The 7 career experiences you should try

2024 sees my full time working life celebrate it's 30 year birthday. That gives me an absolute right to share my learning and views on careers, roles and experiences.

First and foremost, this is from my experiences - you will all have an opinion and a number will differ greatly from mine, please share as many people will get value from our collective opinions, especially when in the first stages of this thing we call work.

So, here are the things that everyone should experience at least once to get maximum experience and development in their career. The world is full of 'things you should do before you die' lists. I am not that extreme but I recall a list* from decades ago about the role experiences that form the most rounded leaders, it resonated with me back then and now, about 25 years later, I want to reflect on my 'list' in order to see if others can benefit.

(*I don't have the exact list so this is my personal experience). In no particular order:

1. Work for a MNC - Spending time in a large Multi National (Global) company can be a great addition to your career, especially in the early phase. These companies are often long standing and for good reason, they have established processes, structures and career paths. Take all the learning and development you can get (often they have great leadership programmes and short term assignments all 'free'). Build a network inside and outside (the people you work with may well be valuable in your future). You'll experience politics as well as many different management styles (you will learn from both good and bad). One thing, don't stay too long- take all you can get and, once you run out of learning and/or role models, leave, ideally, with severance in one of the many occurring reorganisations these companies do. (I stayed with a MNC for over 20 years, I do not regret it one bit but have learned from it).
2. Be part of a turnaround - Find a problem and take the lead. I learned the most from those experiences (teams or businesses) that had to come out of a problem period, be it culturally, financially or just entering a new phase. In one of my roles, the business unit was losing money and had been for years - leading a team to return us to the black was just the best feeling. In another, I was told by my boss at the time, "just bring the XXX business closer to the company culture", I look back with pride that we did exactly that, while transforming the reputation and ways of working. I love the problem-solving part of leadership so maybe this appeals to me a little more than average.
3. Lead a start up/ new team - Not everyone is a founder. I am not, but I have taken on a new 'business segment' that had little/no roadmap and required entrepreneurial thinking. In one experience, we had to build the team from scratch and develop both our value proposition and micro culture within a larger or. It is one of the best teams I have worked with and, if you're reading this, you know who you are.
4. Live and work overseas - Taking the chance to live and work overseas will go down as the best decision in my career, to date. For me, personally, professionally and in full partnership with my family. To have lived and worked in The Netherlands, Turkey, Russia and Switzerland, as well as travelling and working in every continent (except Antarctica, so far) was like a life MBA every month. The people I got to work with were amazing, seeing leadership across a diverse set of cultures helped me be a better leader myself. Leading in a country where my language skills were limited helped me simplify things. Find a way to do it, ideally in a country that the language is different to your own. It may feel scary but, if I can do it, most people can. Having a 'global role' while staying in your country is good experience but it doesn't come close to the real deal. (This is where #1 comes in as MNCs often have the best opportunities).
5. Experience different growth paces - I have experienced competitive dog fights in a mature, slow/no growth market, I have also lead in a high pace, double digit growth market. Both were challenging and huge learning curves as decision making is different, so is the requirement for communication (frequency and media) (See #5)
6. Have a side gig - I came to this one late. Everyone should find a 'plus one' to do alongside their main career. I came to mine after leaving Nielsen and I wish I had done something like it 10 years prior. It can be volunteering or paid, my experience spans pro bono and paid work through my own Ltd company as an advisor. It's a very different role to my day job and I thoroughly enjoy helping other management teams/owners develop.
7. Size matters - Get a diverse plate. As you will have seen from the first 6, I have been lucky and worked for a range of set ups, from a small, local founder through to a multi-billion dollar organization. I have worked in a publicly listed company environment (having gone through IPO), a founder-lead business and Private Equity. Each bring a new dimension to how the culture is, how decisions get made, what gets celebrated and prioritized and the dynamics of 'what good looks like'. All have significant merits in their own right.

I hope this is useful and would love to see others chime in with the experiences I have not had that have helped them build their careers.