As a career coach I define a career champ as someone who is in charge of their career and who knows how to navigate through the career minefield both, in times of trouble, and in times of glory. Having worked with nearly 6,000 clients throughout the world I have observed some common traits among my clients who have shown remarkable success in their careers as I watch them deal with the challenges they face as well as the successes they achieve.

My client pool has diverse flavor—they range from crack sales and account managers to highly talented Silicon Valley technologists and entrepreneurs across a broad age group. So, this list is universal to most professionals engaged in a career and who want to become a Career Champ themselves!

Regardless of their flavor, there are certain common themes that I observe as I engage with them to help them in their careers. Here is a partial list of the most common habits that I find universal among this group:

  1. Recognize when they need help understanding a developing situation at work and how to position themselves to benefit mutually (both for themselves and for their business) from that change. This includes impending lay-offs!
  2.  Build relationships within their ecosystem and nurture those relationships through social interactions that go beyond what they do transactionally every day.
  3. Even with their detractors and adversaries they find ways to help them with their agendas and initiatives. They do not gossip behind their adversaries’ back, but work with them to understand their agenda, without judging them, often asking for their advice. They know teamwork always wins!
  4. When they have an idea to make a change they first vet their idea with trusted colleagues and then refine it before socializing it across a broader audience. They identify trouble spots and proactively work with those who may try to sabotage their initiative as it gets some traction.
  5. They show fierce—but not blind—loyalty to their boss and their management chain. They are not afraid to voice their views on what their leadership needs to change for them to create greater value for their organization. Once a new change takes effect they fully support it, even when they did not originally. When they lose faith in their leadership they move on.
  6. Career Champs know, how, in an emergent situation, they can create greater value for their business, and in turn, negotiate a better deal for themselves before the outcome of that situation plays out. They ask and negotiate before; they do not assume.
  7. They openly acknowledge the stellar contributions of others anywhere in their organization spontaneously and give them public credit with alacrity.
  8. Career Champs quickly admit their mistake; they share the blame without pointing fingers at others, even when they know others were equally culpable.
  9. They practice assertive communication (read up on aggressive, passive aggressive, and hostile communication to better appreciate this trait) and work with others to get their point of view across, even in a volatile situation.
  10. Career Champs show remarkable resilience. When they encounter a setback or failure they first search for the learning and reflect on how they can grow from it. Then they bounce back from such setbacks without becoming martyrs.

There are many other habits that Career Champs display in their everyday life. Just becoming aware of the more common habits listed above, others may better understand how they, too, can become Career Champs!

Good luck!