I Can’t Stop Thinking About How To Help You Navigate Your Career Better
...and yes, it takes a mind without boundary to master it.
Increasingly, as I move around and have conversations with people the theme that keeps showing up is we all need a better framework to help us navigate our careers. We have all been left in a deep hole that we don’t particularly know how to navigate. We are confused with every passing day. But I think I can help you. Yes, just maybe the things I will share will be your catalyst.
Okay, I should have started with greeting as usual. How are you, my friend? And trust it’s been a great week so far. I salute you for the work you are doing daily to make your life better. You will be fine.
I speak with you on career today not because I have questions answered and all things figured out. No. Rather I do so because I believe to a large extent I have more figured out than most people. And like I told a friend earlier in the week, some problems are better than others. So I also think I have the kind of career problem that an average person would like to have.
I have organized what I want to share with you in chronological order of Chapters. From Chapter 1 to 7. I hope that each chapter that you read will bring you more clarity in your career as they have brought me and gave me better problems.
Note that each chapter is independent articles I found on the internet. But the way they all resonate and intersect will surely make you think they were written by one person indeed.
Chapter 1:
20 Principles To Build A Solid Career Foundation
When you start in a new job, your responsibility is not strategy. You need to work the technicals to earn your place on the strategy table.
Stay true to your commitments. If you make a commitment, see it through. Half-assed problem solving creates more work for everyone.
Learn just enough to be dangerous. Know a little bit about: (a) how the world works, (b) the industry works and (c) how the business works. Cross-functional knowledge is underrated. If you bring it to the table, you’ll be an asset in any company from Day 1.
Read about the remaining principles here (Twitter thread).
Chapter 2:
How To Choose What Industry To Work In
You are young and your youthful energy should be directed towards high leverage works. Over works that were the favorite of many generations ago. In the words of this author, "You can spend 20 years becoming an expert of an old industry or spend 2 years becoming an expert in a new industry"
I think the choice should be obvious for ambitious people and I know you are ambitious. Read about it all here (short essay on Twitter).
Chapter 3:
First Principles For Outsized Success In Your Career
“Not many people are intentional early on about their career decisions. It’s easy to jump from one place to the next without thinking about the overall direction. As a result, our school, network and career choices often look like a scatter graph, rather than a plane taking off up and to the right.”
Do you want your career to be like a plane taking off up to the right or like that of a scatter graph? Seriously, I want the best for you. I want your career to be one like a plane taking off. Mine has been and this Chapter 3 content is one of the explanations to the decisions that have gotten me here.
Chapter 4:
How Where You Choose To Live Determines Your Career
Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it when you walk around one. In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder.
The surprising thing is how different these messages can be. Lagos tells you to hustle hard, New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. And Abuja tells you to make more political friends. Your environment affects your ambition and if you are in Nigeria, my advice is always to relocate to Lagos if you have big career dreams. Read the full chapter here.
Chapter 5:
Building A Career Moat To Ensure Ultimate Security
Do you know what a moat is? It’s like an advantage that you have that you can call on at any time and will save the day for you. It’s like an edge that will always make you the most preferred. It’s like a rock you can always fall back on. We all need that in our careers. We can’t keep on engaging in a career with no plan for the worst-case scenario. In this chapter, the author shares the most you can have for your career.
Chapter 6: How To Avoid Stagnation In The Workplace
So you've been in your job for a couple of years, you've pretty much mastered it, and you're wondering what's next.
In terms of professional growth, there's a clear path: move up. The niche above you is probably 'bigger,' and you don't have all the skills you'll need to succeed in that role, so there's plenty of room to learn and grow.
But what if you don't want to move 'up'? What should you do, and what should your organization do, to help you grow?
Well, moving up clearly isn't the only way to find a niche where you can develop new skills. Complete the chapter by reading more here.
Chapter 7:
How To Build A Career Capital… Because We All Need It
The author here used the idea of a “Loop” as commonly used in marketing literature to explain the concept of career capital.
The question to ask when evaluating career decisions (for career capital):
“What are the things that if you do, today, make it easier for you to have the career opportunities and resources you desire, tomorrow, in a way that compounds and is defensible?”
Read this immediately if that’s a question you care about.
In my book of essential reads for a career, the above is just to get you started and put you in an advantaged mindset. Here’s a thread on Twitter that you can follow to stay in touch with the latest additions.
I want the best for you and I hope you can make time to read all that I have shared for my wishes to materialize.
You see very early on in my career I believed that “if we commit ourselves to reading, and therefore increase in knowledge, only God can limit how far we can go in life.” I know that to be true because for me it’s still Day 1 and I can’t imagine what day 10 has for my career if day 1 has been this wonderful.
Unleash!
Unleash!! My friend
Unleash!!! Because your testimony is waiting on the other side.