Fortune magazine asked a host of influential leaders to share wise words that changed their lives forever in the “Best advice I ever got”. Their practical advice can be applied to advancing your careers and transitions, as well as many other areas of your life:
- Keep it simple – set a goal, share it with someone, figure out how you are going to achieve it and keep your goal top of mind.
- Show, don’t tell – the best candidate for an opening does a great job of showing how they meet a prospective employers requirements, with great examples and results that showcase their abilities.
- Do what you love – when you do, work does not feel like work. The most effort you will expend is figuring out what interests you, if you have ignored it for long enough.
- Empower a subordinate (and never let them see you sweat) – when you are unsure of your next step, form several opinions/options that will help you to move forward. A good manager or listener for that matter, will allow you to test your ideas with them and offer feedback along the way.
- Push beyond your comfort zone – expose yourself to different points of views and perspectives. These perspectives will pose different questions or encourage you to reframe your questions to expand you thinking.
- Ignore conventional wisdom – many people will be quick to tell you how flawed your ideas are, or why something will not work. Surround yourself with people who believe in what you are trying to do to counter the naysayers.
- Trust your instincts – learn to rely on your gut, do not let other people’s fear influence you and be true to who you are and what you believe deep down.
- Read everything – when clients approach me for interview coaching, I ask them questions to assess how much they know about their target company. Do extensive homework, make sure you are armed with a couple of ideas or strategies up your sleeve based on your research, this will help you to stand out in the interview process as well as add another dimension to your expertise.
- Be effective, not popular - when you are doing a good job, people will talk and most of it will be negative. Interestingly enough when you are doing a bad job the chatter will be the same. Surround yourself with objective people who will be candid about your effectiveness or lack thereof.
- Use failure to motivate yourself and as an opportunity to be true to yourself.
- Focus on performance not power – whether you are looking for a new job, vying for your next promotion or thinking about changing your career path, how hard are you willing to work to show them or prove to yourself that you want it?
Stay tuned for part two later on this week. In the meanwhile, what is the best advice you have ever received and how has it helped you to advance your career?
