Can You Connect Yourself to Impact?

Is your career ready for the next recession?

So we’re already into February.  I won’t ask about the status of any New Year’s resolutions you’ve made or ramble on about “A New Year…and a new You!” 

Instead, I will ask, “Can You Connect Yourself to Impact?”

Why?

Because your career is not about:

• Your tenure or experience.  Yes, it’s important you’ve been doing what you’re doing for a long time.  That you’ve got skills.  But then again, so do others.
• Your title.  Good to have, but 3 words: employment at will.
• Your being smart or competent.  As you know, where you want to go in your career, those are table stakes.

So, you won’t say that you’re smart, competent, that you’ve got lots of experience, that you’ve been doing what you’re doing for a long time, or that you’re a [pick one: CEO, EVP, SVP, VP, Director, Manager, High Potential].

Because in the end, we both know those really don’t matter.  Fair or not, that all can be quickly wiped off the table or summarily dismissed.

But what can’t be is your impact.

So.  Can you connect yourself to impact?

Does what you’re doing impact a) your manager’s goals, and b) your organization’s goals?  (Ideally, they’ll be in sync.)

Whether you work for a for-profit, non-profit, or civic organization, what you do should unambiguously have impact.  The longevity of your career relies on it.

So.  Do you know your manager’s goals and objectives?  If not, find out now.  And then chart your path to helping get those accomplished.

So.  Do you know your organization’s goals and objectives?  Same as above: if not, find out now.  It may be a bit more difficult, a bit more circuitous, but you nonetheless must do work that gets those done.  And one shouldn’t need to be a Rubik’s Cube master in order to conclude that that’s the case.

So when the next recession comes [pick one: later this year; in 2020; in 2021; I have no idea when (best answer)], and companies once again re-examine their payrolls: when your organization’s leaders come to your name, will they ask, “Now what exactly does he/she do???”

Clearly, they won’t even ask that question, but instead declare, “They have impact…Enough said.  …….Next name.”

Now.  Time to get to work.