What Are Some of the Best Examples of General Career Advice?

What are some of the best examples of general career advice?

Matt Wyndowe,FB Product, and a bunch of startup stuff.

Votes byJae Won Joh,Marc Bodnick,Tracy Chou, and1939 more.

During two years of business school at Stanford, I wrote down the best advice from our professors and lecturers. This advice is from my favorite teachers and lecturers, includingAndy Rachleff, Mark Leslie, Irv Grousbeck, Joel Peterson, Eric Schmidt, and many others.
Admittedly, a lot of this is focused on technology industry, but much is generally applicable. Thought it might be interesting to others.

Successful people listen.You have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that ratio. You learn more when you listen than when you talk.
Pareto principle:Always look for the 80/20. 80 percent of the value is delivered by 20 percent of the product/service. Focus on that 20 percent.
The importance of passion.When Warren Buffet finds people to run his business, his key criteria is to find somebody who would do the job whether they would get paid or not.
Be likable.People who are liked have the wind at their backs. So be liked.
Just when you think you've got it 100% right, you can be taken down.
People who are lucky make their own luck.And you only make your own luck by staying in the game.
Put on "the cloak" of leadership.A large part of your role is to inspire and motivate your employees, and people will look to you for confidence. If you were on a plane with engine problems, you don't want the pilot to say "I am exploring a number of options and hope that...", you want him to say, "I will do whatever it takes to land this plane."
The outcome of a negotiation is largely a function of your alternatives.Know your next best option.
You will only be as good as the people you will recruit.Media & culture celebrate individuals, but teams succeed.
The best scientists can explain complex issues in simple terms.Pretty good scientists can explain complex issues in complex terms.
A's hire A's. B's hire C's.Always strive to hire people better than you are.
Be a clear, fair manager.For example, when speaking to a business unit leader that isn't succeeding, say: "I want a strategy to win in 1-page and the objectives we need to hit each quarter to reach them."
When considering a business opportunity, look for change.What inflection point are you taking advantage of? Without change, there is rarely opportunity.
When in doubt, just keep selling.Not a bad default strategy to communicate to your team.
Be humble.The markets are brutal to those who are arrogant.
Understand what you don't do well.Surround yourself with people and resources that can do these things well.
Practice self-discipline.Set targets, have timetables, have clear unambiguous goals. Life passes quickly - days, weeks, months, years, a lifetime. "Regret for the things we did, can be tempered by time. It is regret for the things that we did not do that is inconsolable."
Be yourself.In group settings, you usually serve the group best by thoughtfully expressing exactly what you are thinking. Not necessarily what the group wants to hear.
Learn to relax.Often overachievers are passionate about many things. Yet it's important to learn not to always care so much. Try being indifferent to things that aren't that important.
You've got to give trust to get trust.Treat people as you would want to be treated. Sometimes people take advantage of you. That's fine, don't do business with them again.
Shoot for the moon.To be successful, don't follow the pack. If you want to win, don't hedge.

And, here is some good final advice (from Joel Peterson):
"Appreciate the people you work with, take care of your investors, celebrate successes along the way, communicate lavishly - good news and bad news, tell the truth, don’t try to maximize everything, and stop to smell the roses. Life is pretty short and most of what really matters doesn’t happen at the office."

31+ Comments•Share(60)•Thank•Report•14 Oct, 2010

177

Kartik Ayyar,here to learn.

Votes byThomas Børstad,Anthony Frenet,Marc Bodnick, and173 more.

I learnt a lot from my first boss and mentor, who till this day I sort of regard as my "professional parent" if you will.
Even though he was an engineer at heart, I'm quite grateful to him for instilling attitudes in me that one could never learn from a CS textbook or reading code.

