Best career advice you've received

What’s the best career advice that you’ve ever received? For me: "to make people feel SEEN”. In 2021 I lost a collaborator and dear friend to the pandemic. When we hosted his memorial service online, over 80,000 people attended. His name was Jin Yu, and he had a magic about him that is hard to articulate. It wasn’t until after he passed away, some of his friends were searching through his Twitter history and we found this post, which summaries his personal ethos: “What is success was measured in your ability to make others believe in themselves” – 6th April 2021 The most attractive and heartfelt factor about Jin Yu was he made people feel seen, their values shared and their ideas heard. He made everybody feel like a somebody and helped them lean into their uniqueness and talent. ? Here’s a few things I learned from Jin: ?? Everyone deserves a “stage entrance”. When introducing someone, highlight their strengths and illuminate their talents to others. People shine when they are introduced by others. ?? ?If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. A know it all - never knows it all, we all have things to learn from others. ?? Empathy and role modelling vulnerability must be on the front page of every modern leader's playbook. Only when diverse perspectives are included, respected, and valued can we start to get a full picture of the world: who we serve, what they need, and we can successfully meet people where they are. ?? Daring leaders fight for the inclusion of all people, opinions, and perspectives because that makes us all better and stronger. That means having the courage to acknowledge our own privilege and staying open to learning about our biases and blind spots. It is also listening, centering, and honouring stories that reflect experiences that are different from our own. ?? Courage is listening, learning, unlearning, knowing when to lead, and knowing when to let others lead. Attached is a photo from a memorial TIME Pieces hosted for Jin one year after his passing (again, thousands in attendance). A big thank you to Keith A. Grossman and Tameka Bazile for putting the service together. The spirit of Jin Yu lives on in everyone who he made feel seen. My question now lies with you, what is the best career advice that you’ve ever received? #leadership #career #emotionalintelligence

The most valuable piece of career advice I have ever received is not what you would expect. I shared this advice at a recent Professional Development Forum session, although the advice was given in jest, it nevertheless lead to a huge "aha" moment for me. Being from an Asian cultural background, few of us are consciously aware of our cultural tendencies to avoid conflict, often resulting in us becoming less effective in the workplace. However, once we are aware of this fact, there are many strategies to help us be more direct in our communication and increase our effectiveness at work. Please follow Professional Development Forum for the strategies that was discussed. #careeradvice #directcommunication #conflictavoidance #culturalintelligence

Who is driving your career? I stumbled upon this question many years ago, and it left me pondering. Is it the company? HR? Or my boss? ??At that moment, I realized something profound— I was giving away my power to others ?? This single piece of career advice completely transformed my thinking and changed the trajectory of my professional life. A paradigm shift where I stepped into the driver's seat of my career and chart a course that's uniquely mine. Imagine this: You hold the keys to your own destiny, the architect of your own success ?? You possess an extraordinary power within you to shape your career according to your passions and interests ?? Here are 3 tips to ignite your potential and transform your future: 1) Take Control: Shape Your Journey Around Your Passions and Interests ?? Embrace your unique passions and interests and infuse them into your career. Let your work be a reflection of your authentic self ?? Identify your special talents and leverage them to create success. When you tap into your strengths, you unlock a limitless well of potential ?? Don't settle for a career that doesn't excite you. Seek out opportunities that align with your values and bring you joy. When you're passionate about what you do, success follows naturally 2) Embrace Lifelong Learning: Invest in Your Skills and Knowledge ?? Never stop learning and growing. Invest in your personal and professional development to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving world ?? Seek out new experiences, courses, and certifications that expand your skill set. The more you know, the more valuable you become ?? Embrace curiosity and adopt a growth mindset. Be open to new ideas, perspectives, and ways of doing things. The pursuit of knowledge is a lifelong journey 3) Set Goals and Create a Roadmap: Be Proactive in Your Career Journey ?? Define your vision and set clear, actionable goals that align with your aspirations. Goals provide direction and focus ?? Break your goals down into achievable steps. Celebrate each milestone along the way, as they bring you closer to your dreams ?? Create a roadmap that outlines the actions you'll take to reach your goals. Stay committed, and be adaptable as you navigate your journey The power to design your own flourishing future lies within you. Seize it, embrace it, and watch as your career soars to new heights! ?? So, are you ready to embark on this exhilarating journey of self-discovery and success? Share in the comments below the steps you're taking to design your flourishing future! Like and share this post to inspire others to embrace their passions and build careers they truly love. Remember, you have the power to create a future that exceeds your wildest dreams ?? #careeradvice #designyourlife #success #inspiration #coaching

