Recipes for Career Success
vikram...@gmail.com
is a set of self-perceptions about who we are and what we can do. It
is our faith in us. It helps us achieve great skills in the area of
our interest and developing inter-personal skills. "We eventually
become what we believe ourselves to be" (Chinese Proverb)
Self-orientation is focusing on oneself with the clear strategy of
crushing the competition to 'climb' the corporate ladder, which has
been a myth. A corporate climber is ambitious and obsessed with his
goal. The focus is on what's in it for me? I will not train
anyone because I want to be indispensable to my superior. His
insecurity or his self-assessment drives him to be self oriented. This
typical manager seems likely to stop at nothing to reach the top of the
ladder. He employs many techniques that include humiliating co-team
members in the presence of upper management and lying to clients to
gain position in the company, all of which are questionable from an
ethical sense. It cannot be said that this methodology will not be
successful; yes there are cases of success but success that cannot
sustain for long as at the end the organization needs to grow and not
just the individual at the cost of the organization. No one who thrives
at the expense of others will continue to thrive for long. With more
organizations becoming flat in structure and team-oriented the
self-oriented are compelled to change their focus or else face failure.
In contrast, great achievers are low on self-orientation and are great
givers. These achievers ask: "How can I provide more value? How can I
give to others, to my teammates, employees, clients? What can I do to
make it better?". They understand and appreciate that ideas in a
workplace rarely result from a breakthrough by a single individual. No
one in today's world can make it alone. The idea could develop from a
brainstorming session by a group, through informal conversations with
others, or it could build on what others have already suggested. There
is just too much to learn and things are changing too rapidly. Once an
idea gets the form of a strategy or an action plan it becomes very
difficult to identify the original ray of thought that crystallized
into a thorough action plan. It is now a know fact that "though it
may not seem obvious to you, your idea was probably helped along by
those around you."
This sharing of credit also spreads the fallout on ideas that don't pan
out. There is a definite advantage for those who have a strong
self-concept. Besides enabling the group process that ensures a better
product or even a different product at the end after deliberations and
brainstorming, it places the "strong self concept person" on a
respectable position that helps him in his growth along with that of
the enterprise. Generosity toward credit is critical to the success of
the idea. People are more likely to support an idea if they have an
ownership stake in it. People also are more likely to freely credit the
one with the original idea if they helped to develop it.
And the entire group is brought into an idea and helped implement it,
then there's no single person to blame any failings on. This is because
that failure still carries a stigma in many companies, so minimizing
one's association with it could give him other chances to contribute
in the future. Another person's success does not in any way diminish
the prospects of others. In fact, the more people there are who are
truly successful, the more opportunities that one has to succeed. True
and lasting success comes only to those who provide positive and useful
value to others.
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets
the credit." - President Harry Truman. . People with extraordinary
careers do not claw their way to the top; they are carried there.
Success happens if one has high self-esteem and empathy for others.
The simple rule for success is to - "Get inspired by others'
success. Then go ahead and become an inspiration yourself."
To conclude, those who are successful don't think less of themselves,
they just think of themselves less. In short, maximizing self-concept
while minimizing self-orientation is a guaranteed way to success in our
careers.