Even when you are right, don't be "dead right"
The example he cited was that of driving in the right lane with a huge truck coming towards you in the wrong lane. You could be right, if you stuck to your lane, but you'd also be dead.
This was when I was negotiating to get permission to get a bit in an inode for a project I was working on, one of the holy grails of precious resources for the product I worked on. While it was technically the right solution for the problem at hand, he correctly pointed out to me I was being overly blunt in pointing out to the people who could give me the appropriate blessing to get that bit I wanted why their solutions were flawed. ( In all fairness, I'm still not perfect at this, though I have gotten much better ).
When in doubt, keep your mouth shut.
Keeping your mouth shut has tremendous value a lot of the time. Filter your communication so that random thoughts stay in your head, and only the good ones make them out.
After writing up an email, think many times before sending it.
If in doubt, save it as a draft and sleep on it. You'll be surprised at how many drafts of "brilliant" ideas you will accumulate ( I'm well into the hundreds with respect to my work email, and almost in triple digits for Quora drafts ).
If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
Spend time that you would have spent whining about something fixing it.
Take ownership about everything that you do.
Never do your job from the perspective of waiting for someone to assign some bug to you. Own what you are doing and ensure you have the appropriate follow through to get everything needed to get the job done.
Last but not the least my two favorites:
Try to learn exponentially.
My boss mentioned this to me the first day I started my first real job, and I thought he was exaggerating and wrote it off as a joke, but it made a lot of sense in retrospect - one should leverage what you learn to accelerate your pace of learning.

Always strive to work with surgical precision.
If you ever find your self running around with a shotgun, that is a clear cut red flag that you should take a step back and rethink.

Share(4)•Thank•Report•29 Mar, 2011

Prakash Singh,The lean and thin Sikh!!!

Votes byFabio Carriero,Marc Bodnick,Zachary Hamed, and28 more.

While going through a few lectures and reading a few books about how one should build a successful career, I had made myself a list of things that I try to follow. I would share the same here.

Mistakes - the best friend:Nothing in this world will teach you better about yourself than the mistakes you make, given you are willing to learn.
Care for the path; end will be where it deserves to be:Most of our energy is spent pondering about the results of our actions, about whether we will get what we want and the like. The next time, do this instead - focus on what has to be done to reach where you want to. Leave the rest to rest.
100 percent, each time:For once, vow to give a hundred percent effort in whatever you do. No activity ever requires 200 percent or 400 percent effort. A hundred percent, that's all. Each time.
Don't hate criticism:Whatever the people say about you, they are inevitably showing you the ways you can still improve. So why not?
Passion & Attitude:Never lose on these two elements. They determine, to a large extent, where you stand in life and what you achieve.
Work Ethic:What qualities do you want to exhibit to the world about yourself. Optimistic, reliable, responsible, hard working etc. etc.? Devise a work ethic accordingly.
Subjugate the self:Never let your 'self' and your 'ego' make a difference to you. Very often you can make a greater contribution to your career by playing second fiddle. Play non-striker.
The harder you work, the luckier you get:Someone said the other day, Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. He put it perfectly.
Share Knowledge:Life is a give-and-take relationship. Share your knowledge with people around you, if ever want someone else to be generous enough to do that with you.
Live in the present:Often we are either too anxious for the future or remain absorbed thinking about the moments of the past. The best thing to do, however is, well you read the bold heading this bullet point.
Know everything about you profession:If you are passionate about what you are doing, go on to make an effort to master it. All it demands is time. Loads of it. But then, this is all you ever wanted. You have it now. Opportunities and glory will be on their way.
Stretch a little bit:"Because you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far."
Be humble:A very important virtue to have when moving ahead in life. Sometimes, we are just not 'humble' enough to receive what we want from life. And the result? We never get it.
Seek people better than you:Because by what they do, they will show you how to be one of them. Very often would you realize just by being among them 'This is what I was missing.'
Khudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdeer se pehle Khuda khud bande se puchhe, 'Bata teri raza kya hai?':Its an Urdu phrase. Says, raise yourself to such a levelthat before God scripts your fate, he asks you, 'What do you want, my Son?'

Comment•Share(2)•Thank•Report•30 May

101

Anuj Agarwal,Founder Feedspot.com

Votes byHarsh Jha,Olivier Beau de Lomenie,Grace Tang, and97 more.

