Career Strategy

Networking is one of the most vital aspects of the corporate world. Without mastering the art of networking, I wouldn’t have had the experiences I had as a senior executive for major firms.  However, as quintessential as the skill is, people often find it difficult or uncomfortable to put themselves in these situations.  What keeps us from networking can be largely viewed as limiting beliefs we hold.  People fear rejection. We don’t like when people don’t respond to our message, or simply pretend like we don’t exist.  Don’t give your fear too much power! The worst thing that can happen is they say “no”.  Networking can also have a negative connotation due to its transactional nature. However, being strategic with how you spend your time doesn’t make it less authentic. Networking is really no different from putting yourself strategically.  Facing new people and having conversations of depth may not seem like the right thing for us, but never sabotage yourself with self-labels like “introverted” or “not good at networking”. No one is born with the confidence and skills for networking; everyone starts somewhere.  If you believe you don’t have enough time, you must prioritize networking and free up time by improving your effectiveness. There are clear DO’s and DON’Ts when it comes to networking, just make sure you are on the right side.  You must also start thinking of networking as a part of your job. The more people you face and the larger you build your network, the greater the resources will be that can help you reach your goals and solve the problems in your life.  If you think networking is a waste of time, you should change your mind as soon as possible. Especially if you believe you need other people to succeed, networking is mandatory.  People struggling with networking often think it’s not a part of their job or that it’s a waste of time. However, strategic networking enables you to achieve your work goals, as well as help those around you succeed!  Here are my five steps to managing my network.  Step 1: Deepen Acquaintances This means taking your connections that currently exist and giving them value. One simple example of this may be reaching out to a connection on Linkedin, and starting a conversation with someone in a position or role that you may be interested in. You can progress the relationship by including them in other projects or events that you’re involved in.  Step 2: Broaden close relationships This step involves expanding the topics of conversation that you regularly have with the relationships you already have.  One time I used this was when I was in a group of people that I have ties with through our shared experience of parenthood, and we began talking about businesses and other ventures. This allowed me to expand some of my personal relationships into business relationships that would help me out in one way or another.  Step 3: Develop a tribe  Building 1:1 relationships is a great way to start, but the real power of networking comes from conversations in groups. Not only does it make it more efficient since you’re talking to multiple people at once, but bringing like-minded people together can help you grow and challenge each other. A prime example of this would be an alumni network, since you already share a common ground.  Step 4: Build social connections that bring joy  You never want to build relationships just for the sake of networking. They have to be meaningful to you and be enjoyable; there’s nothing worse than feeling like you have to keep up with someone even though it brings you no joy.  Step 5: Graduate from networking to hosting communities The more you can host communities and bring your various networks to come and share their experience and opinion, the more value you will get out of networking. Examples of this could be hosting panels.  Here are my last few tips for networking:  Build your network before you need it. You never want to be the one reaching out last-minute asking for a favor.  Maintain long-term contact with your relationships. Regularly check-up with how they’re doing — no one wants to ask a favor one day out of nowhere.   Finding a mentor who wants to coach and support you is a tremendous help. They have already been through what you are/will be doing. Take advantage of their resources — their experience and network.  And last but not least, strive for deep meaningful conversations, instead of small talk. At the end of the day, you’re more likely to be remembered from your interesting and memorable conversations. 

