you got your job out of college, great, how did you get it? probably networking, considering over 70% of jobs land a job through networking. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know! (Entrepreneur.com article)

As you move through life you will find how important your “roladex” becomes.

I believe individuals who network IN-PERSON in 2016 have a huge advantage, as the online space has become so cluttered with noise if you network in person you can see results so much quicker!

3) I only learned what my company is teaching me.

So you go to school for X, you graduate, you still have no clue what you want to be when you “grow up”. You get a job that pays the bills, let’s say you are an insurance adjuster for liability auto insurance. You get into it and after 6 months you start becoming really good at the job. Three years go by, and you have been stagnant in every genre. In this case, I hope you want to be an Insurance agent for the rest of your life.

Photo credit: The art of manliness

By now if you have two ears attached to your head you have heard the phrase: Never Stop Learning.

But Corporate America, in most cases, doesn’t want you to do this. They want you to get to the plateau as soon as possible and then stay there, “be a good employee”.

Never stop pushing the limit, use your company to grow, not become stagnate:

1. Make your company pay for you to learn. Most corporate companies offer courses for ALL jobs, take ones that are not for your job.
2. Convince your boss to send you to a conference.
3. Shadow other positions in the company
4. If you are in sales, become an EXPERT about a certain industry you are selling to and do it ASAP

4) I stopped thinking about my success and started focusing on the companies. (I still do this)

Key take away. If you work for a large company you have a certain role. You are a cog. The fact is that company puts a value on your position, you can be a highly valuable cog, but you are still a cog.

You will have to pay dues:

“Any job you get you will have to pay your dues, but make sure you are paying your dues to get into a club you want to be a part of”

Make sure you are not grinding yourself down for the idea that“my company will always be there for me”. I have news for you if you are a part of a large organization or public company when the company goes over a rough patch in a financial year, employees are the first to go — that is management 101.

Just be aware of that!

“Most likely your first job out of college will suck, probably your second might as well, you will have to bust your ass. But, make sure you are busting your ass to achieve a good headstart when you get into the job you really love or into entrepreneurship. “

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