15 General Career Tips. These tips will also help you if you are looking for a perfect relationship.
1. Play the field- Don't be in a rush to find your passion. If you're unhappy at your company, or with your career, that's a good thing. It's a signal to yourself that you need to find something that suits you better. You have to experience the wrong relationship to know what you're looking for in the right one.
2. Your friends can help- Ask your most trusted friends their opinions about what you should do with your career. Listen with an open mind. This isn't about doing what other people tell you to do, but about trying to get some outside perspective
3. Desperation is a major turn off -Relax and be confident in your ability to find the right job. If you don'treallyfeel this way, start by pretending that you do. You'll be surprised how that leads to actual confidence.
"The more desperate you are to find 'the one' more likely you are to repel it,"
4. Be prepared to walk away even if it means you'll be on your own- You will never be desperate if you know you can make it on your own. If you can't find the perfect opportunity, you may just need to go out and create it—starting your own business, freelancing, or getting creative in other ways.
If other people can do that, so can you.
5. Clearly ask for you what you want- The number one reason we don't get what we want in our careers is we don't ask for it. Why? It's because we're afraid of rejection. Get over it. And then devote your energy to what they will say yes to.
6. Put your best foot forward- Be yourself: Are you kidding?! Do you really want everyone at the office to know your deepest personal issues? No, you don't. "Instead act like a hard worker." Find the person in the office everyone looks up to (one level above you) and emulate her or him
7. Learn to read body language- No matter what the reason for the meeting, the body never lies. If you can learn to read the signals, you can figure out how much he or she is into you (or isn't). That's as true about a meeting with your boss to discuss your latest idea as it is with a client or a date.
Dilated pupils, torso and feet facing you, tilting a head toward you: All good signs. Fidgeting, no eye contact, fast nodding indicates impatience and means that you should gracefully end the meeting as quickly as possible and try again another way.
8. Don't talk too much- Most people spend more time with their co-workers than with their friends. Don't confuse the two. Just like a love relationship can be killed with TMI, so can your reputation at your job. For instance, never bad mouth your previous boss or company.
9. Never bash the competition, or yourself- You can't win the heart of a lover by insulting the competition. You can't win the big promotion by bashing your in-house competitor, either.
Nine out of ten times you'll achieve the exact opposite of what you intended. Instead step up your own game and be grateful for the motivation.
And whatever you do, don't downplay yourself. It doesn't make you look humble. It makes you look insecure. You can't expect someone to love you if you don't love yourself.
10. Don't expect your company/boss/lover to change- If you've taken a job and then you discover that the company is too uptight (or too relaxed), or your boss is a jerk, not much is going to change that. Find a way to prosper despite it. Or get over it and move on.
11. Dress to win- Looks matter. The one who wins isn't necessarily the most gorgeous guy or gal in the room. But a person who makes an effort to dress appropriately attractive gets noticed. So does the one who dresses inappropriately. Most of us know enough to dress well for the big meetings, but the day-to-day interactions with your co-workers also matters
12. Too much self sacrifice leads to trouble- No one likes a martyr — not even the boss who expects you to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
So if you've put your life on hold for your job, you are only hurting yourself. A healthy life outside of work refreshes you, expands your network, sparks your creativity. Just like it's a bad idea to give up your friends or hobbies for your love interest, it's a bad idea to give up the rest of your life for your career.
13. Know when to let go- Just because your career — or relationship — has gotten stale, doesn't mean it's time to quit yet. First, try adding some spice to it.
Take time to enjoy a feeling of accomplishment at the tasks that you do well. See if you can power up that feeling of loving your work again.
Add some variety to your work — take on a new project, learn a new skills and try delegating the ones that most drain you.
14. Don't spend years in a mediocre situation- If your relationship with your company, or your career has stalled out, its easy to be lulled into complacency.
Don't waste your life on something mediocre. Change something at your job to make it better for you and if you can't do that, don't lie to yourself: It's time to move on.
15. Have others sing your praises- Before you put the word out that you are looking for new opportunities within your network, "control your message". "People not only believe but will repeat what you tell them." You want to be seen as someone "up and coming." If your network can't do this for you, consider hiring a publicist or headhunter to help you spread the good word.
-Anuj
Founder
Feedspot.com

4 Comments•Share(14)•Thank•Report•18 Sep, 2012

Charles Faraone,I Love Sunsets

Votes byAmita Kaur,Kübra Zengin,David Güera, and10 more.

Hone and parlay your luck.

"I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often."

— Brian Tracy

Comment•Share•Thank•Report•10 Sep