The "Competition"

If you regularly listen to my podcast, it's either because you know me personally and want to help me out (thanks, I appreciate it) or because you found me because you are looking for advice on how to position yourself for a promotion.  I hope that you find my advice targeted and actionable while being presented with simple clarity.

But, I'll also be the first to tell you that you should listen to multiple people and synthesize your own plan about the best course forward because no one else lives in YOUR personal situation.  The advice on my podcast comes from my personal experience or from conversations I've had with others that I have either worked with or lead.  Even when inspired from another source, I still try to put my own spin on the content.  But the factors that come into play in your life may not line up with my suggestions because they have been filtered through my lens and generalized for a wider audience.

There are quite a few famous names such as COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg, author Brene Brown, entrepreneur Seth Godin, or several other authors, coaches, or executives that you can follow, and if their approach speaks to you, you should certainly do so.  But, this week, I wanted to highlight several less well-known public voices that you might also want to follow to hear different takes on similar topics.  Combining what you learn from me as well as any of these other people can help you figure out the best option for your personal circumstances.

The first voice I want to mention is Jackie Simon of Jackie Simon Coaching.  I mentioned her in Episode 012 - Receiving Effective Feedback as that episode was inspired by one of her posts.  Jackie posts daily on LinkedIn with information targeted at people leaders, but as evidenced by my podcast episode, you can extrapolate the information to people of all levels.  I find her posts to be inspirational driving me to want to be a better leader for my team.

The next person that I follow is Jayme Edwards from Healthy Software Developer.  Jayme is someone that I actually know personally and respect highly. He and I worked together for several years.  Jayme's podcast and YouTube content is targeted toward helping software developers maintain a healthy work life balance driven by a lot of personal stories.  But, I would argue that his content applies to ANYONE because work life balance is crucial for everyone.

For those in a position of leadership with a goal of reaching the executive level, take a look at the content of Ethan Evans of EthanEvans.com.  Ethan is a former VP from Amazon who offers deep knowledge of what it takes to move into the executive ranks.  Learning from someone who has been there before, especially in such a challenging environment, is extremely beneficial.  If his more direct style is agreeable to you, I can personally recommend his courses as I've paid for some with my own money and gained a lot of value from them.  Ethan also have a newsletter that offers insightful answers to questions from his followers.

Wes Kao, the co-founder of Maven, posts on LinkedIn and offers a valuable newsletter at WesKao.com.  She offers insights on how to build a positive relationship with your manager in order to gain more opportunities and build a successful career.

The last voice that I want to highlight is Randy Mahoney, Jr with his Work With Purpose podcast.  Randy releases episodes of his podcast once a month with information targeted at job seekers looking for insights into how to stand out during the job application process.

Now, you may be wondering something along the lines of "these people are your competition, why are you telling us about them?"  And the answer to that is the same thing I would say if there were one available promotion and someone else I knew was also up for that same promotion.  One of the best signs of a good leader is how they lift up those around them.  I alluded to that same idea in Episode 016 - What Does It Mean To Be A Leader?  In that episode, I defined leadership as "enabling your team to do more".  If you spend most of your time pushing your competition down, it makes you look petty and small.  But if you spend time lifting those around you up, you show leadership and foster an environment where you can build a strong network.

Be sure to check the page for this episode for links to all of the people mentioned.  Also, I'm always looking for other people to follow to round out MY personal approach, so if there someone that you follow that I haven't mentioned, please either send it to me directly via the contact form on my website ManagingACareer.com or better yet, post it in the community so that others can benefit.