The single piece of advice that changed the course of my career

The single piece of advice that changed the course of my careerThe single piece of advice that changed the course of my careerWhen I departureed my last corporate job, I asked experienced co-workers for advice and best-practices, and most of them told me something like Try to get in front of important people.Thats corporate code for sucking up.It wasnt my first time working for a large company. Id seen a lot of suck ups get promotions in the past, and in a moment of weakness, I decided to listen to those idiots.You get in front of important people by scheduling unnecessary meetings with random people, always saying something during meetings, pretending youre working while youre watching YouTube videos, and staying at the office until late when youre not productive at all.But sucking up didnt feel right - I just couldnt do it. Its not my style. But its so tempting do it because people get rewarded for that.And who doesnt want to get promoted? So you get lured in. Thats why I understa nd why people who departure at corporations decide to play politics- you think its normal.But get in front of important people, is horrible advice. Anything that is close to that, like fake it till you make it, or just network your way up, is also bad. Its all based on appearances.Thank god theres another way to get rewarded.I was lucky enough to finally meet a stand-up guy. He was a new VP in another department. We met at the elevator, talked a bit, hit it off, and decided to schedule some time to properly meet.I thought he was very honest and confident, so I told him about the getting in front of people thing, and asked his opinion.He said Stay out of the chit-chat. Do your work. Let your results speak for you.He said that he never played politics and he never applied for a manager role. He worked hard, people recognized his results, and THEY came to him with opportunities.Thats the best piece of career advice Ive ever received. Its good because its simple. And it works for every single industry.Big ideas are usually simple ideas. - David OgilvyBut its also tough advice for people to take. Its uncertain Do your job and hope for the best. You get rewarded when you work hard.Its like when people say Good things will come in due time.Yeah, right I want to see instant results.Yes, and the kid wants his candy NOW. Calm down, honestly.I get it Were obsessed with quick results and blueprints. We want people to tell us Do X, and you will get Y.But unfortunately, things are not that simple. Over the past few months, thousands of people joined my newsletter, mora than a million read my articles - and from that exposure, I got new opportunities.Want to know my exact blueprint? I HAVE NO IDEA.I just do my work and I dont procrastinate. Im also not a magician. I cant trick people to read my stuff or work with me.No matter how many marketing hacks you use, A/B tests you run, meetings you schedule with important people, or meetups you visit - if you keep wasting time, y ou never get better at what you do.Instead of always trying new things, or doing things that are not essential, try to keep things simple. Focus on your core competencies, and improve that. No gimmicks, just real work.Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers. - Seth GodinIn the end, this is the best and simplest career advice I ever got Do your job well (you dont even have to be the best in the world, to start be better than average people). Thats the ONLY career advice you need. And the results will come.If they dont, let me know, so we can go back to sucking up. But Im pretty sure that will never happen. For now, lets get back to work.Thisarticleoriginally appeared onDariusForoux.com.The single piece of advice that changed the course of my careerWhen I started my last corporate job, I asked experienced co-workers for advice and best-practices, and most of them told me something like Try to get in front of important people.Thats corporate code for sucking up.It wasnt my first time working for a large company. Id seen a lot of suck ups get promotions in the past, and in a moment of weakness, I decided to listen to those idiots.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreYou get in front of important people by scheduling unnecessary meetings with random people, always saying something during meetings, pretending youre working while youre watching YouTube videos, and staying at the office until late when youre not productive at all.But sucking up didnt feel right - I just couldnt do it. Its not my style. But its so tempting do it because people get rewarded for that.And who doesnt want to get promoted? So you get lured in. Thats why I understand why people who start at corporations decide to play politics- you think its normal.But get in front of important people, is horrible advice. Anything that is close to that, like fake it till you make it, or just network your way up, is also bad. Its all based on appearances.Thank god theres another way to get rewarded.I was lucky enough to finally meet a stand-up guy. He was a new VP in another department. We met at the elevator, talked a bit, hit it off, and decided to schedule some time to properly meet.I thought he was very honest and confident, so I told him about the getting in front of people thing, and asked his opinion.He said Stay out of the chit-chat. Do your work. Let your results speak for you.He said that he never played politics and he never applied for a manager role. He worked hard, people recognized his results, and THEY came to him with opportunities.Thats the best piece of career advice Ive ever received. Its good because its simple. And it works for every single industry.Big ideas are usually simple ideas. - David OgilvyBut its also tough advice for people to take. Its uncertain Do your job and hope for the best. You get rewarded when you work hard.Its like when people say Good things will come in due time.Yeah, right I want to see instant results.Yes, and the kid wants his candy NOW. Calm down, honestly.I get it Were obsessed with quick results and blueprints. We want people to tell us Do X, and you will get Y.But unfortunately, things are not that simple. Over the past few months, thousands of people joined my newsletter, more than a million read my articles - and from that exposure, I got new opportunities.Want to know my exact blueprint? I HAVE NO IDEA.I just do my work and I dont procrastinate. Im also not a magician. I cant trick people to read my stuff or work with me.No matter how many marketing hacks you use, A/B tests you run, meetings you schedule with important people, or meetups you visit - if you keep wasting time, you never get better at what you do.Instead of always trying new things, or doing things that are not essential, try to keep things simple. Focus on your core competencies, and improve that. No gimmicks, just real work.Quit or b e exceptional. Average is for losers. - Seth GodinIn the end, this is the best and simplest career advice I ever got Do your job well (you dont even have to be the best in the world, to start be better than average people). Thats the ONLY career advice you need. And the results will come.If they dont, let me know, so we can go back to sucking up. But Im pretty sure that will never happen. For now, lets get back to work.Thisarticleoriginally appeared onDariusForoux.com.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