What’s the best career advice that you’ve ever received? For me, it came in two words when I was 19-years-old. “Fail forward.” The idea of failure used to be frightening. How could you possibly be liked if you are prone to error? But now, it's a concept that I advocate for with a burning passion. "Failing forward" urges us to reframe mistakes as stepping stones, not setbacks. It's the unwavering belief that even if we stumble, we rise stronger. I actively encourage failure in my own leadership, and for our team. This mindset helps us: ?? Grow in confidence As Thomas Edison famously said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” The more times we pick ourselves up from every mistake, we become more self-assured in our abilities. We become confident that “if we overcame that, surely we can overcome anything” ?? Build resilience When I first started as CEO, I was truly afraid of making errors. I was petrified that if I made a mistake, it would tarnish my reputation. This is something I share very openly to all our alumni and program participants. The moment I let go of those sentiments, I found so much more joy in building the company and adapting where I needed to. ? Be more creative Failure compels us to think beyond conventional boundaries. It sparks exploration of new paths, innovative solutions, and creative approaches. Some of our most impactful programs and business directions emerged from initial rejections that made us pivot to greener grass. Failure alone is debilitating. Failure mixed with resilience and self-awareness equates to liquid gold. Let's have more open conversations, and keep the leadership space honest! #innovation #entrepreneurship #genz LinkedIn News Australia

The best career advice I ever had was to go niche and be a specialist. ?? ?? This helped me build a successful business and coaching practice (called Niche!), a specialist recruitment career, and now a laser focus on the social impact sector. ??♀? Finding the right social impact job, especially if you are transitioning into the sector or looking for a career change,?can be challenging. ??♀? Many job seekers I hear from struggle with how and where to start. To find a job that represents the impact you would like to see in the world, first find your career focus and fit. ?? Follow these five steps: ?? Look inwards to see which world problems you would most like to see changed. ?? Consider which world problems you feel are most urgent for you to help change. ?? Investigate which organisations that address these changes are a good fit for your values and key career selection criteria (check the About and Careers pages for culture insights). ?? Explore the jobs these organisations hire which are a good fit for your motivated identified transferable skills (the skills you like to use the most). ?? Research to see if these organisations and roles are a good fit for your needs - and find out about alternatives to explore (career conversations with your network will help). Now you have a starting point for your job search. ?? Here are five LinkedIn tools and tips that you may not yet be using to help you find your career focus and fit to land a social impact job. ?? Linkedin Career Explorer Try this LinkedIn tool to find out about possible job transitions, the skills and experience you need to build, and the jobs that are available https://lnkd.in/g85VrkAa ?? Your Profile About section You can now add up to five key skills in your About section. Recruiters search by key skills (as well as by job title, industry, profile keywords, location, length of experience). ?? Top voices Search for LinkedIn influencers in your?area of interest and search for top social impact voices to learn from and to build your network (LinkedIn tells us referrals are the #1 way to land your job - if you are transitioning sectors, this can be essential). Try searching LinkedIn titles and lists for #topvoices ?? #Hashtags Follow hashtags for job alerts, influencers, educators, and?potential career referrals e.g. #socialimpact #socialimpactjobs #sdgs #csr #nonprofitjobs #humanrights #climateaction #humanitarianjobs etc ?? LinkedIn Profile Bell ?? Have you noticed the bell at the top right of some profiles? Click the icon to be notified as soon as that person posts. Identify your target hiring managers, specialist recruiters, and career influencers (those who can hire or refer you), and make sure to ring their bell! ?? Bonus for Australian job seekers: LinkedIn Social Impact Hub. Resources, training, and fellowships (including scholarships!) What under-used LinkedIn tips for social impact job search would you add?

