As business leaders and people managers in sales or procurement we all receive the following questions on a regular basis: How did you build your career? What is the secret of being successful in business? What is the magic formula?
Sometimes I feel that people are disappointed when you cannot give them a response in form of a clear 10 step plan that just needs implementing and that will ultimately lead to that stellar business career. People seem to be longing for certainty and “plannability”, but a career cannot be fully mapped out in advance. It is rather an evolving process with elements that can be worked on and others that you have limited influence on.
One precondition for any successful career is to establish the right mindset. A mindset of curiosity, of wanting to understand one’s business environment. A mindset that embraces competition and sees it as an opportunity and not a threat to improvement. An attitude of being always pro-active and determined to set and reach certain goals with excellence.
Though, even with this mindset in place, a successful career is no automatism. It is a precondition that needs to be met as a first step. To succeed further depends on three crucial factors that drive and advance a career especially in the corporate world:
One, the level of experience in and the mastering of a certain skillset.
Building, learning and reassessing of your own skills, continuously and diligently, is hence paramount.
Two, the readiness to seize the opportunity when it unfolds.
This requires you to stay flexible and open minded to get thrown into new environments at any point in time. Opportunities to advance in one’s career can arise quickly, oftentimes without one’s direct influence. What is controllable though is to expose oneself pro-actively to new opportunities by reaching out beyond the limits of your role and the boundaries of your current responsibilities.
Three, luck.
To be at the right point at the right time does play a significant role in shaping a successful career. Having established the right mindset and the right level of expertise does not automatically lead to an upward career move. The environment needs to be right to create the opportunities to advance.
Whilst we all depend on a little bit of luck in life, by shaping one’s mindset pro-actively, by building relevant skills continuously and by exposing oneself to the opportunities out there consistently, the level of luck required to enjoy a successful career can be harnessed.
Start today and take the necessary steps to steer your career into the right direction. Contact us if you want to hear more about building the right mindset that drives you forward in your sales or procurement role.