Finding a new career can seem intimidating, especially if it requires you leaving your comfort zone. Shifting to a different environment and doing the things you aren’t used to never gets easier, and it’s something we all go through.  However, this set of tools I’ve sharpened over the years of working at several different financial firms in the past can certainly help ease your challenges.  To start off, we must first start from the end. But what does starting from the end mean? This means having a clear understanding of where you want to get to in the end. This is your ambition, your aspirations, and your vision.  Don’t try to have it all with the goals. Try to pick a few things that matter the most to you. And the best way to do this is by writing it down.  Once you have a clearly defined goal, start thinking about your assets — the resources that will help you reach your goals. These include strengths, skills and networks that are part of who you are. Use them to your advantage!  While using those assets, it’s also vital to keep your distractions in mind. Are you having any negative self-talk? Are you suffering from Imposter Syndrome? Be honest with yourself, and push away anything that limits your mind, even if that may be someone close to you.  Now that you have your goals, assets, and distractions written down, the next step is to put them all together. Start by matching your goals with the specific strengths, skills, and network you have that will help you achieve those goals. Reduce the distractions by writing them down — you’ll be surprised how much this little trick can do for your mind.  Another vital part of my formula for success is my networking model. Start by offering more effort/performance in whatever you do, and don’t ask for compensation or recognition. Soon, you’ll build a reputable network that recognizes your value and keeps you relevant and connected to other parts of the organization. This may one day become the asset that takes you one step closer to your goals. For more tips and tricks on networking, check this post out.  If there is one thing I saw happen over and over throughout my career, it is that career paths are non-linear. This means that no two people share idental paths that took them to their respective place. Just because you do what I did, does not mean that you will be where I am. Always keep an open mind for the different paths that may lead to your outcome. Never stop asking yourself the question, “no, really why”.  Lateral and upward career shifts benefit from career capital.  Career capital is anything that puts you in a better position to make a difference in the future, including skills, achievement, connections, and reputation.  Credentials and degrees become less important over time.  Building career capital early in your career should be your highest priority.  The earlier you are in your career, the more room to take risks, and embrace failures that you can learn from.  “The road to senior leadership is paved with career capital” – Elizabeth Sandler, Juliette Works 

Empathy can be broken into three different types: cognitive, emotional, and compassionate empathy.  Cognitive empathy refers to the practice of knowing and understanding how others might feel. What makes this complex is that the dark triads — those with narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy, can use this skill without regard for others without actually being empathetic.  Emotional empathy relates to the ability for one to physically feel and relate to the emotions experienced by others. Some challenges in this area range from psychological exhaustion and group polarization to projected intentions.  It’s extremely common to psychologically get exhausted when you’re trying very hard to understand another person. Frankly, you’re not doing yourself or the person any good, so just snap out of it.  Group polarization occurs when you begin to take an increased stance or a changed perspective on a subject, particularly because you’ve grown to emotionally relate to the topic or those that are involved.  Projecting intentions literally means suggesting your intentions to someone and forcing them to behave or think in a certain way. We might think that we’re giving them a service by justifying the way they feel, but oftentimes simply letting them explain their feelings is much healthier than trying to project feelings. The last type of empathy is compassionate empathy, which is understanding one’s situation while also feeling the need to help. This can be tricky, as we all need a filter on our ability to help and prioritize ourselves.  We all choose to be compassionate, as it genuinely makes us feel better. However, you must keep your own hero mentality from getting out of control: focus on yourself before you’re ready to help others.  At its best, fear protects us from potential danger. At its worst, fear creates anxiety, hurts our health, and impacts our happiness. But we often deal with fear by avoiding it, ignoring it rather than addressing it. 

Throughout the years I’ve worked as an executive, I’ve had my opportunity to learn how to set up for success by building on the strategy maps I adapted for businesses and people. I would look at whatever business or division or product area I was running, I would put the ultimate goal at the top. And then I would start cascading from there, in order to be able to get to the point where I could have all the functions.  This value-based chart allowed different members of the team to see exactly where they fall and what they need to do in order to collectively achieve the top goal. Eventually, I realized that this model can be applied to any aspect of life, not just in the workspace.  For me personally, it was my goal to run the most profitable business in my firm while keeping myself from sacrificing my life at home. I came up with clear and concrete smaller goals, as well as metrics to measure my progress.  With that being said, you don’t want to try to have goals across all of the different aspects of the life wheel; you really want to hone in on one, two, maximum three areas you’re trying to develop.  One thing you should always remember, though, is that you don’t need a set list of criteria to achieve these goals. When I was working at the senior executive level of a firm and was faced with a leadership assessment to determine potential new roles. I was confronted with a rather surprising result; I was told that I met every single checkbox in this supposedly very-detailed assessment of my capabilities as a leader.  Although I felt a short burst of joy, I was soon filled with rather disappointment at the fact that I wasn’t the most senior executive nor the highest paid member of the firm. If I met all these great qualifications that make me a superior leader, why wasn’t I properly compensated? What could these people have that I don’t have?  For the first time in my career, after going through hundreds of assessments of this kind trying to check every single box, I realized that after doing all this work, I really didn’t need to worry about checking boxes anymore. If I really wanted something, I could just go get it.