"Some people have jobs, some people have... careers." says comedian Chris Rock, continuing to describe his transition from a job to a career and the difference between the two. Well, what is that difference?
A job is when you go to work (or these days wake up and turn on the laptop), react to the environment you're being exposed to while painfully waiting for the working day to be over and then get back to your few hours of liberty.
A career is the sum of little steps you take in pursuing your long-term professional objective. A strategic approach to your work life, if you like. Truth is, most of the career — the space between those little steps — is... a job. So a career can also be defined as a job plus breakthroughs.
What's the most important thing that catalyzes those breakthroughs? How can you make them more meaningful and more frequent? If we were to choose but one element to stand above everything else, what would it be? Is it hard work? Luck? The people you know? Perhaps trust? Integrity? Any of these could easily be #1. They're strong pillars to a sound professional life and close to sitting at the top spot, yet they are not it.
The #1 thing is the big R. Reputation. This is what makes or breaks your career. In our social world, appearances are how we judge and are being judged. The other ingredients are important — no doubt — but the way they relate to Reputation will make it clear why they didn't cut it to be number one.
Hard work. Not giving up. Putting in the hours — day in, day out. Hustle, moxy, grind, however you want to call it. If you've worked for long enough, you've been there. Doing all the pull. Maybe for you, maybe for someone else. Your boss, your colleague. If your reputation is not of someone who's hard-working, you're doing it wrong. The old adage of "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" — or its modern equivalent "pics or it didn't happen"— holds true. There's no shortage of people lining up to take credit for your grind. Make sure the rock is your work and Sisyphus is your Reputation.
Luck. This is also a big one. Now I don't consider myself an unlucky person, far from it. As a white, physically able, (borderline) tall male, I have all the good cards. I was given amazing opportunities several times. Some of them came too early. I didn't know how to capitalize on them. Some of them later on. I was also at the wrong place at the wrong time four times. Lost my job. Internal restructuring, project closure (twice) and legal entity shutdown. I still think they were all for the best. Each has taught me something. I'm sure you had your share of events that were outside your control. Luck plays a big part and cannot be understated. But you'll have to capture the opportunity — whether you're at the wrong or the right place or time — and play it out correctly.
The people you know. Can the people you know get you a job? Absolutely. "80% of the people in this room got a job because a friend recommended them" (this is my second Chris Rock reference). People however will recommend you only if they assess you would be an adequate employee in their view. In other words, if your Reputation with them is good.
Trust. This is actually the result of Reputation. The answer to the question "Can I trust you?" is answered by the brain in a curious way. While we like to think we make a complete and objective analysis whether to offer or not our trust, we can never truly know a person, so our mind takes shortcuts. That's why we employ heuristics. We take an educated guess to ease the cognitive load of making a decision. The Reputation "file" is the first and — in most cases — last thing people access, refer to and use in order to make the trust call.
Integrity. Ah... integrity. This is where most people will disagree on my choice of Reputation, saying "integrity wins over reputation any day", "reputation is how other people see you, integrity is how you see yourself", "integrity is the true mark of a great leader" and so on. It's really something we aspire to and like to believe we have. It elevates your character but sadly can ruin your career. Let's keep it separated, shall we — I didn't say Reputation is the #1 thing that makes or breaks you as a person. And I'm also talking about the real world. "A man is as faithful as his options" (yes, I'm aware quoting comedians as Chris Rock to make a point about integrity is a — wait for it — hilarious fallacy).
Did you ever have an abusive, narcissist, sociopath boss? Research says there's a 76% probability you've had one during your working life. We sadly prefer and quietly support these types. That's not true, you say? Did you speak up against them? Kept your ground? Why not? Was is because they reported to an even bigger sociopath? Was it because you were afraid to lose your job and what it would mean to your family? Nobody's going to hold it against you. But please, don't refer to yourself as someone with integrity.
In her novel "The Fountainhead", Ayn Rand's main character, Howard Roark epitomizes — pun intended — the perfect man in her vision. If you have read "The Fountainhead", then you will know just how socially isolated a life devoted to true integrity can make you. Constantly choosing integrity to answer life's challenges is simply morally impossible for most people, not to mention potentially terminal for your career. Keeping the appearance of having integrity is however much easier. And that is Reputation.
Do I aspire to having a workplace where integrity is prevalent (at least at managerial levels)? I sure do. I hope it happens someday. I hope it's the first AI triumph — to identify, foster and elevate integrity as a cornerstone of management. And I hope I'm right about the future of AI. Until then, Reputation reigns supreme over your ability to turn a job into a career. It's the #1 thing that makes or breaks it. And I want you to achieve your career goals and become as successful as you wish to be. In order to do that, my main advice is to give Reputation the importance it needs, build it slowly and protect it fiercely.
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