Helpful Hints to Stay Current in Your Career

 

 

 

·        Be mobile and flexible.  We live in a world of change.  We must be able to accept ambiguity.  The job will not be “cut and dried” anymore.

·        Be able to change.  Be flexible and adaptable to the warp speed changes we encounter in today’s business environment.

·        Are you committed to your company?  You need to be.  Yes, be committed to the customer or client, the risk/reward tradeoff, the lifestyle reward you earn for an honest day’s work.  However, beyond all other commitments, be committed to your company.  If you cannot be, move on.  If you have strayed, recommit!

·        Convey the proper sense of urgency.  Not by appearance or actions, but by the way you manage your business and your staff.

·        Find a way to make the job exciting and fun!

·        Have good, strong morale.  You must be your own attitude patrol.  Grieve as you need to when things go wrong or an important project or customer is taken from you.  Then…get over it!

·        Take ownership and responsibility.  Always look at your decisions as if you owned the company.”  In fact, you do.

·        Assimilate from others.  Draw knowledge, support, assistance and production from other resources.  Avoid tunnel vision.

·        Keep learning.  Life long learning is a must, in both your career and your personal life.  Read books and periodicals, listen to books-on-tape, take classes, and improve your skills.

·        Do great work and be known for it.  Streamline the approach.  Do not be afraid to say I/we did a great job on this project.  Demonstrate what you contribute.  Justify your existence.  Do not assume “they” know.  Who is “they?”

·        Do not confuse longevity with loyalty.  Just because you are the last one standing, does not mean you must be loyal to a cause or company that has not rewarded you.

·        Have your own personal core of integrity. “To thine own self be true!”

·        Emphasize service; everyone is a customer!  Be dependable.  Deliver - complete and on time.

·        Have a relentless pursuit of finding a better way to work.  Take small steps, but take lots of them.  Ask yourself, “What can I do more of?”

·        Be a “fixer.”  Be ready, willing and able to improve, modify, “put out the fire,” but do it with an eye toward resolving the core problem.  Be a fire preventer, not just a firefighter.

·        Avoid the entitlement trap.  “I have done__________, I have been here ________, therefore I deserve____________…Nonsense.  Prove it everyday – to yourself as well as your company.

·        Constantly ask yourself, “What am I doing to add profit?”  If the CEO asks you, “What are you doing, specifically, to improve the bottom line,” be ready to give him/her multiple answers.

·        Alter your expectations.  It is a radically different business world vs. 10 years ago.  Very few managers will work for a company more than five years.  There will be no gold watches, no big retirement party, and minimal loyalty.  Instead, we have the potential for much more opportunity and reward.  Take advantage of what is there for you.