This story by Shane Rogers, the Queensland Head of AIG, appeared in the media a while ago. I kept it because it’s a great summary of passion, virtue, respect and pursuing a career. It’s the best piece of career advice I’ve found.
“Almost everyone knows deep down that they have a passion or an “element” that defines them. Yet how often do people put their dreams or their passions on hold because reality bites? They live every day with slight feelings of regret. If we are lucky, we find our passion and we can turn it into a career. That is not always possible. Sometimes we need to do something different to pay the bills. But that should not stop us putting our passions at the centre of our lives.
Don’t treat busyness as a virtue
The word busy is one of the most overused in our language. Everyone is busy. All the time. If we convince ourselves we are busy, we go into a negative mindset. However, organising priorities around the time we have can feel really good. In a similar vein, staying at work longer than you need to is ludicrous. You’ll regretted it later in life. Your time is worth fighting for.
Speak up
Some of the smartest people with the best ideas never say anything at meetings. You need to remember that you are the expert at whatever job you are doing. Meetings can be intimidating but there is seldom a downside to giving a respectful, well-considered opinion on something you know about. Your opinion matters and people will respect you for giving it.
Promote yourself (carefully and humbly)
Many people have held back their careers by never putting their hands up for a different, better or more senior job or articulating their value. If you are ambitious, people need to know. This can be as simple as asking to act in a higher role when someone is on leave. Better still, go and ask what it would take for you to get ahead.
Gain genuine extra expertise in multiple things
In the past we could get away with having a single deep qualification and a few shallow skills. Now that is not enough. We need to be seen as a real expert in several things to keep an edge and we need to have a mindset of constant reinvention to avoid being left behind. A lot of people achieve the extra expertise by seeking leadership roles in volunteer organisations outside of work.
Target people and companies you want to work for
It can be a sobering experience to constantly apply for jobs. You are often up against hundreds of people and some highly-programmed HR bot might bounce you out of contention before a human even looks at your application. Careers are a long-term game. It is better to research companies with a culture and activities that appeal to you. A lot of really great jobs are never advertised. I’ve seen many examples of people who seek out companies they like, find mentors there and just morph into the organisation. Some companies even create jobs for them.
Value yourself and your life enough to ask
Too many people let themselves become victims. They lament that they don’t have enough holidays but don’t ask about unpaid leave or leave in advance. There is something that bugs them at work every day, but they never ask anybody if it can be fixed. Value yourself enough to ask. The answer may sometimes be no but quite often it will be yes. It never hurts to ask.
Give the gift of trust
Trust is one of the most valuable gifts you can give. If you trust an employee or a colleague to do something without trying to micro-manage them, most take that seriously and work hard to deliver. Great leaders trust their people. They give broad direction but empower them to find the best way to deliver the results. Sadly, we have started to lose our trust in many of the things we grew up to value. We can only restore it when we all take the trust we are given seriously.
Be kind
We live in a world that has become infested with trolls and toxin, and a society where people seem to be looking for something to get outraged about. They easily get swept up in the lynch mob mentality. Instead, we can decide to look out for people who just need a friendly word to get them through. We can respect and value someone’s opinion (even if we disagree with it) instead of attacking them. We have the option of giving people the benefit of the doubt and recognising that someone might just be having a bad day. They are human. Make respect your guiding star.