I am incredibly grateful to the Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service for inviting me to be the keynote speaker at their 10th anniversary Schaeffer Fellows Summit at the Cosmos Club in Washington D.C. I always relish the opportunity to interact with outstanding and highly motivated individuals as they contemplate their future careers, goals, and the path they will take to help solve the worlds most pressing problems.
My talk focused on five themes for the Fellows to consider as they embark on their professional journeys, which I've included below.????(Feel free to share with anyone who is doing the same!)
?
1???Don't worry about your roadmap. It’s very easy to see where you think you want to go in your career and try to sprint to it as fast as possible in a straight line. It’s fine to have a destination in mind, but if you’re overly rigid you will miss opportunities.
?
2???Early in your career, focus on developing skills that are transferrable. Become a good communicator. Build relationship capital. Develop bureaucratic intelligence.
?
3???Embrace opportunity and risk; dare to be great.
?
4???You have to speak your truth, but be clear-eyed about the possibility you could be wrong. You are not the only intelligent person with integrity in your organization.
?
5???Finally, don’t suck! This is a blinding flash of the obvious but focus on doing your job really well…not promotion or being seen. Being good at your job is what leads to advancement and opportunities.
?
