Look in the mirror; don’t look out of the window.

Have you ever kicked yourself because you have not:

·       Applied for a job because you do not have ‘All’ the ‘correct’ qualifications?

·       Left a company sooner, due to a controlling boss?

·       Created a plan to control YOUR career?

I certainly have.

I see many very talented people who have a magnitude of skills, yet are unable to secure the role that they can achieve. Many times, I have heard people say “I can do that job,” but for various reasons, do not even get to the interview stage.

When I was headhunting, I would often conduct an experiment. At the start of the process I would ask: 

Who is the best qualified candidate on paper?

And at the end, I would ask:

Who achieved the role?

In my twenty plus years, I can only recall a handful of appointments when the best candidate on paper got the role. So, what was happening to the other 90%+ of the candidates?

In my experience, the people who achieved the roles were better at creating and selling their story to the key decision makers.

Is it possible to change and learn this skill?  

YES!  

Start by understanding the real business challenges behind a role and how you will be judged – this identifies the value that you will add to an organisation. To be in the best possible position, you need to demonstrate that you are the ideal choice for this role, and that you have a highly valuable and rare skillset, that can have a wider organizational impact.  

Position yourself premium: 

Your company is my preferred career option because of the opportunities presented. I would like to ensure that I am appropriately rewarded due to the value I will add….

 …shaping the revenue growth of latent business over the next 6/12 months. I will add organizational-wide benefits because of my track record gained in identifying high-performing senior-level talent. I therefore request the salary of…

You must create your story, because no one else will create it for you. “But,” I hear you say, “it’s a natural skill, and I am no storyteller.”

Before the launch of his album ÷ (Divide), Ed Sheeran was interviewed by the BBC, who commented on how Sheeran and his co-writer Benny Blanco wrote 15 songs a day effortlessly . This was Ed’s reply:

“Look, all things considered, you and I both know people that are more talented than us, but you know what they say about 10,000 hours? How many guys do you know that have put in 30,000…?

…There aren't a lot of us…"

So, Ed has a laser-like focus and a committed work ethic, rather than being a natural song writer.

I have observed a society shift in the last 20 years, where if something goes wrong in a person’s life or career, then it must be someone else’s fault - let’s blame them. The unwillingness to acknowledge perhaps someone was better than you to achieve a particular goal, for example. Many sporting coaches, players, and fans in particular, are very quick to blame referees.

Naturally, I was very disappointed that Wales did not secure a Grand Slam win recently; some suggested they should have awarded a penalty try, which would have secured them the match. The Welsh captain Alun Wyn Jones is a class act; when asked post-match about the incident, he said:

“So, it would be remiss of me and uncouth if I was to shout from the rooftops about decisions that could or should have gone our way.

The sport isn’t about that.”

He accepted the decisions and felt Wales should have taken their chances. An optimal mindset is Win, Lose, or Draw - Get Better. This starts with some self-reflection and a good, hard look in the mirror rather than looking out of the window.

What could you achieve if you spent more time expressing your story?

The business world is getting too obsessed with data alone and missing the vital fact that most business decisions are made emotionally and then justified with data. Aristotle first observed that the way to effective persuasion of other humans is 65% emotional, 25% logical, 10% ethical.

A sales director client of mine said it best, when positioning the value of data to his customers:

“Big data is directionally precise, yet precisely inaccurate; it’s the skill and judgement of the human that dictates if that data leads to valuable business decisions or not.”

You do not need to have Ed Sheeran’s work ethic or laser-like focus. However, you do need to strike the right balance between using appropriate data, with the human story.

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If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]