How to have a fulfilling career?

Learning shouldn’t stop, focus on growth and strengths….

I have now been working for the last 22 years, and my career has been rewarding. If someone asks me today if I had a chance to redo it again, what would change? I would say that probably it would not take me 22 years to get where I am, and probably would have done it in less than a decade. I am not saying experience is not important, experience provides one scenario and opportunities to learn. However, If I had to shape my career and work on a path, I would do it differently.

This is the same question I get asked by many individuals within my teams or I come across. They want to know how can they also get to where I am or similar to my position within the corporate ecosystem. Well, there are a few things which I have worked on and found to be successful and at the same time have observed in others. I would talk about the topic of ‘Observation’ in the other Power Series.

There are some critical steps or evaluations I recommend to individuals which is a leaf from my own growth book:

1. The big goal: I always recommend to folks to take a step back and dream. What is your ultimate level within the corporate ecosystem you would like to achieve? Often than not, the rat race makes each one of us focus on the next level, which we end up spending our time and energy on. Once we achieve that, we are left again dissatisfied as you want to prepare for the next immediate level. My advice has always been aiming higher and look for an aspirational role. Everything in between your current and the future state would automatically come as you are preparing for a larger role.

2. Know your strengths and harness them (your ‘I’): Everyone is unique and we are not built equal. Each one of us needs to identify our strengths and more importantly what we are passionate about, also what makes us happy? The self-learning and identification process enables an individual to map the strengths. Once identified, my recommendation is to get so good at it that you would like to see yourself as the best and if you perform on the stage for that skill/strength, you would win it.

3. The goal maps and completes your T (the ‘—’ line for ‘T’): Once you have identified your big goal, and map the path, it is important to understand and research the various skills you would require to be successful in that big goal role. You don’t need to be great or expert in each of those skills, but awareness and how do those come together for the jobs to be done.

This awareness and building of ‘T’ have enabled me, my industry peers, as well as people whom I admire. More importantly the ‘T’ needs to evolve and cannot be static or set in stone as due to the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) nature of the world we live in, it is critical to constantly evaluate (preferably every year) to map and understand what makes sense to be part of the ‘T’ and what needs to add/drop.

If you have counter thoughts or have recommendations for the readers would like to hear your feedback or suggestions. Chao..