The Biggest Lessons I've Learned in the Corporate World

As I begin a new chapter in my career, it helps to journal what I've learned in my journey thus far.

This is my journal entry. My bookmark. Years from now, I hope to return to this article, and grow this list.

On Getting Promoted

1. Promotions are not a reward for what you’ve done in the past. It’s a prediction of what you’re capable of doing in the future. So always work outside your job description. This is how I moved up the ladder (vertically and horizontally) every 2-3 years.
2. Always be replaceable. Otherwise you will never get an internal promotion, because there is no one to do your old job. This is why I was once denied a promotion.
3. Want a higher position on a different team? You need to be working with that other team on a common project now to build trust. I worked on a common project with that team, and when an opening came up, the hiring manager said to me “I like how you work.”
4. Dress for the next job you want to get, in line with your company’s culture. Mimic your management. Appearances do matter. After I started wearing blazers I noticed a difference.
5. It’s all about the money. Always! Understand how management view and protect their budget and let that be a guiding principle in your conversations. That’s what management essentially mean when they ask to present a “Business case” for your idea.

On Your Relationship With Your Boss

1. One of your main responsibilities is to make your boss look good to their boss. Always attend to their requests first.
2. You know you’ve reached a milestone in your relationship when your boss tells you “Can you cover for me?”
3. It’s not your boss’ job to tell you exactly what to do. S/he will appreciate that you are figuring things out on your own. Use them as a compass, not a GPS.
4. Before you conclude your boss is a micromanager, observe if others feel the same. It could be you. If you do have a micromanaging boss, leave. They will never let you grow and will impact your performance. I once worked with a team who described their boss as a “nano manager”. It was a very difficult team to work with, until that manager was fired.
5. Don’t wait for your performance review. If you have something important to discuss, bring it up now. When I asked my manager during my review for something important, his response was “You should have asked me earlier”.

On Your Relationship With Your Colleagues

1. They are not your friends. If you must make friends, make them from another department you don’t work with. When conflicts inevitably arose, I was conflicted between talking straight or protecting my friendship.
2. Empathy goes a long way. When asking something from them, always ask yourself “What’s in it for them?” and negotiate accordingly.
3. It’s a give-and-take relationship. Help them when you can and count your favours, so they will reciprocate for you in the future. Sound too cold? What do you care? They’re not your friends remember?
4. If they are not pulling their weight, make sure you’ve done everything you can do directly with the colleague before escalating to management. Escalations always sour relationships. Use it as a last resort.
5. Above all, be likeable. You can get away with mistakes and asking for more favours than they owe. Buy them the occasional coffee for people in other teams. It’s a good investment.
6. Don’t mess with HR. Don’t mess with finance. They are more powerful than you think.

On Communication

1. Get to the point. Some folks like to paint an elaborate picture first. Most listeners, especially senior management, don’t have the time or patience.
2. Keep your emails short. No ones going to read anything beyond 5–7 sentences. Have more to say? Call a meeting.
3. Emails and Teams messages can be ignored. But not a face-to-face conversation. If you have something important to say, but being ignored, leave the laptop behind and talk to the person.
4. Everyone has a different communication style. Some prefer email, some prefer personal conversations. Observe and adapt.
5. The higher you want to go, the more important your speaking skills are. If you feel you lack the confidence, invest in a speaking coach and/or join toastmasters.

On Meetings

1. Always create and agenda in the invite. Because most people don’t, and you’ll get a higher acceptance rate.
2. Oprah Winfrey starts every meeting with three questions "What is our intention for this meeting? What's important? What matters?" If you’re calling a meeting, make sure you stick to the agenda.
3. If a meeting is more than 20 minutes, half the people aren’t going to be listening. Keep it short. Attendees will love you for it.
4. Don’t bring your laptop to meetings unless you are presenting something. You’ll be seen as the only one who’s paying attention. Once I started doing this, I noticed the presenter was only looking at me instead of others. Helps with your likability.
5. Unless it’s a meeting your manager calls, your default response to attending meetings should be “No”. Unless you clearly see the value you will bring to that meeting. Your time is better spent working towards activities that lead to your promotion.

On Leadership

1. You know you’re a good leader when others say you are so. It’s my personal empathetic description. Just like you know you’re listening when the other person feels they are being heard.
2. Don’t seek out or wait for leadership from others. Focus on being a great leader yourself.
3. Leaders speak first and last. They trust their team to do most of the talking in the middle.
4. Reschedule your one-on-ones if you have to. But never cancel them.
5. Identify someone who you feel is a great leader in your organization. Use them as a mentor and make them feel you value their opinion. They’ll appreciate it, and you’ll learn a lot.
6. Always always credit your team on a job well done to your management. It doesn’t mean you don’t do the work. It means you know how to delegate effectively and work in a team.
7. Understand that each member in your team is unique. Recognize their strengths and weaknesses and adapt your management style to them accordingly. Some will require more of your time than others.
8. Where possible, lead by example. This means actually doing the work your team does, with the end goal being to setup and streamline procedures. Then, you have a well-oiled, automated process to delegate to your team, and they will respect you for it.
9. Have a vision that people can relate to, and keep reminding them about it at most team meetings. "Relate to" means something tangible the team members can make decisions on. My team's vision was to empower the organization with reliable, automated, self-serve reporting capabilities. Every decision we made was influenced by this vision.

On Work Ethics

1. Everything is possible, until someone says “No” or “We don’t have the money”. Be persistent and resilient when trying to accomplish something.
2. Do the responsibilities in your job description well so you can score high in your performance review. Do it efficiently so that you have time to spare to do other activities. This helps with getting promotions.
3. If you don’t get a response, follow up! Using “I’m waiting for their response” will only go so far as an excuse to not get something done.
4. Have the guts to say “It was my fault”. Even a half-decent manager would appreciate the honesty.
5. Most people are quick to give a million ways why something cannot be done. Be the one that figures out how things can be done. Then go back to point #1 on work ethics.
6. Never ever ever speak ill of anyone or any team. Reserve your office vocabulary for compliments and facts. Take your frustration out at the gym or in your pillow.
7. If you want to work longer hours without risking being perceived as inefficient, come to work early instead of leaving late.
8. If you want to raise an issue with another team, come to the table with facts. Not opinions. A director once told me “If you don’t have the numbers to back up your claim, this is going to be a very short conversation.”
9. Share knowledge. Keeping it to yourself serves only to inflate one's own ego. I knew some folks who took pride in saying "I'm the only one that knows." They either never grew, or were let go. Sharing what you know is much more appreciated and good for your image in the company. It's why I keep learning, and held workshops for mine and cross-functional teams to share what I learned. Best way to master something is to teach.

Recently, I managed to secure a meeting with the CTO. It was indeed a rare privilege, for someone in my industry to share a table with an elite leader.

From that single meeting, I was given my biggest corporate lesson on leadership -- make others feel heard.

I started the meeting, and as expected, had a presentation going on-screen. But when I spoke, the CTO looked directly at me instead of the presentation.

I was pleasantly stunned at the attention. But I came out of that meeting feeling heard and respected, with the utmost admiration for this elite leader.

As Simon Sinek says, if you go to the dentist twice a year, your teeth will fall out. Going to the dentist does not help you. It's the daily regime of brushing your teeth that matters.

Leadership is the same. It's the little things that you do on a daily basis with your team and colleagues that matter, like attending meetings without your laptop, never cancelling your one-on-ones and reminding your team everyday of your vision that makes a difference.