By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection, which is the noblest;
second by imitation, which is easiest; and
third by experience, which is the bitterest. ─ Confucius
The last four blogs looked at how Master Leaders are Master Decision Makers. We will now look at tips that can help you become a better decision maker about your career. In this blog we will look at the power of reflection to harvest lessons that will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. For the purpose of this exercise, you need to briefly describe three of your best career experiences. Then you need to reflect on these experiences and derive the lessons available in them. I will use myself as an example and then you can follow suit and derive your own lessons.
Three of My Best Career Experiences. You can learn a great deal by looking at both the similarities and the differences in your best career experiences. One of the reasons that an historical perspective is so powerful is that sometimes your best experience only turns out to be the best in terms of learning in retrospective and it may be difficult to identify the lessons learned at the time of the experience. Therefore it is a good idea to look at your best experiences over the entire life-span of your career.
My first example of a positive career experience is as follows. After vacillating for years about whether I would finish my doctoral studies or drop out, I finally decided unequivocally to finish my dissertation. I distinctly remember, exactly where I was, as I was walking through the University of British Columbia campus, when I decided that I would finish my dissertation no matter what the circumstances ─ No more waffling, No more indecision. I would Finish ─ Period.
Subsequently, I found and invited a world-class mentor to be my primary research advisor. I then did the research, analysis and writing, sometimes working up to 18 hours a day and completed the dissertation in time to meet the deadline to graduate. At one point, I had to be assertive with the committee as to what I could and could not do in a reasonable time frame and suggested the additional work they recommended would make a great follow-up study. I also put together a highly functioning team for my doctoral committee. Although writing my dissertation looked like a highly individually oriented activity, it was really an exercise in mass collaboration with myself, my advisor and committee, and my support network including my exercise partner who helped me manage the great deal of stress involved in taking on such a large, multi-faceted project.
In my second example of a positive career experience, although I didn’t fully realize it until I started writing this blog, was that I replicated this collaborative model in the writing of my sixth book. My team of researchers, editors and family support kept me going ─ especially when the going got really tough. The crunch came during the final editing of the manuscript. All my other books required extremely minor revisions, such as adding or eliminating a comma here and there or moving a few paragraphs around.
In the final editing of this book, The Seven Strategies of Master Negotiators, I worked with three different, extremely competent, extremely professional and extremely demanding editors at McGraw-Hill Ryerson who used three different coloured Post-It-Notes™. When I received the final manuscript, I had an anxiety attack on the spot. The manuscript looked like it had the measles; there were so many suggested changes. Each note requested major revisions. For example: the writing had to be crisper and clearer; the numerous interviews, which were the heart of the book, had to be shortened; and the transitions and conclusions of the chapters needed to be stronger and tighter ─ and all of this had to be completed within two weeks. Not only did my team of three editors help me write a much better book ─ they also taught me a great deal about writing and book publishing that has stood me in good stead in all of my subsequent writing projects.
My third very positive career experience also revolved around writing, and the fact that all three of my best experiences involved writing is telling me something. The third writing collaboration that worked exceeding well was publishing my first self-published book ─ From Our Grandmother’s Lap: Lessons for a Lifetime. Not only was this a very collaborative endeavor, but I also learned a great deal about publishing and cover design. I also entered into a very innovative and collaborative manner to sell the book because it was sold primarily through Credit Unions at Christmas rather than through traditional book stores. Since it was the only book for sale at the Credit Unions, and was used as a fundraiser, the book really stood out and sold exceedingly well ─ so I learned about innovative marketing.
Lessons Learned: The lessons learned from all three positive experiences listed above involve the critical importance of: collaboration, focus, writing and publishing. In fact, now that I think about it, this is the model I need to follow in all of the large projects I undertake such as the establishment of The Atlantic Leadership Development Institute.
It is now your turn to reflect on your best career experiences. Exercise: Briefly describe three of your best career experiences.
