Over the years, I've had the privilege of having formal and informal opportunities to mentor and coach teammates. One topic that comes up frequently, especially from those early in their careers, is how to manage your career. I've made many thoughtful moves in my career, some good and some bad, but I've always learned from each career decision. There is no clear road map to managing your career. However, below are some general thoughts and guidelines I've used over the years. As with everything, these guidelines will evolve and change regularly.

1/ Knock it out of the park. Often a catalyst for looking for a new role is dissatisfaction in your current role. Seeking a new role when you’re unhappy or not challenged is natural, and the best thing you can do to enable your next move is to excel in your current role. I often see people develop poor attitudes and work habits while in roles that make them unhappy, then seek new opportunities with the heavy baggage of under-performing in a current role. If you‘re unhappy in your current job, being bad at it won’t get you out of the role. You must knock it out of the park, and be recognized for being great at it. This will create the momentum and credibility for you to market yourself for new roles.

2/ Earn bullets (outcomes) on your resume. In every role, you should have a fundamental desire to make an impact and add incremental value. When evaluating your current role, or exploring a new role, think about the 3–5 high level “bullets” (or outcomes) you can earn in that role. What impact did you make, how did you improve the operations or customer experience, what product improvements did you drive, what challenges did you proactively lead. Ensure you’re clear on the outcomes you’re gaining from your current role, and identify the outcomes you want to gain in your next career move. The concept of “adding bullets to your resume” in every role will keep you focus on outcomes, set goals, and guide you in achieving your career goals. Most importantly, it creates a forcing mechanism to always focus on high impact outcomes (that become bullets on your resume), which benefit both you and your business.

3/ Be uncomfortable. I firmly believe you can’t get better without seeking opportunities that put you outside your comfort zone. In each new role, you should strive to build off your experience, while developing new skills by gaining exposure to new business problems. The feeling of being uncomfortable and unfamiliar tend to be good signals that you will learn from the new experience. Early in your career, I often believe getting broad exposure to different facets of a business helps you develop faster, gain diverse perspective, and also determine kind of work energizes you the most (see # 4 below). Starting your own business or joining a start-up is one option (where you must wear many hats), or working for a larger company that is supportive of lateral moves. Either way, the more you can proactively make yourself uncomfortable and gain exposure to new areas of the business, the more you’ll develop and grow during the early phases of your career.

4/ Understand what you like and dislike. I've been able to create a list of attributes I want my current/future roles. Some items include scaled operations, customer experience, new technology, early stage, and building/leading new teams. These general dimensions can exist in lots of different companies and environments, but defining these preferences helps me as I explore my next move. As you develop in your career, it’s easy to quickly identify the things you don’t like, but pay special attention to the work that gets you energized and excited. The more you can align yourself with work that makes you happy, the more productive and effective you’ll be in your career.

5/ Setup 6 month reviews with yourself. I often encourage folks to setup a routine to check-in with yourself and your manager to reflect on the past 6 months, and discuss the future 6 months. The purpose is to reflect on the outcomes you’re driving, the skills you’re developing, and compare that to your personal career objectives. If you don’t set goals or have a clear road map, you’ll quickly burn a year in role that has not helped you develop, or allowed you to make an impact on the business. Open communication and dialog with your manager is key, especially when understanding how you can invest your time (to continue your development) in the upcoming 6 months. Most importantly, use this regular check-in with yourself to reflect on what you’ve learned, the impact you’re making, and what you want to do more/less of in the next 6 months.

6/ Create a Personal “Board of Directors”. Some good advice I got from someone is to create a personal ‘board of directors’ for yourself. Throughout your career, or personal life, identify a small and diverse group of people you trust and respect. These are people that can offer valuable insights and honest feedback when you ask for their input. Have these people serve as your ‘board of directors’, which you will consult with as you think about careers moves and general life decisions. As with any ‘board of directors’, you’ll want to keep the group diverse so you can reap the benefits of having broad insights and recommendations, to help you be thoughtful about your ongoing career decisions.