A Michael Moment
a moment of insight from executive coach Michael Wolkensperg
Career Advice in only 30 Seconds
The simplest, and perhaps the best, career advice I have ever given is: worry about what your boss worries about.
In other words, align your priorities with your boss' priorities. If you can apply your energies and creatively contribute to reducing what your boss stresses about, you can't help but be considered as someone with a future in the organization.
As you might have guessed, this sounds easier than it really is. Because, first, how can I worry about what the boss is worrying about, if I don't know what that is? She just keeps it to herself. In that case, I suggest you get in the habit of asking - make it a topic, and be sincere. After a while, talking about priorities will be the natural course of office life.
And second, the feeling that it is not your job to worry about the boss. After all, worry flows down, not up. And you are partially right. But if you only worry about your subordinates and not your superiors, that is, if you only manage downwards, and not upwards, you will make the climb to the senior levels very difficult for yourself.
MM 103 09-08