How onlyness makes us powerful and successful

How onlyness makes us powerful and successfulHow onlyness makes us powerful and successfulHow can you bring an idea to life?In her upcoming book,The Power of Onlyness Make Yur Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World, Nilofer Merchant argues that each of us has the potential to create value in our own way. Ladders spoke with Merchantabout the importance of onlyness and how we can empower ourselves and work with others to create change.LaddersWhat is onlyness and what makes it so powerful?Merchant Every one of us has perspectives that come from own own histories and experiences, visions and hopes. Onlyness captures the idea that the way we create value in this modern economy is tied to our novel, original ideas.Onlyness isnt talent because talent is usually quantified. You usually say someone is talented if they have the right degree or pedigree. Its also not unique because we use unique contextually. For example, if someone is the only young person in a room, well say thats what ma kes them unique.So what is this thing that says that youre standing in a spot in the world where only you can create value?Onlyness is the way that each of us gets to add our bit of value to the world.Sixty-one percent of people give up, conform, and hide themselves at work. That means that many of us are leaving our ideas off the table when we show up. The cost is innovation.How can we empower ourselves to pursue our ideas?Id like to point to the story of Franklin Leonard, a twenty-something who was frustrated by Hollywood. He kept noticing the saatkorn scripts, the same archetypes and profiles, over and over again. He thought that Hollywood should be reflecting all of humanity.One day he wrote an email to his friends under a blind alias asking them to send him the scripts they really loved that werent getting attention, and he would share the data with them. He compiled a list, and then went on vacation.When he came back, he found that this thing that he started had gone viral. Pe ople told him that his project was really great because it pointed out scripts they should and could invest in.The lesson I learned from watching Franklin do this work was how much credence he gave his own ideas. Most of us think Oh, it should be different, and then we say, but that will never work.The first part of claiming ones onlyness is answering how do you claim that thing that you believe can be done better? As soon as you find meaning in that, youll find that other people give a shit about the same thing. And thats when you can actually start to create real change in the world.What does onlyness teach us about aufgabe solving?I love the story of Talia Milgrom-Elcott, who runs an organization called 100Kin10, which is figuring out how to get 100,000 STEM teachers into public education in 10 years. This is an unbelievable task. Think about it getting 100,000 teachers trained when nothing like that had ever happened.She figured out first how to brute force it and get as many pe ople as possible. After a while, she realized that most of those people would leave education as fast as they had come in. The reason we didnt have STEM teachers before was because the education context they were going into didnt help them thrive.She realized that she needed to fix more than just training she needed to fix the entire education system.She then did this profound thing she said, I dont know how to do that. But Im willing to create a safe space for us to learn together how to do that.Today, the organization is well on its way to hit its goal.The lesson to take away is that she could have said, Thats too big I cant do it. When she realized there was a deeper problem to solve, she could have walked away. Instead, she was willing to sit there in uncertainty and ask the people she worked with how they could do this better.Thats how all of us could show up at work to realize we dont know and to own that with other people. We can say, For the problems that really need solving , how can I come to you not with answers but with questions?How important is building relationships?The key is to ask how can you have relationships with the people with whom you have an idea in common? How do you find them? How do you work with them? How do you learn to lean on them? Those are the challenges we have to face when working with a team.Ushahidi is an organization based in Nairobi, Kenya, that got its start building an online mapping tool that let people who were dealing with an election fallout signal that they were safe. The organization was faced with an interesting work challenge. The lead engineer came to the former CEO and said, I have a completely different idea for the product.At first, the CEO didnt think it was a good idea. But he realized that the way to stay vibrant is to let the people disrupt the system. So he said, Sure, lets try it. If it doesnt work, well fix it together.To me, thats the key for how were going to work in the future. In this complex worl d, the focus should be on how we can learn together, even if that means we fail together and get up with great resilience to go on. We have to say, Were in the this together, and we should all feel empowered to shape the future, not based on rank or title but on passion.Whats the biggest lesson you learned?For years, I used to watch people from stages, either as an attendee or a co-speaker. People give audiences similar advice Just go do it Be braver Show more grit Be more confident It always struck me that that was an incomplete answer.After studying onlyness, I realized that the reason that 61% of us are denying ourselves is not based on our boldness but on how we belong to one another. Until we understand how to be in relationships with one another, we dont know how to be ourselves.

