Three Strategies To Put You and Your Career In The Driver’s Seat
About a year ago I was speaking in Orlando, Florida, and I had flown in the night before to attend the opening party. You know those parties where you get your two little drink tickets, and all the boiled shrimp you can eat.
So I am standing there eating my boiled shrimp when out of the corner of my eye, I see this woman enter the room. Big smile on her face, perfect posture and just the confidence she is evoking makes me think I want to meet this woman.
About thirty minutes later I get my shot. I found out that her name is Cindy, and she is everything I thought she would be. She is immediately engaging, asking me great questions and seems genuinely interested. Cindy discovers that this is my first time at this event, so she offers to introduce me to a few people.
Together we work the room, she hands me her business card, and we part ways. Now, I have to tell you I am impressed.
Next morning I get up to go and deliver my keynote, and as I am walking across the lobby when the concierge waves me over to hand me a note. “Great to meet you last night, good luck with your keynote, break a leg – Cindy” Now I have gone from impressed to blown away.
I need to know what makes this woman tick, so I track her down and ask her to lunch. Over the course of an hour, I discovered that Cindy is from California, and she and her kids coach their kids’ soccer team. I also learned that despite being just 39 years old, she had been named one of the Top 100 professionals to watch in the state of California, she has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal twice, and despite a heavily competitive environment, Cindy was on track to have her best year on record.
As I sat there listening to Cindy talk, I began to wonder why? What makes her so unique? What is she doing that makes her so successful?
Now in fairness to Cindy, you have to understand that I am obsessed with successful people. I am so curious as to why, all things being equal education, experience, and skills, why some people have wild success while others struggle.
I have devoted my career and my life to figuring out the answer to that. So in all the research, all the interviews and studies I have done, I have boiled it down to a set of steps, a methodology if you will, as to precisely what you need to do put yourself in control and the driver’s seat when it comes to your career.
3 Strategies To Put You In The Driver’s Seat:
- Build Your Network – first and foremost invest in your network! No matter how high-tech our world becomes, business is still always about relationships. You need to make networking a lifestyle, investing consistently in building your network within your organization as well as within your community.
- Performance Is Power – successful people know that how you perform in your existing positions tells others how you will perform in any future role you may be seeking. Performance is power. If you excel in your current job, others will start to notice you, take you seriously and be open to listening to your ideas and opinions.
- Find Your Voice – and lastly, in today’s busy world you cannot wait for someone else to notice how hard you work or tap you on the shoulder and promote you. If you wait for that to happen, you will be waiting a long time. Remember, no one cares more about your career and your future more than you. If you want to advance, if you are going to move up you have find the courage to ask for what you want. You need to find your voice.
Success is not about what you do; it is about how you do it. Meaning that success is a choice, the strategies, and techniques that successful professionals use to get ahead are available to all of us.
