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Thinking About Career Paths

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I'd like to share some of the insights that others have shared with me over the years about choosing paths.  My favorite insights have always been guiding questions that help me choose my own adventure.

Mentor #1

  • Do you want more fame, fortune, time, or love?
  • Do you want to be a thought leader or a people leader?

Mentor #2

  • What are you doing that you currently enjoy?
  • What do you want to do more of each day?
  • What do you want to do less of each day?

Mentor #3

  • What problems are you working on?
  • Who are you working with?
  • What impact are you making?

As more folks ask me about their careers, I've found myself talking about three things  

  1. Your network helps you.  It's a small world.  Don't burn bridges.  The best networkers I know, balance their weaknesses through strengths in others.
  2. Your career is a portfolio of experiences.  What do you want under your belt?  A twist on this is, what are the unique experiences you can have, where you are right now?  For example, what sort of things can I do at Microsoft that I wouldn't do anywhere else and how do I make the most of it?
  3. Your approach sustains you.  Knowledge is very transient.  It's how you learn and how you adapt that carries you forward.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 16, 2007
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    March 16, 2007
    Don - great points and nice elboration! I think you brought to life several ideas ...
  • do you make value or just do your time?
  • do you practice anticipation or live in constant surprise?
  • do you drive-change or get run over?
  • can you roll with the punches?
  • do you have fallback positions? From a practical standpoint, here's some things I do that help me ...
  • try to work myself out of a job
  • set a bar higher for myself than anybody has ever set for me
  • keep an eye on market demands and trends
  • check the goals up the chain to see what folks are really doing vs. say they're doing
  • check open headcount to see if the org is growing or dying
  • check vision to see if folks in the org have a story that motivates and resonates
  • evaluate intrinsic value vs. market value
  • make growth a part of your job whether it's improving a skill, improving yourself, or improving others
  • adopt a life of continuous improvement The two most powerful lessons for me have been,
  1. people matter more than the work (the worst of jobs, was the best of jobs, with the right mix of people)
  2. your work is what you make of it