Becoming the real you: Top five considerations

The part I enjoy most about my job is the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of very interesting people. During one of these interactions I ran into a young, recent college graduate, he was a smartly dressed intelligent fellow. He looked like he was ‘in charge’ and resonated a certain sense of responsibility. I asked him what exactly he did at this very large organization, a leading financial services firm on Wall Street, ‘I’m a partner (co-owner) here’, he said with a smile ‘I’m just not yet promoted!’

A few years have passed since then, and surely enough, that person is well on his way to becoming a partner that is simply because, he thinks and acts like one.

Countless books have been written on self assurance, on how to develop ones self into a leader, a thinker, a winner and more importantly a collaborator, but time and again we come across mostly the ‘its not my job’ people rather than the ‘this needs to get done’ people.

In the last decade, we have steadily moved away from the notion of ‘life time employment’, to ‘life time employability’. The latter is more need driven, requiring upgrading of skills frequently, adapting and assimilating. While this behavior is generally fruitful and rewards are more generous, the consequences of not adapting fast enough are down right horrific.

Since more of us now need each other, more than we did a decade ago, you would think the professional dynamics, the manner in which people do their jobs, would have also followed suit, right? Think again.

One reason for that is because our schooling system is designed for producing workforce for hierarchical, bottom heavy pyramid like organizations. However the modern businesses and their very survival often depends on shrinking this gap between the divisions, bringing them closer, sharing information faster and acting on it before anyone else does. Now, more than ever is a need for the right collaborators, who anticipate and evaluate the problems, assess and deliver solutions faster and cheaper.

We can and probably should discuss how things can be done differently, and how they are being done differently in some organizations, but today, I wanted to digress to a slightly different topic, one more immediately relevant to you. So, my dear reader lets explore how can you differentiate and better position yourself in today’s market.

When it comes to finding a better fit for your career, the wisdom often lies in asking the right questions. What is it that you offer in your roll today, and how can you build up on what you have now to get to a better tomorrow, quicker. For beginners, consider the following thoughts, remember these are just guidelines, feel free to improvise,


I) Organize your thoughts and communicate them too

You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard boiled egg. If you can not present and execute your ‘greatest idea ever’ it will always remain just….another idea.

Communicating your thoughts, which is making others understand what you have in mind is as important as having a great point to make. As Patch Adams had once said, email is becoming work, as oppose to the original idea of an email being an ‘indication of work’. When you start structuring your email, keep in mind that it is a somewhat permanent record of your thoughts. Once your email is out of your outbox, you have very little control over it, so think it through and write as effectively as possible. Keep your audience and potential audience in mind, and don’t forget to spell check, nothing is a bigger turn off than a badly written email.

II) Make room for yourself by being a collaborator

Instead of waiting for an opportunity to come knocking at your door, try reaching out within and outside your organization for potential opportunities. Don’t be afraid to suggest improvements, especially in meeting and in team settings, too many of us get tangled in to the obscure world of ‘can not be done’ rather than exploring what ‘can and must be done’. No one person operates in a silo any more, you need people and lots of them to get things done. The better you are at coordinating between different groups, the better you can leverage yourself. Think how you can add value to any ordinary function, do things faster and better. How is this for an incentive? In the new world, the collaborators will be paid higher, and promoted faster than anyone else!

III) Find a mentor, and build the right alliances

Identify one or more mentor within and outside your organization. Find people with whom you can connect. Think about the big bucks your higher ups are making, often there is a good reason for their hefty compensations, as they are valued more. Consider this a free learning lesson, you get free access to their wisdom and power, if you can just build a connection with them. Often just the will to excel is enough to get you started.

IV) Ignore the advice from the guy in the next cubicle

Also important is to ignore any ill advice you may get from people at your level, remember if they were any smarter than you, they would be strides ahead of you. Often people are shy about making a contact or a connection within the workplace, with the fear of being picked on by their colleagues. If you want to lead, you need to step forward.

V) Be honest and courageous by being your own best friend

Being honest is the single most common and important trait in all great leaders, interestingly; honesty and courage go hand in hand. Effective leaders get rid of the fears early on. You need to have the stomach to make tough decisions and take somewhat measured risks. Honesty and the courage to do the right thing goes a long way.

No one is more sincere to you than yourself. Think about what you want to do, and ways on how to get there. Decide if you want to build a career or just have a job, there is a major difference between the two mind sets. The first being ‘destination driven’, and the latter being ‘destiny driven’. If you think that ‘luck’, makes every thing happen for you, consider staying at home for the remainder of the week and see how luck brings in your next pay check. Alternatively, if you believe in making way for yourself, you will find a way to make it happen.