CAREER-VIEW MIRROR - biographies of colleagues in the automotive and mobility industries.

Side Mirror: Owning your career journey - 13 steps to help you take charge.

October 10, 2022 Andy Follows Episode 85
CAREER-VIEW MIRROR - biographies of colleagues in the automotive and mobility industries.
Side Mirror: Owning your career journey - 13 steps to help you take charge.
Show Notes Transcript

Over the years, I've invested personal time and money to develop my own career and I've amassed a good amount of experience. In the 1:1s I have with clients and young people I mentor, I share some of the paradigms and methods that have proven effective for me and I work with them to help them take ownership of their own careers. 

A little while ago I wrote down a list of the main ideas that underpin my approach. They form a sort of 13 step guide and I thought that sharing them would make a good Side Mirror episode. It's very high level and no substitute for working with me 1:1, but I think you'll still be able to derive value from it. You'll also notice quite a few references to people and resources that have shaped my thinking and you'll find details and links for some of those below. 

I hope you find it useful and I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. 

Resources and links: 

How to make hard choices - Ruth Chang 

Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck 

CliftonStrengths 34 

Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahnemann 

Go put your strengths to work - Marcus Buckingham 

Steve Siebold 

Mike Dooley 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey 


This episode of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR is brought to you by Aquilae.  

Aquilae's mission is to enable Fulfilling Performance in the mobility industry.  

We use our very own Fulfilling Performance paradigm to identify what steps you need to take to enable Fulfilling Performance in your business.  

We leverage our Aquilae Consulting arm for business topics and the Aquilae Academy for people topics. 

And once we're agreed on the way forward, we work alongside you and your teams to enable Fulfilling Performance and achieve your goals. 

I explain Fulfilling Performance in more detail in Episode 60 of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR which is a short Side Mirror episode like this one. 

Contact me directly if you’d like to know more. My email is Andy@Aquilae.co.uk 

 

For details of our forthcoming guests follow us on Instagram @careerviewmirror 

Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk 

 

Episode recorded on 8 October 2022 

Ed Eppley:

I am sitting in lovely Siesta Key Florida.

Sherene Redelinghuys:

I'm coming from Bangkok in Thailand

Daniel von Treeck:

Prague in the Czech Republic

Osman Abdelmoneim:

Cairo in Egypt

Holger Drott:

Auckland, New Zealand,

Shannon Faulkner:

London, England.

Andy:

