Dangerous Beliefs

Beliefs that are more optimistic than realistic can cloud your vision and harm your career. Here are a few:

Job requirements have been carefully analyzed and established. Not so. For many positions the most accurate part of the job description is "Other duties as assigned."

Organizations want the best qualified person for the job. Wrong. They want a reasonably qualified person who is trustworthy, will get along with others, and won't cost too much.

Procedures must always be followed. Part of career success consists of determining where this rule applies. Many procedures are routinely ignored with no repercussions.

People admire candor. People may admire candor but they love discretion.

You should carefully consider how you would react if a colleague behaved in a particular manner toward you. No, you should carefully consider how others - not you - will regard your behavior. Your standard is not the only one.

If you produce great work, that will inevitably be acknowledged. If only that were true. In reality, the only thing you can be sure of is that if you produce great work, then you have produced great work. On the other hand, reliability often trumps brilliance.

It's not what you know, it's who you know. It's both. Contacts may get you in the door but they won't keep you in the room.

If you are technically proficient, you can let your people skills slide. In some jobs, that is true, but those occasions are becoming increasing rare.

Organizations have clear paths of progression for all jobs. Unfortunately, there are some jobs that provide no opportunity for advancement. Sometimes, that is formally acknowledged. In other cases, that is informally understood.

Organizations have human qualities. Ascribing human characteristics to an organization is tempting but unwise. Organizations are not fair, logical, or ethical. Only the people in them can ensure those qualities.

The Foggy Career Path

I was listening to Jeffrey Toobin discussing his new book on the U.S. Supreme Court when he gave a brief review of his career. He talked about serving on the Iran-Contra investigation and writing a book about Oliver North and at one point he slipped in a line to the effect of "And then I got a job at The New Yorker."

Whoa, I thought.

But he went on to chat about his book.

I hate it when successful people do that. They mention some significant career move and, because it is ancillary to their story, they shoot past the really interesting part of their commentary. Paul Theroux, the often caustic but fascinating travel writer, once noted that too many writers talk about Abdul the cab driver picking them up at the airport and taking them to some famous monument and then they go on and on about the monument when you really want to hear more about Abdul.

That's my reaction to career tidbits. As a person who wishes he could stop at large residences and, without triggering a call to the police, quiz the inhabitants about their career moves, I've long been frustrated by foggy career path stories. It is understandable that Toobin probably doesn't want to talk about the connections and/or campaigning that landed that New Yorker gig but the rest of us would love to hear it. We suspect he didn't just get there by sending in a resume.

In this oddly open yet closed world, many people would rather tell you about their sex lives than about their promotion secrets. Organizations fearing lawsuits build durable domes of silence over any selection decision. Why weren't you selected? Well, another highly qualified candidate was chosen. End of conversation. Don't ask anything else or your potential for advancement will sleep with the fishes.

The truly valuable story tellers are the ones who are willing to reveal the real reason why they got the job: "The boss hated my competitor." "They mistook me for someone else." "I was the safe choice." "I had just worked on a project that was near and dear to them even though I didn't know it at the time." "They wanted someone who'd worked in Asia." "I'm close friends with the general counsel who told the CEO that I was clearly the best person for the job." "They were impressed by my superficial knowledge of French." "I was willing to travel and the other candidates weren't."

The real reason may be irrational, foolish, and a "luck of the draw" sort of thing, but it is the real reason.

And that is why you want to hear about it.