Am I Happy...with my career?
Jack Derby
CEO, Derby Management | Professor, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts | Entrepreneur | Author | Keynote Speaker
We need to do a personal check in every January & July
A great post this morning from HBR. Adapted from “Developing a Strategy for a Life of Meaningful Labor,” by Brian Fetherstonhaugh
He writes..."We all want meaningful work. But we can’t rely on others to give it to us. We need to take responsibility for building a career that has purpose — now and well into the future. Start by setting aside your own personal career day to think strategically about your career journey and what matters most to you. Calculate how many more years, days, and hours you expect to be working, even part-time. ...then ask yourself what you can do in the next year to replenish them"
What we see in the management of our customers and our investments every January is that managers, coming off the holiday break, have had time to assess where they are in their careers and take a proactive look down the road making decisions to upgrade their skills and often to change jobs and even careers. Just in the last 13 days, we've seen numbers of "surprise" announcements among our various management and sales teams, that really weren't surprises, if we had slowed down, even just a bit, and asked ourselves, "Who's at risk of leaving?"
We're now past the time of being asked "How were your holidays?". The much more important question for all of us-right now- is "Am I happy with my job and my career?" It's the perfect time of year to answer that question and then plan out a few action items that will upgrade skills, or just to look for a new position...or even career.
In my own case, I totally love what I do...from our consulting firm, to being a venture capitalist, and of course to teaching at Tufts and MIT. So, I did ask and answer the question six months ago as to "What else could I teach and learn from at the same time?". Two weeks from now, I kick off a very technical new course at Tufts titled "The Art & Science of Sales". Lots of work trying to balance my time, but I know that I will be a better instructor, an improved player and a much better coach at the end of the semester.
Go Sell Some Stuff Today!
Jack, Head Coach, Derby Management
CEO/Sr. Executive Coach and Advisor| Leadership Development/Assessment | Executive Career Coach| Private Company Director and Chair
8 年Very few do this or know themselves well enough to have a benchmark to measure against. Happy is always relative.
North America Sales Manager - QED Technologies
8 年Thanks Jack. Good insight to make us think about ourselves, what we are doing and why.
Investment Banker for M&A and Capital Raising / Active Board Member - With a focus on manufacturing and engineering software, and IIoT companies
8 年People don't typically take the time to do what jack suggests here. Those that don't risk lifting their head some years from now and asking themselves 'what the heck I have I done with myself for the last bunch of years '. Jack, Great piece.
??Improving Sales Performance: Modern Sales Foundations | Sales Coaching Excellence | The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement
8 年Great endeavor! Best of success with that, Jack. You should talk to Tufts about starting a Sales Education Foundation program there. As just a small teaser, on the science side, they use Chally's assessments to allow students to know where the best fit in the world of Sales and receive coaching. On the art side, they hold judged skill competitions. Let me know if you ever want an introduction to the program leaders or professors at the universities who are involved. (Also, let me know if you ever need a guest lecturer. ;-)