“At no time in my career could I have predicted five years previously where I was going to be or what I was going to be doing.”
That statement is true for me (across the span of a forty year career), and I believe it is true for most, if not all, professionals.
Terrific! So career management is like betting at the roulette table?
Fortunately, no. It is true that specific steps and assignments cannot be accurately planned far in advance. But there is a push-pull strategy that can be used to accelerate career advancement. It involves the pull of a network of mentors/sponsors and the push of a personal desire to stretch into new competencies and expertise.
One model for this strategy has been articulated by Linda A. Hill, a Harvard Business School Professor who has done extensive research in this area. (You can purchase this article for $6.95 from this site.) She describes a repeating cycle in which a stretch opportunity is orchestrated through a personal network, resulting in new competencies and a more prominent reputation, leading to a more powerful network that helps provide the next stretch opportunity, and so on.
That would explain why accurately predicting the next five years is not possible. But what makes it intentional and what makes it happen faster rather than slower?
I believe the answer lies in what we choose to do in growing our networks and in pushing ourselves to stretch. Elsewhere I have written about one’s Personal Board of Directors. This concept involves intentionally recruiting mentors/sponsors (the pull side of the strategy to find stretch opportunities) as well as trusted advisors and coaches (the push side of the strategy to help understand the necessary areas for growth and to embrace the challenge of stretching).
In the final analysis, you can’t plan a career far in advance.
You can, however, put in place your own mechanisms to build competency and reputation.
Do that, and the rewarding career will follow.
It’s a sure bet.
Finding The Right Question 
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