Drawing on thousands of interviews as an executive search consultant, these ten themes repeatedly surface across a variety of careers. Successful people acknowledge and examine these themes regularly.
I. Motivation
Are you motivated?
The point of this question is to determine where you stand in the eyes of your organization and then determine where you want to be in the future.
In which category are you?
1. Motivator “Natural leader. Somehow you always end up in charge.
2. Self-Motivated “You take action without direction.
3. Motivateable–You excel with direction and a good leader.
4. Unmotivated/Unmotivateable “Regardless of position, you are uninspired.
In which category:
– do you think you belong?
– does your boss think you belong?
– do you really belong? An objective, third party should be asked.
Rest assured that your boss is either consciously or unconsciously putting you into one of these categories and he/she will allocate his/her time accordingly in terms of investing in your future.
If you are not in the category where you want to be, what are you going to do about it?
II. Relationships
You become who you hang around.
What your parents told you in high school is still true today. Your friends, family, and co-workers all affect your personal and professional development. If you systematically surround yourself with winners, you should gravitate toward success. Conversely, surrounding yourself with losers will drag you down. At work, try to get as much time as possible with the top-producing, most-successful people: ask them to go to lunch, give some feedback, talk about their keys to success, etc.
Once someone is in a social group of under-achieving friends, the escape velocity only increases with time. It is hard to focus on doing quality work in any job when one’s ears are filled with whining and negativity.
Though I am not a smoker, even smokers tell me that the “smoking area” in their companies is essentially the place where people go to go complain.
Personal example: When I started with my firm years ago, I moved so I could sit in front of the top producer in the firm’s a great opportunity for me to learn. Some time later my boss tried to move me elsewhere, but I refused to move as I still had more to learn. Not everyone can sit next to the most-talented person in an organization, but the point is to put yourself in proximity with successful people whenever possible.
Success breeds success. Put yourself in a place where you maximize your chance of success.
III. Priorities
Work to live, don’t live to work.
Have you heard this saying before? Why not combine the two? Truly successful people seek jobs that fulfill them beyond financial needs or even create jobs around passions they must pursue. The job becomes a part of their life along with everything else they do by choice. At this stage, we can prioritize appropriately. Family and friends will always be a top priority, but a truly satisfying job will sit among those at the top of the list.
At work, finding congruence between employer and employee priorities is essential. Almost every time I have seen someone prioritize their employer over their own personal interests, they eventually end up ahead personally too. Yes, simply looking out for #1 is not the best strategy for long-term success in an organization.
Ambition is good, but selfish greed is bad. People with long term goals realize they will win in time by being inspiring team players.
IV. Competition
Talent and Effort ”How do you stack up against the competition?
If you are of equal or less capability than the person competing against you in the market or within your company, you better work harder and with more passion if you expect to succeed. There are naturally-talented people who do not work very hard but are still successful (though not to their potential). Often less-talented people try to mimic such a person’s work habits as a short cut to easy success. Successful learners apply their natural talents to acquired skills. Maximize your potential and always challenge yourself. Desire and fire usually trump talent.
V. Strategy
Work Hard vs. Work Smart
We have all heard this advice: work smart not hard. This saying is usually the mantra for lazy losers. Few people in the world work little and accomplish a lot. If you are such a person, consider yourself lucky. For the other 99% of us, a more effective career strategy is to work smart and work hard. Working hard and working smart will almost always bring some level of success if there is passion for a job. If you are also lucky and have natural talent, then you will be unstoppable.
VI. Promotion
Get your boss promoted and take over his/her job.
Train to do your boss’ job. When possible, fill in for him/her. Doing so is not sucking up to your boss but rather helping him/her to be more effective which benefits the organization. Your colleagues who criticize your ambition are usually those people lacking the ability or desire to step up themselves. Stay away from these people in the same way you would avoid contact with any other loser.
A wise man once told me My #1 customer is my boss; if he is not happy, it won’t matter because I won’t have a job anyway. The best way to make the boss happy is to focus on doing great work that contributes to his/her organization. Few people are fooled by simple sucking up.
Run the risk of usurping a tad (not too much) of your bosses’ authority. You might find that you have that authority bestowed upon you sooner than you thought.
VII. Salary
Never talk about money with colleagues.
Sooooo many people ruin a perfectly good job because they think they are due more money than they really deserve. The source of this disgruntlement is almost always a conversation with a colleague about salary. As a search consultant, I often advise these people that they are paid appropriately, and they should go back to work and be content with their fair pay. However, once a person’s mind is set in this negative direction, they rarely recover even with all market data indicating the contrary.
This topic is a slippery slope; just being in this kind conversation with a fellow employee is probably the beginning of the end of your time with your employer.
VIII. Punctuality
Be on time.
If you must be late for a meeting, call ahead to let the other party know. Being late without calling is the same as telling the other person that your time is more important than their time.
People who are habitually late are thought to be unreliable and unprofessional.
It is better to be 15 minutes early than 15 seconds late.
IX. Focus
Priorities carried out
Even the best of intentions and strategies achieve nothing without your putting them into action. Motivation, belief in yourself and confidence in your abilities will lead you to action; and focused action with time management will achieve results.
Winston Churchill, speaking to his alma mater, said Never, never, never give up twice, and sat down.
Quitters never win. Winners never quit.
X. Success
Are you in the right job, company and career?
A wise man once said that the test of professional happiness is in your anticipation for another successful day. You should be looking forward to going to work 4 out of 5 days each week. The other day accounts for the fact that even the perfect job has some rough days, too. There will often be low periods of time in any job but you should fully expect to get back to 4 out of 5.
True satisfaction comes from overcoming certain struggles along the way. Even Michael Jordan had some bad days at work.
If you go to bed every night dreading the next day at work, you should be looking for something better. Successful people don’t wait for things to happen to them, they make it happen for them!
The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
If people knew how hard I worked to achieve mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all.
– Michelangelo
=============
This article was written by Mr. Ronald Poe. Mr. Poe is the Managing Partner of Japan’s top recruiting firm for Access Technology. Access Technology can be reached here.