"What's the best career advice you've ever received?" someone asked me last week. I've received a lot of advice, some of which has indeed been incredible, but this simple formula I read in a book is probably one of the best. It's a mnemonic from the book Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath which is about how to make ideas memorable. In the book they suggest that for a communication to really hold attention and stick in someone's mind, it should have at least one of these elements: It's called SUCCES: Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Story It's why stories tend to work well on LinkedIn, or why my wife wastes (err.. spends) hours on cute puppy videos or why medical products always have someone in a lab coat spouting statistics. But can you apply it? Let me show you with an example of my company CrazyTok. We aim to be the most hassle-free podcast agency for busy professionals and business owners. So how might I position it using the SUCCES formula? Here are some options I came up with: Simple: Record, submit, upload. We do the rest. Unexpected: Agency-level service... for software level pricing! Concrete: Did you know it could take up to 18 hours to produce a podcast episode? With CrazyTok it will take you just 2. Credible: We produced 210 episodes in the last 12 months. Will you make the 211th? Emotional: You have a lifetime of financial knowledge, yet that 21-year old is the finfluencer? Fret not. CrazyTok helps professionals and business owners share your voice with the world. We help experts become influencers Story: It was 2020 and Amit was between jobs. Seeking a distraction, he started his first podcast to share his knowledge and experience with others like him. etc etc etc and that's how CrazyTok was born. Try it out on your own business, product or area of expertise and share your best ideas in the comments (or critique mine - I'd love to get your thoughts on our positioning!) #careergrowth #careeradvice #communicationtips #communicationmatters

Few years ago I reached out to a mentor for a career advice Few months after that I quit my job and become an entrepreneur Here is what I learned from him Let’s set the context During that time, I was considering to become an entrepreneur However, I always had the fear of not receiving a regular paycheck I told my mentor that this belief stopped me to take the next step He asked me ,”how much money do you need until the retirement?” I paused. I did not know the answer. Then he told me, ”Figure out how much money you need until retirement. You will have more clarity to make this decision” That advice made me realize that I was clueless about my financial goal I only thought that more money was better In reality, that’s not always the case There are times when money is not what we are optimizing So I acted on his advice I created a financial plan for my retirement Then I realized that I needed to do something else I counted my current saving to know if I would have enough emergency saving Then I realized that I did not know my spending pattern I tracked all expenses for the entire year so I had extreme clarity on how much I actually spent Then I realized about my spending pattern After that I went into personal finance rabbit hole Now, I am far more comfortable in managing my money compared to few years ago. Slowly but sure, I start operating from financial abundance instead of scarcity. Who knows that one simple advice not only helped me to make a more informed career decision but also became more comfortable with money. That’s the best career advice that I have got What about you? Share it with us on the comment section

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? I’ve always been a real mummy’s girl and my mother has always played a big role in my life as well as in my career. At the age of 36, my mother returned to work having been a housewife for 14 years. She took a job as a PA to an investment banker in a Japanese securities house. She went on to transition into becoming an investment banker herself and eventually, the Head of Corporate Finance at Mizuho in London. She retired at the age of 50. She always told me that things are very easy for us (meaning she and I) and that we can do anything we turn our mind to. She is certainly blessed with great intelligence and everything comes easily to her. It never occured to me that I might not be exactly like her. I always took her at her word and it is what has given me the confidence to reinvent my career several times: ?? From lawyer to Montessori teacher ?? To Entrepreneur and kitchen designer ?? To Business Development and Marketing professional ?? To executive coach and personal branding strategist My mother’s career advice gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted to whenever the opportunity arose. What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? #careeradvice #career #bestadvice

“What’s the best career advice that you’ve ever received?” Be kind to yourself. Here’s what I mean?? Sometimes in the journey of wanting the best for ourselves and our loved ones, we can be hard on ourselves. Being stressed out with work, blaming ourselves when things don't go our way, feeling sad and depressed when we compare ourselves to others etc. These actions will not do us any good in the long run, and will not hurt us and ourselves. At times, we feel that by feeling a certain way, other people around us notice and join us to sorrow in our negativity. But honestly, everyone else is too busy with their own lives to care about others. Thus, it is up to us to save ourselves from being in the pits. And to be kind to ourselves in their journey called life so that we can experience its wonders and joys for many more years to come. Take out some time for yourself today. Read that book you longed to read. Go out to a park and have a picnic. Drink a cup of coffee at a cafe. Watch a movie at the cinema. Treat yourself to a nice meal. Be kind to yourself today. You deserve it. :) #careers #careeradvice #linkedin #bekindtoyourself

What was the best career advice I have received? - “You just make time for it.” Early in my banking career, I was serving a client in his 50s. He was a high flying tech executive. His schedule was always full of work appointments. But yet he always made time in the mornings for his workouts. He looked 10 years younger than his age. He also had dinners with his family and had a wide circle of friends. I was younger than him but was above 100 kg. I felt sluggish and did not exercise. My work was difficult and long hours were the norm. His statement woke me up. Being busy and focused at work did not mean you have to neglect your health. It also taught me the importance of prioritising my time and energy. Time management and energy management is key to success. Doing the important thing early in the day sets the tone for the day. What was the best career advice you have received? Photo credit: mine. Early in the morning at East Coast Park Singapore.