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When I was growing up, “work hard” was a motto I often heard. My parents believed that professional success was earned through demonstrating unwavering commitment to whatever organization or company I was lucky enough to work for. I was often told that I’d get to the top by logging long hours and doing whatever was asked.
When I became a chief operating officer at 36, my parents were proud, but what they struggled to understand was that it wasn’t my work ethic that had gotten me there. Instead, I attribute my professional success to a series of choices I’d begun consistently making years earlier. If you’d like to transform your career, here are four ways you can start, especially if you’re already in management and want to become a senior leader or executive.
Related: I Wish I Knew These Four Things Before Starting My Own Business
1. Don’t do what you can empower others to do
Early in my career, I hesitated to delegate tough assignments because I was a perfectionist. I wanted things done well (and fast), and if I couldn’t immediately identify someone to do the challenging work accurately and quickly, I’d simply do it myself.
This was a colossal mistake. It meant that people around me weren’t getting stronger and better. It meant that I wasn’t growing and developing my team for more. It meant I didn’t have a true bench or succession plan. Ultimately, it meant I was more of a manager than a true leader.
At some point, I realized that leadership isn’t about what we can do; it’s about what we can help others do — so I made a shift. I stopped prioritizing efficiency and I began prioritizing effectiveness. I stopped prioritizing how accurately or quickly the work was getting done, and I began prioritizing opportunities that would stretch and challenge everyone around me (in a good way). As I did this, everything changed. I developed a reputation for not only being able to cultivate top talent, but for being willing to give up that talent so they could take on new and exciting opportunities elsewhere in the organization. When that happened, I’d just cultivate more talent. That proved to be very valuable.
2. Be 110% direct and candid
When I first became a manager, I often sugarcoated the truth. With my employees, I was terrified that if I was too tough, they’d badmouth me behind my back, become disengaged and still not deliver results. With my boss, I’d often hold back when I had dissenting opinions because I didn’t want to “rock the boat” or be seen as a naysayer.
Later on, I realized I’d been put into leadership because my own insights and perceptions had been deemed as highly valuable. I wasn’t fulfilling my potential or the role I’d been hired for by holding back, trying to be “nice” or “play well” with others in the sandbox. Instead, I was there to help the organization get better. That meant I had to grow and develop others. It also meant I had to challenge convention and the status quo — so I became more courageous and began to (respectfully) say it exactly as I saw it. I decided to be a straight shooter in all situations. As I did, I developed a reputation for being transparent, authentic and able to resolve conflict. Turns out, that was needed.
Related: 5 Reasons Why You Should Speak Up More — Especially If You Are a Younger Employee
3. Set boundaries and say “no”
When I first started out in corporate America, I was a people-pleaser and worked hard to say yes to everyone and everything. At some point, I realized this was bleeding my time and myself dry. I couldn’t take on special projects or advance my own vision because I was constantly furthering the vision of others. Constantly saying yes to everyone else kept me in a reactive place, instead of a proactive one, and it prevented me from truly standing for something.
It’s as Stephen Covey is rumored to have said in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Act or be acted upon.” At some point, I began to calendar my days and weeks in advance with the activities that I deemed most important. That allowed me to handle future asks from others from a position of strength. If others asked me if I could assist them, I’d first check my calendar and only say yes if my other competing priorities could accommodate it. I’d politely share that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to help them; it was simply that I had other irons in the fire that were more pressing and were previously scheduled. This allowed me to operate and lead the way I really wanted. In short, it allowed me to present my true self. Eventually, that got me noticed.
Related: Embrace the Art of Saying No: 4 Tips for Setting Healthy Boundaries
4. Anticipate change and get ahead of it
As a child, I was taught to have tremendous respect for authority. At some point, I realized that I’d been viewing myself as nothing more than an employee or understudy of my boss, whose sole responsibility was to carry out direction from above — so I began to think of myself as more of a partner or ally to my boss.
Instead of waiting to be asked to do the next big “thing,” I worked hard to understand the business and landscape enough that I could anticipate what the next big “thing” might be. I formed solutions around my predictions, asked for time on my boss’s calendars and bent their ears about my ideas. I’d ask permission to run experiments and make some changes. Then, I’d execute my vision and return with a report of my findings. Sometimes this led to wider-spread changes that affected more than just my division. This won me a reputation for being agile and adaptable. Since many organizations are focused on change, this skill is often valued. It later landed me opportunities to launch or pilot new initiatives, and that experience proved incredibly valuable.
In all of these examples, the key was focusing less on “fitting in” and more on “standing out.” It’s amazing how many of us will be seen as senior leaders when we just simply start acting like senior leaders. Instead of waiting to “be asked” to do things, you be proactive and figure out how to involve yourself first. While scary at times, taking chances like these often helps you differentiate yourself.
