Dot Connector Blog

Stay Hungry.  Stay Foolish.

- Steve Jobs (view the speech)

How well do you find the hidden opportunity around you?  (source: AussieGal / CC 2.0)

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

- Thomas Alva Edison

“Successful people do things others don’t like to do.”

- Harvey Mackay

Techniques to Open Your Mind to New Career Opportunities (Read Time: 8 minutes)

I have spent the past 14 years of my career working with some amazing people.  I’ve seen colleagues develop amazing careers in what they do, go on to become CEOs, lead Marketing and Technology teams for large organizations, start new companies, and land new career opportunities at companies like Microsoft, Google, Expedia and more.

How do you find and capitalize on the opportunities around you?  Practice the 4 ideas below.  These are the common traits of the successful people I have had the opportunity to work with.  Use these ideas to find new opportunities and new success in your own career!

1. Forget the Org Chart and Formal Career Path

The best way to get stagnant in your career is to wait for someone to give you your next promotion.  You have to go get it.  You have to demonstrate the impact you make.  You have to bring fresh ideas and new perspectives to the table.  You have to get out of your comfort zone and do things others don’t want to do.  You have to surprise people around you with your ideas and ingenuity.

If you only “see” the formal org chart at your company as your opportunity, you have already failed.  Why?  Because you have limited your thinking about who you are and what you can become.  Only when you look outside of the org chart and formalized career path at your company will you really find opportunities to grow.

Does this mean you have to leave your current team?  No way.  It simply means thinking about yourself differently to see possible opportunities, even in your existing position, or next possible promotion.

The people I have worked with all possessed this skill.  Sometimes, the position they ended up taking was a progression on the org chart.  Other times they CREATED their new position, and usually over the course of years, not months.

2. Pursue Things Without Knowing Exactly Where They Will Take You

Find at least one thing in your current position that you are passionate about and pursue it.  Maybe you will only be able to dedicate an hour a week to this passion.  Regardless, find something in, or related to, your current position and pursue it.  Ruthlessly focus on this whenever you can.  Experiment with the idea, talk to others about it, adjust your own perceptions as you learn, and create a plan to make your idea a “thing”.  Then, execute your plan.

It’s critical to take the long view here.  As the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your new career opportunity.  However, investing in the idea you are passionate about will take you to places you didn’t think were possible.

For me, Dot Connector is one of those ideas.  I’ve met authors and leaders I probably would not have met otherwise.  I’ve reconnected with friends and colleagues I haven’t talked to in over a decade.  And, most importantly, I have shared ideas that my readers have found valuable.

3. Analyze Your Surroundings Without Any (Natural) Bias

Objectively look at your organization without any of the personal “filters” of conventional thinking you might normally apply.  Ask yourself a series of questions:

• What has changed in the past year at my company?
• Where is my company going?
• Who around me has created opportunity for themselves?
• Who around me has left and why? Where did they go?
• Do I see myself here in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, or 10 years?  Why or why not?

If you recognize “pockets of opportunity” after doing this exercise, great!  Set out to capitalize on them.  If not, you have to decide where you want to take your career, and if your current employer is where you want to spend it.  Life is too short to do something you are not passionate about, or where you do not see opportunities to grow.

4. Find Ways to Help Others Grow, and Grow Your Knowledge at the Same Time

After you’ve done the analysis in #3 above, find at least one new way to bring people together that you normally don’t talk to.  Maybe it will be around your idea in #2, or maybe it will be around what you do every day. Here are some ways to do this:

• Start a blog about something you are passionate about. Don’t think you have time?  Make it.  There is no better way to grow yourself than to think about the way you think.  Blogging helps you do this, while connecting with other like-minded people at the same time.
• Does your company own other companies? Create an email list of people in the family of companies who do what you do and share ideas!  One of the best ways to find new opportunities is to help others in this way.  You’ll think differently about what you do, which helps you see new opportunities.  You will also learn from others at the same time.
• Is there a group you can join made up of people who do what you do? The same benefits as the idea above apply.  Plus, this will usually lead to great networking opportunities and contacts that you can help (and who can help you) in the future.

Bonus: Overcoming Obstacles Video (1:39)

Please spend 1:39 watching this video (if you do not see the video while you are reading this, visit Dot Connector to watch it).  You will learn something I bet you don’t know (I definitely didn’t) that will re-frame your thoughts on opportunity and failure.

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

- Albert Einstein

It happens to all of us…at different points in our careers, we feel our creativity is stifled.

It’s happened to me, and it’s happened to people on my team. In fact, I’ve had project managers seriously questioning their career choice, since they were so stifled creatively. When dealing with project issues, budgets, and deadlines, I totally understand how this can happen.

Here’s the bottom-line: You don’t need to be on the “creative” team, be a “creative director,” or be a “designer” to be a creative person. The opportunity to be creative is right “under your nose” every single day!

Here are my top 3 ways to seize the opportunity to be creative!

#1: Get Creative when Reporting Metrics

• Many of us manage and launch projects to meet a company’s goal: more leads, more sales, more interactions with the brand, etc. Every single time you give an update on a project’s metrics, you have the opportunity to be creative.
• Think about it:the people who are reading your update (probably an email) are senior leaders in your organization who care about such results. You have their attention! Use this to your advantage. As Avinash Kaushik says, “don’t puke data out.” Always intepret what you think is happening in the data you are providing. And go beyond that: propose new ideas based on what the numbers are telling you.
• Your leaders want you to step up, they want you to “read between the lines,” they want your new ideas! Get creative and drive your new ideas to fruition!

#2: Get Creative with Your Communication

• From Tip #1, and my previous post on telling your story, you already know you should be thinking about your “message” when giving project updates. But have you ever really pushed the boundaries of what you can do? As Picasso said: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Be sure to check out The Positivity Blog for Picasso’s Top 7 Tips for Creating an Exciting Life.
• Here are just a few real-world examples to spark your creativity for giving a project update (I’ve seen people do each of these, and yes, I know some of these are a bit crazy!):
• Shoot a video: with video cameras and editing software within reach of everyone, use that to your advantage! Shoot a video telling your story and send it to your team, leaders, Clients, etc. Make it fun and engaging – people will remember it!
• Create your own soapbox: literally take a box you can stand on into a meeting, group of people, etc. and deliver your update “town crier” style! Again, people will not forget it, or you!
• Write a song or rap: Write your own song or rap about your project, and deliver your update that way. Some of the most memorable ones I have seen spoofed popular songs/raps people know. Combine this with video, post it on YouTube, and send the link to your entire team!

#3: Get Creative with Your Project Management

• When you manage a project, are you being productive or active? Just because you’re active, it doesn’t mean your being productive.
• Look critically at what you are doing: are you procrastinating and not dealing with an issue by staying active? Have you fallen into the “old ways” of doing things and not realized it? Challenge yourself to be better than that!
• Are you defining the world around you in such a way that you either: have a negative view? can’t see ways to get things done? or disregard new ideas? Be very careful of this trap! By doing so, you not only limit what you can accomplish, you limit what your project team can do too. If you’ve fallen into this way of thinking, you probably cannot see new opportunities to get things done.

I hope these ideas help you get creative, think differently, and manage projects more successfully!