3 Career Lessons I’ve Learned at 39 That I Ignored as a Graduate at 25
Life experience is underrated. Career ambitions are overrated.
Up, down, up, down.
This is our career. We work hard, promote, lead a team, promote again, got retrenched, got hired, and reach the C-level position. No one tells us that the journey upward involves unexpected big falls.
This is the thing.
People around us shared their advice based on their experiences with recessions, corporate downsizing, and terminations. Being young, we ignored them.
It won’t happen to us, we mutter silently.
That was me at 25.
Today, at 39, I say this.
Listen to those who have been there.
There is No Career Ladder. There is a Career Roller Coaster.
I used to think that our career trajectory resembled a straight line.
My senior kindly corrected my thinking. I ignored her to my detriment. Years later, my career experience proved her right.
Our career line is made up of many curves. Some segments curve upwards, and other sections slope downwards.
It is a roller coaster.
Up, down, up, down, up, down.
I remember being indignant when I was released from my first job. Then, I was shocked beyond words. After all, I was rated within the top 10% the year before.
I spoke to many Managing Directors, Senior Managers, Leads, and Practice Heads.
They told me this.
- The natural resource sector I was tied to is in a recession.
- We were losing big clients from that sector.
- Reducing operating costs is a priority.
- It is not about me. It’s the company.
I was pissed. Then, I never understood why I was asked to leave when I delivered an increase in revenue.
It turned out that I was too me-focused.
It never crossed my mind that my career is a boat floating on macroeconomics, sector growth, and business model.
I was delivered this painful lesson in 2016. It hurts.
Today, I focused a lot more attention on the global business environment. It helps me understand whether the company I am in will be doing well in the near term or not.
That, in turn, determines my current career resilience.
If you agree with my line of thinking,
- Focus on financial news related to the business you are in. They provide clues. I recommend Bloomberg.
- Study your clients. Understand their next year’s budget for business growth. More on this later.
- Learn to sell. It is not what you think. I will explain more below.
The career roller coaster takes us up and down. And that is not the issue. There are safety procedures, and we have safety belts.
The point is to protect ourselves as we take a pelican dive.
And that takes me to the next point.
Focus on Your Client’s Business Performance. It Predicts Yours.
I am in the consulting business. By nature, our client’s performance determines ours.
When they do well, they focus on business growth. When they plan to scale, they push up the demand for digital transformation.
That means,
- More projects.
- More online subscriptions.
- More product training and workshops.
- More I.T. outsourcing opportunities.
- More consulting services.
You can feel that your sales pipeline is growing and at a higher certainty.
You get busy because you cannot cope with all the work that is coming in your direction.
The reverse is true.
When your client’s business is not performing, that means,
- Projects get canned.
- Online subscriptions get canceled.
- Product training and workshops are no longer required.
- Outsourcing becomes Insourcing.
- Consultants are asked to leave.
Of course, it is too late to respond to the situation when it happens. You want to front-run your client’s business cycle.
I do this in two ways.
I would ask what their budget is like for the coming year. Budgets are prepared based on the expectations for next year plus this year’s performance.
An increase is good for them and for you. A budget haircut means you should be ready for a down-sell. Or losing this client.
Next, I would study their annual reports. I analyze their sales revenue trajectory. They can afford to grow the company when they have more cash on hand.
Being prepared allows me to stay ahead of the game.
Final Point. Learn to Sell.
Selling is not always about sales.
Say what?
Selling, in my opinion, is about conveying our purpose and worth in the workplace to others around us.
It involves the following.
- Explaining to our clients that their problems are well taken care of
- Support our bosses in meeting their performance targets.
- Telling our colleagues that we are here to support them.
To sell is to convey our presence.
I made mistakes by choosing to be that quiet, smart kid taking the corner cubicle in the office.
Quiet and smart are subjective.
The corner cubicle is real. I got to enjoy the blast of the aircon all to myself.
But no one knew I existed. I mean, they do. But they frequently asked me what I do.
It did not bother me at first. I thought doing my job well was all it took to get me to the next level.
- I never bothered to voice out during meetings or make small talk with my colleagues.
- I never updated my team lead about my struggles with the increasing workload. I absorbed it. My team lead assumed I was okay and let me be.
Those were the good times.
During bad times, I was first in line for the corporate guillotine. My team lead said he never knew what I was doing.
My pants dropped.
Since then, I got comfortable opening my big mouth. Effective communication was the number skill I sought. I would attend courses on presentations, negotiations, and professional decorum year after year.
And I changed my workplace mindset.
I became vocal.
- I actively book 1-on-1 appointments with senior leaders for career coaching.
- I took a seat during weekly/monthly updates for progress reporting.
- I articulate my work challenges and struggles in a timely fashion.
This is not to encourage you to become a loudmouth at work. No. I am against that.
The point is to become more proactive at work.
Sell your value and presence. You have nothing to lose.
Parting Keynotes
College prepares us for work, not work-life.
There is no such thing as a career ladder. Honestly, I hope there is. Reality taught me something different.
These are the 3 lessons I learned at 39 after spending 13 years in the workplace.
- Our career trajectory resembles a roller coaster.
- Focusing on our client’s business is more important than our career ambitions.
- Profile selling conveys our value and presence at work.
Understanding these helped me cope better with the ups and downs in my career.
It will help you too.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
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