Thoughts about Career Development.

[enactuary]

Success, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, so you must consider the point of view as well. An EVP who never reaches his/her goal of CEO may feel less successful than a career middle manager who is able to spend enough time with his/her family.

Some define success internally, and others depend on external perceptions. The lucky few achieve it at both levels, but for many, internal and external success may not be compatible.

In general, I think successful people do 2 things: set priorities and continually act on them. Whatever you're chasing in life, just make sure you understand why you're chasing it before you worry about the best way to catch it.

[glulam]

Originally Posted by willel2338

Sure, some people can improve and be developed, but the bottom line is: you can't learn talent. You can develop it if it's there, but latent; however, you can't instil any sort of acumen in someone who hasn't got any in the first place.

If you have no mentor and/or a bad mentor, that can actually slow down or worsen your development.

It's really embarrassing to have people ask you why you don't know certain things. And my straight answer would be "well, maybe b/c nobody taught me, it wasn't mentioned in school, and I'm not about to spend all my free time self-studying, looking for weaknesses in my college education that doesn't cover what I'm doing at work in the first place."

[campbell]

Here's a piece of advice: ask questions when you don't know what's going on/what people are talking about.

And don't pay attention to the comments about what you don't know.

I have no problem with admitting when I'm confused and need something explained to me [and sometimes it's not the first time it's been explained to me]. Because it's extremely dangerous to pretend to know or understand something you don't.

[glulam]

^ no worries, I always ask a lot of questions.

I just work at a place where one has to have a thick skin...people here don't hesitate to rip you a new one if they see an obvious weakness, even if person bring abused is oblivious to the flaw.

[RealFolkBlues]

Originally Posted by campbell

Here's a piece of advice: ask questions when you don't know what's going on/what people are talking about.

And don't pay attention to the comments about what you don't know.

I have no problem with admitting when I'm confused and need something explained to me [and sometimes it's not the first time it's been explained to me]. Because it's extremely dangerous to pretend to know or understand something you don't.

I experienced this first-hand on my first day at my internship. Wholeheartedly agree. Don't learn this the hard way.