By Wade G. Morgan
A series from Wade’s LinkedIn campaign, #HowIGotThere, to share tips centered on principles he believes has helped him advance in his career. His hope is that someone else finds them valuable, or knows someone to share them with. He recognizes that not all of these tips will apply to all people, and some may feel uncomfortable. That said, these are all tactics he’s employed at various times throughout his career.
Principle: Think for yourself
Tactic: Learn how to think. Develop your first principles.
Reason: The ability to interpret information for yourself is critical. It requires you to be honest with yourself about what you know, what you don’t know, and what you have never even considered. It also requires you to assess other people’s integrity, motivations, level of expertise, and more. Those are a lot of variables to make sense of every time you receive new information.
Having principles that serve as the foundation for how you think & interpret information alleviates the number of mental gymnastics you have to do every time you’re faced with a new situation. They provide a relatively consistent point of reference so that you don’t have to assess situations in a vacuum; rather, you can make connections across multiple experiences to have more confidence in how you should proceed.
I’ve been fortunate to be part of special organizations. There is not a single one I’ve encountered that was in search of *less* original thinking. Sometimes you agree with conventional wisdom. Other times you have a different perspective. Knowing why, in either case, substantiates your opinions.
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Wade G. Morgan is a writer, speaker, Account Executive at Airtable, and former member of LinkedIn’s Business Leadership Program, a rotational program for early-in-career talent. He is passionate about leadership, athletics, entrepreneurship, and tech, and loves helping people and organizations reach their potential.
For more info, check out his LinkedIn profile, previous articles, follow him on Twitter at @wadegmorgan, or visit his website, www.wadegmorgan.com.
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