Feeling Stuck in Your Career? Try the Unexpected

Many years ago, I watched the movie, “The Hunt For Red October.” I don’t remember much, but the one thing that stuck with me was the idea of the “Crazy Ivan.”?

The Crazy Ivan is a maneuver, according to the movie, that the Russian submarine captains would use to keep US subs from following them in their blind spot. Basically, they would make a sudden sharp turns that forced the pursuing subs to back off or risk revealing themselves.

I have adopted this term for a move that I have made throughout my career when I seemed to be stuck. Doing something unexpected sometimes is just the thing to get you unstuck.

For example, I was working at one company where I had started out in a “strategic” role. I wanted to get into a more traditional commercial/tactical role, but I wasn’t getting any traction. Basically, the concern was that I didn’t have tactical experience.

Of course, from my perspective, I had lots of tactical commercial experience, just at another company. This is a common challenge of changing companies. Your past work gets you the job, but once you are in, none of it really counts. I needed to prove that I could do tactical commercial work in order to move up in this company, or I would always be pigeon-holed in “strategic roles.”

So I did a Crazy Ivan.

I found the most tactical role that I could find, a role that very few people wanted, and I lobbied to get that role.

Finding an “undesirable” or “unpopular”? role that repositions you in the eyes of the company is a surprisingly good move.?

1. Anything you do with such a role will be seen as a win, because no one expects much.?
2. Everyone assumes they couldn’t succeed in the role, so they believe that you can’t either.?
3. When you do fix the unfixable, you become a hero, and then you become a go-to person for the next assignment that comes along.?

The result: I was promoted into the exact role I had wanted in the first place.

I have used the “Crazy Ivan” move a few times in my career.?

To do it right involves some rearranging of your mindset. You have to throw yourself into the new job with a positive attitude that you are going to take it seriously and deliver. This is really hard. I won’t pretend there weren’t moments after each Crazy Ivan where I was pretty certain I had made a huge mistake. But it has always worked out.?

I’ve suggested this move many times to people who feel stuck in their careers. Most people don’t do it. It seems so counterintuitive. But, it works. One former direct report of mine discovered a whole new career path this way. Years later, she thanked me for pushing her to do something off the beaten path.?

One thing is for certain, it definitely beats feeling stuck.?

Look for “The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers,” due to come out in June.?

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If you are looking for support for the middle managers in your organization, or you’re a middle manager looking for group or individual coaching, send me a message at? jeff.sigel@proprioceptive.io