After working with over 6,000 clients from all ages (16-75 years), almost all levels (apprentices to CEOs) and from diverse disciplines (I have entrepreneurs, physicians, and neurosurgeons in my client pool) I have come to realize that nearly 90% of those coming to me let the career happen to them. By this I mean they react to shifts in how the economic forces affect their careers ONLY after they see these inevitable forces requiring them to change.

As I peruse through the responses to their Client Intake Questionnaire that I send prior to our first meeting and as I descry further details during our first session I find it quite intriguing that despite loud and early signals of the impending change most people wait until they are forced to make that change. And then, they are almost always out of options!

Why?

Despite many of these clients being in senior leadership (and some even in executive) positions–many quite successful in how they manage their organizations—they often fail to apply those same leadership practices to their careers. So, in this blog I am going to list a few practices that may help a professional keep their career on track, especially when things are going well for them. It is when things are going well that you must look at your career as something that needs managing, not when it is tanked.

So, what are some of the principles that a strong leader applies to succeed in the business world that also apply to keeping their careers on track? Here is my list:

1. Have a career plan based on your ambition, drive, and inner passion: Some do not want to go into management; some do not want to work with customers, but are comfortable working on things; some do not play politics well; and others shy away from opportunities that puts them in a spotlight. So, once you have your preferences identified make sure that you keep your focus on things that work well for you.

   But, before you discard some options out of hand early in your career seek some guidance from a professional about why you are allergic to these things by more fully exploring the reasons. Often, I find that many of these allergies stemmed from a client’s already made-up mindset or misguided perceptions. In most cases, they needed some tools to better embrace why they avoided certain challenges: learn early to separate the inherent from the programmed!

2. Make a clear choice who your boss is going to be. Most people go after a certain company that they find attractive and then they end of working for a tyrant in an otherwise great company. About 80% of the managers are dysfunctional or ill equipped to handle their managerial duties. Some are “good” managers (know how to manage well upwards, but are bad leaders). If you do not feel safe and nurtured under your current boss and your leadership chain then you do not have a good environment in which to flourish. If you find a great boss cherish that gift and learn how to grow under them!
3.  Learn how to see around the bends and anticipate changes. One case in point: The Chip industry. Being in the Silicon Valley I have many clients in this space, which has been going through steady changes during the past decade. Despite early signals: commoditization, fabless design organizations, dumping, and other indecencies, those working at these companies continued until about two years back, when major changes started happening throughout the industry with large lay-offs, shifts in product lines, and even greater expectations from their employees. Those who saw this coming long ago re-tooled themselves to work in trending technologies, such as cloud, big data, social media, mobile, and gaming before those industries took off, and are now riding out those waves. Those who did not see this coming are now forced to retire at 50.
4. Enrich your network: It pains me to see how many of my prospects manage their network. Before signing up with me I check their LinkedIn Profile and network. Almost all of them have their immediate colleagues and others in the SAME industry and even the same functional area as their network. Having such a narrow and monolithic professional network creates an in-bred view of how your network sees what is going on.

   Having a rich, diversified, and large network helps you broaden your perspective and gives you insights that are easy to get. Attending social and professional gatherings outside your main area of work also helps expand your view of what is happening and allows you to tap into a richer perspective. This is good for your career management.

5. Taking Risks: To succeed in any endeavor one must take calculated risks. This applies to making career choices as well as it does when one is making a job change. Signals of impending changes are all around us, only if we know how to read and how to act on them in a timely way. When a company is not doing well it is generally known throughout the organization. Yet, many wait until they are notified of the lay-off to act on their plight by starting to write their résumé until after that happens. Regardless of how your company is doing and regardless of how secure you feel in your own job and career you must always keep yourself marketable by having an updated résumé and LinkedIn Profile.

In one of my early writings I posted a blog, Career is a Verb! This statement has remained true even today. So, if you take charge of your career and proactively manage it you are more likely to remain in the driver’s seat than if you just let it happen to you!

Good luck!