These 9 books will help you succeed in marketing

These 9 books will help you succeed in marketingThese 9 books will help you succeed in marketingHere are the nine books and one writer and speaker Id recommend to people who work in marketing. I usually prefer the condensed thinking of tweets and articles, but these books stand out for me as I look back on whats changed how I think. They are a gemisch of the famous, the bold, the profound, and the tactical.Many business books feature one wonderful, simple idea and then are filled with padding to make the spine thick enough to warrant a book price. Many marketing books are too inside-baseball or too ignorant of the context of the wider world. This list offers a nice overview of the changing world in which we do our roles and some specific knowledge that can help marketers thrive.1. TheMeaning of the 21st Centuryby James MartinIn this 2006 book, James takes a stab at projecting the ideas and themes of the day into the future. Elevenyears later,wed naturally expect him to be wrong. Its what he was totally right about and what he was wrong about that is most interesting.Of course, predictions made today are often based on mora data and evidence, so they are more likely to be correct. But to binnensee his thought process, to see how we can be right and wrong, and to see some of the issues of that moment that still exist today, makes it a fascinating read. This book gives a broad context to much of what we think about or avoid thinking about today - most pressingly the rise of polarization of wealth and views, control, climate, and more.2. Status Anxiety by Alain de BottonAlain is such a wonderful thinker, a joiner of the dots in new and different ways, and a provider of a high altitude glance on the things in life that are too awkward for us to think about or realize that I had to include one of his books on this list. (He does incredible videos on his YouTube channel, too).Status Anxiety is perfect for marketers, as it reflects a new way to think about why we real ly buy things, why we behave the way we do, and what totally strange beings we are.3. One Plus One Equals Three A Masterclass in Creative Thinking by Dave TrottDave is simply a creative genius, and he tells it like it is. Its wonderful to see someone make the complex simple, make readers feel inspired, and make what is daunting to many become approachable. One Plus One Equals Three isa very positive and empowering read. Its funny, too.4. How Brands Grow What Marketers Dont Knowby Byron SharpYes, I know, everyone has read this. Its like the bible for marketers. But trust me - read it again. There is so much nonsense in marketing. We endlessly try to do fancy new things because we can. Its nice to get back to what hasnt changed, what is timelessly proven, and what is the very basics of good marketing.5.The Undercover Economist by Tim HarfordBefore behavioral economics was trendy, this easy-to-read, light but profound book got me thinking about the world of business and marketing in a totally different way. It bridges the world of economics, anecdotes, marketing, business, and humor. As an industry, we need to think more about people and how to better serve them, and this book frames the discussion wonderfully.6. Re-Imagine Business Excellence in a Disruptive Ageby Tom PetersLong before we got bored of the yep disruption, before people questioned why Kodak didnt see the future coming, or before we realized the chaos that Uber causes, Peters wrote this seminal under-appreciated work. This book, which focuseson how the business climate has changed, is a passionate wake-up call for the business world. Like others here, its old, and, because of this, seems more rooted in the longer-term elements of change, not the fast-changing, gimmicky nature of many business books today.7.The Inevitable Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Futureby Kevin KellyThere is probably no better, clearer, more provocative and bold book on the themes that will shap etomorrow.This is a positive book that gives guidance on where business, industry, or life is heading - what to invent, where to work, in what to invest, how to better do our jobs, and how to change for the future.8. Ogilvy on Advertising by David OgilvyWe like to think that everything in advertising has changed. It hasnt. People are people, ideas are everything, and insights are rare and special. We need to engross ourselves not only in what is new, but also in what is old. This book is a relevant today as it was 30 years ago.9. Why We Buy The Science of Shopping by Paco UnderhillMarketers often think we are removed from the dirtiness of what happens at the point of purchase. Wed rather think about ideas or brand values or esoteric smart things. This book gets us thinking about the oddness of people, how weird we all are, and how only by understanding this can we really do our jobs properly. I know brick-and-mortar companies are facing hard times, but the lessons here about human phycology are fascinating and enduring.Bonus Rory SutherlandRory, who is theExecutive Creative Director of OgilvyOne, hasnt written a proper book, which is a shame because hes a remarkable writer, incredible thinker, and simply funny as hell. Well, its not that bad - hes great in article form or speaking at TED events. So heres my final sign-off Google him and read or watch anything thats ever been penned or performed by the guy. Its all marvelous.