Path to Promotion: Patience, Opportunism, A Plan
Those seeking promotion: You need some patience, the willingness to be opportunistic, and a plan.
Now that I coach a lot, I see so many people struggling with these basic elements.
They are heads down, working hard, getting frustrated, and often this is because they lack one of these three things.
#1: Patience
Harsh truth - most people will work from their early 20s to sometime in their 60s.
A period of 40+ YEARS.
Even if you are wildly successful, you will probably work 15 or 20 years.
With this lens, being frantic to achieve everything in your 20s or even mid-30s will burn you out AND hold you back.
This is very hard advice to take, but try to have a lens that says, how do I get to my ultimate goal across a 10-year path?
#2: Opportunism
The other side of patience is being bold to take opportunities when they are there.
To see the chances to step up, take risks, change roles or companies, and do more even when there is risk.
I went through three startups that had massive layoffs and was laid off twice.
But those risks still gave me experience and opportunity.
My most pivotal personal and professional growth came from being laid off in a recession with a young family to support. Sure, it was unpleasant, but also invaluable.
Take the risks, seize the day.
#3: A Plan
Many people I see are so heads down working that they are not investing in their own future.
They are not building a network, not even visiting LinkedIn to click "accept" on connection invitations, let alone sending a few.
They are not talking to their boss about the path to promotion; about what they can do to develop and showcase skills that make them more valuable.
By all means, work hard.
But reserve time to also work on your own career path, network, and job alternatives.
I made all three of these mistakes in my life…
So I know how easy they are to execute and how hard it will be to take some of my advice.
But if you can, it will help you.
Jeff Bezos had a saying…
"Be strategically patient, tactically impatient."
This means being patient in getting all the way to a valuable end goal, but insisting on making some kind of small progress each day.
This is what I mean by patience and opportunism, plus a plan to invest in yourself.
You have to do both.
If you do, over time you will accomplish goals beyond even your current dreams.
— I get a lot of questions asking about a systematic way for career advancement. I wrote a guest post in Lenny’s Newsletter detailing The Magic Loop: A framework for rapid career growth. Many have found it useful.
Audience Insights
I have consolidated additional ideas worth considering from my LinkedIn audience, including:
Senior executives attribute a lot of their career growth to tiny career steps taken during personal “reserve time.” Examples: volunteering for a talk, teaching a class to new hires, becoming an Amazon Bar Raiser, etc.
“Too busy with my job tasks to write my own promotion document.” If you have this mindset, you are leaving the opportunity on the ground. Do not expect your manager to do all the work to get you promoted. Be proactive and have the discussion with your manager, write the first draft, identify and reach out to your stakeholders, compile data as backup, and control your narrative.
Part of “patience” is humility. Go into the promotion process with an open mind for brutally honest feedback and areas of improvement. You will learn where you stand, how you are perceived, and what you can work on to get to the next level.
Your manager has a responsibility to help support your career, but you need to own it.
Many people sit around waiting or hoping to be noticed. The problem? Hope is not a strategy.
Online Course - The Growth and Promotion Recipe
The Magic Loop of Rapid Career Growth: A simple, reliable method to quickly grow your career.
Watch the below course introduction video to see what you will get.
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Level Up is a newsletter from retired Amazon Vice President Ethan Evans that breaks down how he succeeded and how you can get to the next level.