Welcome to Career-view Mirror, the automotive podcast that goes behind the scenes with key players in the industry looking back over their careers so far, sharing insights to help you with your own joiurney. I'm your host, Andy follows Hello, listeners and welcome back. As you already know, I have lots of conversations with people looking back on their career journeys, we've made a whole podcast series called Career-view Mirror based on those conversations. What you might not know is that I also have private conversations with people about their career journeys. But as well as looking back, we look forward and talk about where they want to go next. These programmes take the form of a series of one to ones spread over a few months, often people are feeling a bit stuck and looking for some help to work out their next steps. Over the years I've invested personal time and money to develop my own career. And I've amassed a good amount of personal experience in the one to ones I have with clients and young people who I'm mentoring, I share some of the paradigms and methods that have proven effective for me, and I work with them to help them take ownership of their own careers. A little while ago, I wrote down a list of the main ideas that underpin my approach, they form a sort of 13 Step Guide, and I thought that sharing them would make a good side mirror episode. It's very high level and no substitute for working with me one to one, but I think you'll still be able to derive value from it. You'll also notice quite a few references to people and resources that have shaped my thinking, and we'll include details and links for some of those in the show notes to this episode. I hope you find it useful, and I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. 1. Find Your purpose. Philosopher Ruth Chang says, reflect on what you could put your agency behind, on what you could be for and through hard choices become that person. I love how she's worded that she doesn't make it sound easy. It seems to me that identifying one's purpose and then following through is hard but worth the effort. There's a great TED Talk in which she explains the concept of hard choices and how to go about making them. Step 2. Develop a growth mindset. Carol Dweck of Stanford University identified that when we embrace the truth that we learn from our mistakes, we free ourselves to happily tackle the challenges that will enable us to grow. You can read more about this paradigm in her book Mindset, The New Psychology of Success. Step 3. Identify and play to your strengths. This is not selfish. This is how you will make your best contribution. Whilst you're still working out your purpose, have a go at finding your strengths, the activities that you're predisposed towards, the skills that people know you for and that you love to use. According to Gallup, 87% of employees are not engaged at work, they're not playing to their strengths. Be among the 13% who are. Start by completing the Clifton 34 Strengths Assessment. Step 4. Be aware of your biases. Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in their work on behavioural finance revealed how we're not always entirely rational in our decision making. Recognise that and realise that you might not be making the best decisions for your growth. Step 5. Focus on how you want to spend your days rather than aiming for a specific role or job title. For some reason, our approach to future opportunities often resembles a frog looking for the next lily pad to jump onto. We look for an existing job role that appeals to us or to our ego. Wouldn't that job title look cool on my business card and LinkedIn profile? Instead, try identifying the activities that you already liked doing and increase the time you spent doing those. Do you like working with data or people? Being in an office or outside? Meeting new people or working closely with those who already know? Using your hands or your words? Having realised the activities that engage you and make you feel stronger, Marcus Buckingham encourages us to test them out to refine our understanding. Would it matter why you will doing them? For whom? With whom? At what time of day? How frequently? Up against the clock or with plenty of time to achieve a certain standard? For money or for love? You can dive more deeply into this in Marcus's book Go Put Your Strengths to Work. Step 6. Envision what it will look like when you are living your days engaged in activities that play to your strengths. Your brain can't tell the difference between your really vivid imaginings and reality. Once it's experienced the imagined version, it will help you to make it your reality by guiding your decision making in the direction that you've shown it you want to go. Step 7. Look for problems that you can solve for people. Steve Siebold reminds us that anyone who is earning a living is doing it by solving a problem for others who are prepared to pay to have it solved. This is a key ingredient. Recognise the difference between pursuing a hobby, which is something you love doing but don't get paid for, and pursuing a purposeful life playing to your strengths, and solving problems for people who will pay you well for doing that. Step 8. Start from where you are with what you have. Don't wait for all the traffic lights to be green before leaving home. Of course, you need to have done some preparation. But think of it like any other journey. You never know for sure how it's going to play out. But you know, you have the resources to deal with what happens on the way and you set off. Susan Jeffers tells us to Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway. Tell yourself that whatever happens, I'll deal with it. Step 9. Take baby steps towards that vision. We have the ability to turn our thoughts into reality or make our dreams come true. But only if we take action. Like point eight, but worth repeating. Mike Dooley of tut.com is the master of encouraging baby steps. You must start but those initial steps can be as small as you're comfortable with. Step 10. Let go of the need to be in control. You're not. Once you've started out on the journey, let the current take you. Control is an illusion that we cling on to for our sanity. Habit One, Be Proactive of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, explains that we are a product of our choices. You're in control of your actions and reactions, but not what the world throws at you. Relax, go with what happens and save your energy for choosing effective reactions. Step 11. Be alert to the opportunities that present themselves and they will present themselves once you're clear on what you want. Once you've started moving, be aware that you're going to be exposed to more opportunities than when you were stationary. On the outside, they may not look anything like you imagined. But if you've got clear on your purpose, and how you want to be spending your time, you'll spot the ones that could deliver for you. Step 12. Don't be afraid to change direction as your understanding evolves. Why do we get so appalled by people making U turns? If you have a growth mindset and keep learning, you're going to find stuff that you believed in the past was nonsense. When that happens, don't cling on to it to save face. When you worked out your purpose and strengths. You were doing the best you could with the information you had at the time. If experience teaches you something else about yourself, great. Finally, Step 13. Saving the most powerful truth as a gift for those who've listened this far. Recognise the power of paradigms or beliefs. Stephen Covey said we see the world not as it is, but as we are. When you choose to believe something, it automatically and subconsciously governs your actions and your results. Recognise that your beliefs are a choice. And as a species we're capable of an incredible range of beliefs. Just because we choose to believe something doesn't make it true. Some beliefs will help you and some will hold you back. Choose the most effective ones. You've been listening to Career-view Mirror with me, Andy Follows. In this side mirror episode, I've shared a condensed version of some of the main ideas and paradigms that have proven effective for me on my career journey. I hope you found some ideas to reflect on in this episode. If you'd like to work with me on a one to one basis, let's start with an informal conversation, my email is andy@aquilae.co.uk. This episode of Career-view Mirror is brought to you by Aquilae. Aquilae's mission is to enable Fulfilling Performance in the mobility industry. We use our very own Fulfilling Performance Paradigm to identify what steps you need to take to enable fulfilling performance in your business. We leverage our Aquilae consulting arm for business topics, and the Aquilae Academy for people topics. And once we're agreed on the way forward, we work alongside you and your teams to enable Fulfilling Performance and achieve your goals. I explain Fulfilling Performance in more detail in Episode 60 of Career-view Mirror, which is a short side mirror episode like this one. If you enjoy Career-view Mirror, please follow us in your podcast app. Thanks for listening.

Osman Abdelmoneim:

No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard working you are, you're never going to be able to do it on your own. It's just not possible.

Ed Eppley:

You know, at the end of the day, you're steering your own destiny. So if it's not happening for you, and you're seeing what you want out there, then go out there and connect.

Sherene Redelinghuys:

Don't rely on others. You have to do it yourself. You have to take control.

Rupert Pontin:

If you've got an idea if you've got a thought about something that might be successful, or if you've got a passion to do something yourself but you just haven't quite got there, do it.

Tom Stepanchak:

Take a risk. Take a chance, stick your neck out what's the worst that can happen? You fall down okay, you pick yourself up and you try again.