Episodes

The beginning of the year is often a time of renewed focused on planning and growth.  When it comes to career development, the Individual Development Plan, or IDP, is my preferred tool for documenting that plan.  Back in , I introduced the...

After every six episodes, I have a review episode to highlight some of the episodes you may have missed.  This progress report covers episodes 029 to 034.   covers several ways that you can grow your network.  Much like Seven Degrees...

Let's start with a quick review of , but for the full details go back to that episode and listen there.   We started by covering the key players in office politics.  Decision Makers, Gatekeepers, Connectors, Influencers, Observers, and...

At some point in your career, you will find yourself in a position where you have to deal with office politics.  Office politics aren't bad in and of themselves, but it is important to understand how they work and what your place is within them. ...

When I was talking to my relative the other day, he was describing how his bosses have gained a lot of trust in him and are giving him more and more responsibility and more and more autonomy.  As someone who leads a team, everything he described...

At my job, I have the title of "Director" and I have responsibility for the team that builds an internal application that is important to the sales team of the company I work for.  I also manage -- either directly or indirectly -- a team of...

When you are looking towards career advancement, you may have heard advice along the lines of "say yes to every opportunity".  And sometimes, that advice is perfectly fine.  But today, we're going to look at when the better choice is to say...

Networking is not about the quantity of connections, but rather the quality and depth of those connections. It's not just about amassing a hundreds of LinkedIn connections; it's about nurturing meaningful relationships that add value to both parties...

As always, it's good to periodically look back and review your accomplishments and progress.  So, every few episodes, we take a look back and call out the highlights of the recent episodes.   In I cover how I evaluate candidates for...

When most people think about providing a status on their work, they usually think in terms of completed tasks.  At some level, this is relevant to ensure that projects remain on time.  But if you'd like to set yourself apart from others,...

As we approach the end of the calendar year, it's the time of year when many employees are evaluated against their goals and considered for merit increases and potentially promotions.  Have you positioned yourself to be one of the ones to be...

Today, we're tackling a question that's crucial for everyone navigating the professional landscape: how much faster does your career progress if you actively own it instead of waiting for your career to happen to you?   To truly grasp the impact...

For many companies, the end of the year is a time when employees have their annual reviews.  Today, we'll talk about the things you can do with what's left of the year to prepare.   Review your incomplete goals.  Start by looking at...

During a recent one-on-one with a member of my team, the question came up as to whether someone can be successful when working remote.  I'll start with the answer.  Yes…..assuming your work can actually be done somewhere other than the...

If you are in any of the LinkedIn groups related to your profession, you've likely come across posts that list questions and answers that are core to your field.  These are the types of questions I would expect to see on a university or...

These past six episodes have covered a lot of good content.  Have you spent any time implementing the ideas in your career?   was about how some people default to Ask mode where they will ask for everything expecting to get a "Yes" only...

If you're listening to this podcast in real time, the calendar has just flipped to October.  This is often when discussions begin within a company that a reorganization (often shortened to "reorg") might be necessary.  Many reorgs take...

This week, we take a break from looking at career advancement and we focus on the "life" side of the work/life balance equation.  While everyone has a different idea of what their non-work life should look like, ensuring that you have adequate...

As I covered in last week's episode on the , you may eventually reach a point in your career where the next rung has a limited number of opportunities to progress.  In , I talked about how luck is when preparation meets opportunity and that...

For the majority of people, their career is going to last somewhere in the ballpark of forty years depending on when they start and when they decide to retire.  While there are no hard and fast rules about how your career should or will progress,...

When your career begins, your key responsibilities are to do your tasks and to grow your skills.  With enough time, this is often sufficient to justify a promotion.  However, as you reach higher career levels, there comes with it, the...

The other day, I was reading a series of articles by on Substack (link to ).  These articles outline how ask-culture and guess-culture can clash at work and how to navigate the differences.   Ask Culture is when members of the group are...

As with any career, it's important to periodically check your progress.  Since this podcast started you should have held at least two career development discussions with your leader.  Hopefully you're making the most of these session and...

The Roman philosopher Seneca has a quote about how luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.  When it comes to your career, this is so very true.  If you spend your time waiting for an advancement to fall into your lap, you'll often...