My weird career path — conclusions
What conclusions would i draw from this?
I’ve been lucky. I’ve worked, and i have some brains and some skill. But i also have a host of privilege (white, male, healthy, education funded by state and parents) despite it not feeling like that at the time (working class origin, small town, crappy school)
I never had a plan. I did good work and tried to remain open (there are about ten jobs i wanted and didn’t get over the past twenty years, by the way. Important to say that) and that has worked well for me.
Be a sponge — i have absorbed so much from others. If i have a skill, really, it’s to listen, learn and synthesise into applicable lessons, methods and behaviours.
The people who give you negative feedback are really valuable. Treasure them. ‘You’re doing good stuff, carry on’ is not helpful feedback and a boss who gives you that is rubbish. Demand more.
Trust yourself. The time i manipulated (within the rules of course) a secondment and recruitment process to bring up an underused talent remains the personal achievement i am most proud of in the past ten years. That person is now doing awesome work and is, if they want it, a future very senior leader.
Imposter syndrome is real. I have it all the time. But your own feelings about yourself are the worst possible guide to your true capabilities, either good or bad. For those with privilege, imposter syndrome can be read as false modesty. Again, being open about that too is good.
Acknowledge weakness, though. Ignorance must be owned without fear or shame. It just is. My best learnings have come from admitting and opening to areas in which i know nothing. See my 2016 conference reflections — note that nothing at all bad happened to me as a result of publishing this despite spending about an hour tense deciding whether to hit publish or not.
Expertise must be deployed with tact, sensitivity and humanity — and always with a mental standpoint that that expertise is subject to revision based on new info.
Horizon scan. Don’t let your employer’s world and battle become yours. Many are the people sideswiped by org change that the outside world saw as inevitable.
‘Assume positive intent’ is the best advice for interpersonal relations i have ever received. Everyone is just doing their best with what they have. They don’t mean to be difficult, or to make things harder even if it seems that way at first.
At conferences, find and hang with the Emerging Professionals. they are invariably more thoughtful than the so-called ‘thought leaders’. Also they tend to be critical of their mentors, so if they are recommending people to talk to you will know they are worth your time.
Be uncomfortable. Learn to like it.
Trust your intuition.
Love it.
