Having now worked with over 6,000 professionals across the globe with clients ranging from interns to CEOs, I have found that most clients falter in their professional success when they ignore repeatedly the same factors that are critical to managing their careers.
Contrary to what many believe to be the most critical factor in their career success—their intellectual brain power or IQ—most achieve their career successes despite being not so well endowed on this front, or graduating from top academic institutions. Recent Harvard Business Review article on a study of top corporate executives cites that from 1980 to 2011 the percentage of top executives attending public or state colleges has shot up from 32% to 55%. During the same period the percentage of CEOs from top private universities has plummeted from 54% to 35%!
So, what gives?!
Managing one’s career and taking on larger responsibilities as one grows require skills that are very different from acing an academic curriculum. Although high academic achievements become mere table stakes at coveted entry-level jobs, how that translates into later career success is an entirely different matter. Here is my assessment of what factors repeatedly show up in achieving career mastery from my own clients’ successes:
- High Emotional Intelligence (EQ): When entrants are screened for their high academic achievements, ignoring their EQs, what differentiates success from the me-toos is their superior EQ. In the corporate world it is about getting things done, not about overwhelming others with your highly abstruse arguments and nuanced reasoning. This is where EQ and its three other cousins PQ (Political Intelligence), CQ (Cultural Intelligence), and XQ (Contextual Intelligence) play a significant part in one’s success. All except the IQ are nurtured skills, not natural.
- “Contracting”: This is a rare skill, which entails knowing what is important for your chain of command to achieve to make them look good and how to parlay that success into a career advantage for yourself. Most professionals work on critical projects and wait until their annual performance review to uncover their reward, and are then often disappointed by the outcomes. Wrong approach! The best approach is to first negotiate with your boss and higher-ups a reward before you embark on your task that is important to THEM. Remember: You do not get what you deserve, but what you negotiate preemptively!
- Verbal Skills: Although “Communication” is one of the five key elements of one’s EQ, there is special emphasis on the verbal skills. This applies to both oral and written skills. In my experience with thousands of clients I have found that those who are able to articulate their position cogently and forcefully, in both oral and written communication are more likely to get what they are seeking.
- Managing Upwards: Most believe that working hard and accomplishing assigned tasks is a good enough strategy to move up in their organization. They are surprised when they find out that someone else who has worked far less and displayed high EQ, contracted well, and has excellent verbal skills has trumped them in getting promoted. This happens because that person has taken care of managing upwards. What this entails is NOT assuming that your work will be automatically noticed and that someone else will not hijack credit for your work. Watch out!
- Amping Up Momentum: Most want to leave their job or company when things are not going so well for them. A missed promotion, a skipped raise, a derailed project, or sidetracked assignment all result in your loss of career momentum. When you are looking to go out seeking another job your position is compromised because you’ve lost your momentum and it is difficult to move up in that situation. So, before you want to get out amp up your career momentum by taking on showcase assignments and shining up your résumé. Some of these tasks you can take on preemptively!
Of course there are other factors that are also important in one’s career growth, but in my experience the top five are listed here for ready reference. Hope you are able to mobilize your actions to conquer these five key success factors and use them well in climbing the corporate ladder.
Good luck!
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