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Over the course of my corporate America career and within my circle of friends and colleagues, I have seen and met many highly successful people who have excelled in their career progression. Take my friend N, for example. I met him at Duke Fuqua, where he was my “career fellow.” He’d revise my resumes and encourage me to apply for various jobs. While I ended up in the valley, he went to work at a retail business. Over the years, I’ve seen him going from a director in the retail business to COO of a mid-size company. Today, he owns billions of P&L at a global organization. I haven’t asked him this question, but based on my own experience, and if I have to speculate, here are the five steps of “making it” in Corporate America.
1. Know what you want
When I interview people, I always ask them: what’s your career plan for the next 5-10 years?
Granted, I have cautioned about having unrealistic goals in this article. However, if you are already in a mid-management position, it’s only logical that you want to go to the next step. I was never shy when people asked me back in the day. Because I was in procurement, my long-term goal was to become a Chief Procurement Officer. My short-term goal was to become a director, senior director, then VP of procurement. Friends sometimes criticized me for being overly ambitious or aggressive for wanting this. But didn’t Napoleon say, " Those soldiers who are not willing to be a general are not good soldiers”?
On the flip side, if you don’t know what you want, you will lose focus and eventually momentum in the competition. Granted, one should allow time to explore and determine what one wants. However, that exploration stage can’t last forever. At some point, you need to set a clear goal and work fiercely towards it. More on this point later. Speed is different from velocity. Having speed alone may mean you are spinning your wheels. You are busy working on different projects without a clear direction in mind. Having velocity means you are quickly moving towards your goal. Having that clear goal in mind is the key to going places.
2. Tell people what you want
Great, you have clear goals. Now what?
The next step is to tell people about it.
This includes your boss, your boss’s boss, or maybe even your team.
If you don’t tell them what you want, they won’t know. And when they don’t know, even if there is a chance for you to get what you want, they won’t hand it to you on a silver platter.
We Asians are notoriously horrible at this. See my point above regarding my friends’ calling me overly ambitious or aggressive. “Wild Heart,” 野心， that’s how they call it. It has this negative connotation that you may deploy unethical techniques to get what you want because you have ambition.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have ambition, but work to achieve what you want ethically. So having ambition is not a bad thing, it’s actually very healthy. So why not tell the people what you want, if they will determine whether and how you will get there?
The key, again, is to set realistic goals and be vocal about how you plan to get there. Back in the day, when I was a senior manager, I told my boss that I wanted to become a director in a year. He disagreed. He thought I needed more time and showed more results to get there. That’s fine. At least you are now having the discussion and specify HOW you will get there. This is a healthy first step.
3. Work really hard to get what you want
Even after you know what you want and you’ve told people about it, you still need to work your ass off to get it. Again, in Corporate America, every position has 10+ qualified candidates. Nothing will be handed to you. You have to work for it.
Many companies have these career development programs with details of what each level of position should look like and what skills they entail. That’s a great place to start. Compare where you are with where you want to be, and ask yourself: what expertise should I develop? What soft skills do I still lack? What projects I can work on to learn, develop and polish those skills?
Sometimes it may mean stepping out of your comfort zone and volunteering to do more than your current scope or charter. Why should you get a bigger role if you stay where you are? Think about it from your boss’s perspective: if I want to promote this person, it must be because this person can help me solve problems and take care of headaches that others can’t. So next time when your boss asks: who wants to take the lead on this project? Raise your hand and do it.
Other times it may even mean taking the time to go through training or even courses that you don’t currently possess the expertise. While working as an engineering program manager, I realized that I never got trained to do it systematically; I just learned by watching other people. So when I had the opportunity, I got certified as a scrum master.
4. Find sponsors along the way
Remember, having a mentor is good but not sufficient. To advance in an organization, you must have sponsors.
There is a lot of good literature about the difference and similarities between the two. Ultimately, a sponsor not only gives you good advice, but she or he will also actually take steps to help you advance and get what you what. That means, your sponsor will advocate for you to get promoted. That also means that when there is an opportunity for a bigger role, this person will recommend and enable you to try it instead of watching on the sideline.
How to get to such sponsors is a delicate process. Often they do start as mentors. Once you have developed a personal relationship with your mentor and they begin to get to know you, they may discover your potential and be willing to vouch for you when the time comes.
Other times, it doesn’t have to be a formal mentor/mentee relationship. I have found advocates by simply being there and having the opportunity to interact and showcase my ability. Sometimes it’s through those oddball projects that I volunteered to take on. Other times it may be just having those social conversations and developing a deeper connection causally. Remember, getting to know and trust someone takes time. Consider every opportunity to interact to showcase your intellect, spirit, and potential. Be international about it.
The corporate ladder is called a ladder for a reason. There is only one way up, and many people want to go that way. I am not even getting into the complications of gender and race. However, as my buddy Naveen would probably agree with me, there is a way. Set your intentions and pursue them with all your strength. Or, if you are like me, maybe one day you will decide not to do it anymore and pursue a different path, such as entrepreneurship. That’s just fine, and it’s an entirely different yet no less difficult process—more on that on an other day. But, while you are at it, give it your best shot, and don’t have any regrets about not trying your best.
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