What Isn't Taught in College

In our search practice over three decades, there are fallacies regarding the determining factors for career success.   Today I share a few truisms learned over time that are consistent across industries, positions, and specialties. These are data points that are not taught in university, yet they can make or break your career direction. 

Recognition does not follow hard work alone. If the definition of recognition is financial reward or promotion, you need to be seen.  Hard work alone without an internal champion, self-advocacy, or both, can be a road to burn out. 

The order of priority is the Company, the Team, then You. Self-advocacy is indeed important, but it cannot be a selfish endeavor.  The best self-advocates plan conversations with managers starting with the benefit to the company.  Advocacy begins with the value to the organization and why your promotion will have an overall positive impact.  Putting the organizational goals up front sets the table for positive visualization of you and your conversant regarding expanded opportunity. 

Good leaders set boundaries.  Executives with lead roles in most companies work outside traditional business hours and will prioritize urgent matters regardless of time of day.  With that said, this does not mean you should always be accessible, and everything is urgent.  Good leaders understand there is always action to be taken, but defining the priority and cadence allows them to put the company first as well as take care of themselves to take care of their teams.

 Education is only important to a point. Higher education is a ticket to the club with others who have a degree.  Work ethic, integrity, resilience, grit, and ability to engage and influence others becomes more important than your credentials once hired.  I have worked with graduates of the top schools in the world that have struggled to retain work because they lack in one or more of these areas. 

Your circle matters.  The people who become your circle are as, if not more, important than the education itself.  Who we surround ourselves with is who we become. Choose your circle wisely. 

Trust matters most.  The strongest foundation for a thriving business is built on the reliance on each other within the team.  This is a team that can trust that one will do what they say they will do, and act in the best interest of the company when no one is looking.  A slow boil of mistruths, no matter how harmless they seem, will ding your peer-to-peer relationships as well as those with leadership, creating roadblocks for opportunity. 

Although an education is often the foundation, career fulfillment is defined individually.  That path of growth is determined by how you perform, who you surround yourself with, and how impactful you are perceived to the success of the company.