Your Attitude Is Your Career Strategy

I was on the fast track, becoming a leader in the industry I served, and I was not proud of who I had become.

That realization taught me something I now believe about every career. It is no longer a straight line to success, and growth demands an attitude shift that lets you see beyond the obvious next step. I learned this the hard way.

The Trap I Almost Fell Into

Like most people, early in my career I wanted to be successful, and I measured success by the number of promotions and raises I received. Those early years were structured and predictable. I soon found myself on a fast-track path.

Over time, I realized I had sacrificed many of my natural leadership characteristics to stay on that track. Seeing that clearly was a defining moment. I had fallen into a trap that could have led me to regret my choices years later.

After that wake-up call, I changed my attitude about what mattered most. I focused on staying true to my identity and my immigrant perspective. That perspective inspired me to take a less traditional approach in the next stage of my career, and it helped me find greater significance as an entrepreneur and thought leader.

My career has taught me that attitude is everything in finding growth and meaning. You can't wait for others to define your career. Attitude drives it in three ways.

1. Let Adversity Work in Your Favor

The key to managing adversity is focus. Zoom in on a difficult circumstance and you will see no opportunity. Zoom out, and many come into view.

When a job market looks bleak, or the role you expected to grow into disappears, it is natural to fixate on what was lost. But step back and you will find that new business models are emerging in almost every industry, and they need people who can adapt. The difference is that you often have to create the opportunity yourself.

Do you understand yourself well enough to identify the business model and industry where you fit best? Take calculated risks. Adversity may make or break you, but mostly it reveals you. And as I have written before, rejection is information, not a verdict.

2. Invite Peer Feedback That Defines What Makes You Great

Too often, people at work would rather tell you what you want to hear than give you honest feedback. And formal reviews are too infrequent to guide your growth week to week. Peers can fill that gap.

Early in my career, I regularly asked trusted peers for feedback after they had seen me in three different settings: an internal staff meeting, a client meeting and a presentation. I asked them four questions:

1. Did my contributions advance the company's objectives?
2. Were my recommendations effective?
3. Was I too aggressive or disruptive?
4. Did I ask too many questions?

Those answers taught me a great deal about how my leadership style was perceived. Peer feedback pushed me to change my attitude and become a more effective listener. It changed my approach to my career and helped me set new standards for what I wanted to achieve.

The practice works just as well today. Ask a colleague to observe you in a video call, a client conversation and a written proposal, then ask the same four questions.

3. Enable Yourself and Your Future

You are the only one in control of your career. A boss can still be an advocate, but in a market that changes this quickly, new roles are constantly being created to support shifting business models. That makes it more important than ever to find creative ways to enable yourself. Don't wait to be told what to do. Take the initiative to define your own future.

• Act a level up. If you are a director, think and prepare like a vice president. Watch how your boss makes decisions and strengthen your own presence.
• Get discovered by your peers. Be community-minded. Lift people up. Own your success and help others own theirs.
• Remember that what got you here will not get you there. Keep finding new ways to advance your thinking and your impact. Invest in yourself and in the right people.

Zoom Out Before You Decide

Name the setback you are zoomed in on right now, and write down three opportunities that appear when you zoom out. After your next important meeting, ask a trusted peer the four feedback questions. Then choose one decision and approach it the way someone a level above you would. Small moves like these are how an attitude becomes a habit.

Take a careful look at the field of opportunities around you. The ground rules for success are being rewritten, and you get to choose how you play. Your attitude will be the defining factor in the outcomes you achieve, and it is the one part of your career no one else controls. Protect it, and prevent the regrets I once came close to living.

Want to explore these ideas further? Learn more about my work on leadership, identity and conviction at www.theglennllopis.com.