Make sure that the moon you are shooting for is your own…

 Last week I attended a networking conference from Mizbiz on entrepreneurship. The last speaker was Jamie Anderson, a former professor at London Business School and recognized as one of the world’s top 25 management thinkers by the journal Business Strategy Review. I was quite curious to hear his insights on the challenges to grow a business.

To my surprise, he had a very different take on the subject. Instead of providing us with theories, he shared with us his personal story, leaving one question open…what is success really?

Driving back home, the question remained in my mind. How do I define success?

I decided to look up ‘success’. According to the Oxford dictionary, success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, the attainment of fame, wealth, or social status.

In the nineties, this definition stood firm. You were seen as being successful when you were well up the corporate ladder, had a broad span of control and a lot of money. However, somehow, over the past years, this definition seems to have changed.

A lot of people experience an undercurrent of confusion and unease. Society and business is changing at the speed of light and burnouts/bore outs are the order of the day. Consequently, the relative sense of success changed. We are challenged to find new ways to define ourselves, our purpose and our joy.

Success has become a very personal thing. That doesn’t make it easier as it involves defining what is really important to you, what matters to you most and what makes you happy. It might very well be the fast track in corporate life but it can also be the decision to go travel the world and finance it through Instagram pictures.

Success has become a choice, a choice to open certain doors but close others at the same time. For Jamie, success meant that he left his academic career behind, became a key note speaker and pursued his childhood dream of cycling.

For me, I’m still searching for the right answer. Don’t worry, it won’t involve such a drastic decision, I genuinely still love what I do every day. Nevertheless, I promised myself to keep in mind the sentence that struck me most: shoot for the moon but make sure that the moon you are shooting for is your own.

And you … how do you define success?

For the ones who are looking for inspiration, you can see Jamie’s story in a TEDx video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmc6HohWVCs). And for the ladies, check out Mizbiz (www.mizbiz.be) as it is a network for female professionals from different industries.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch

No guts, no glory...is risk taking a key to success?

I had a surprising feedback call with an HR director. He had decided not to withhold a candidate due to the fact that he did not believe he would have the ability to take risks. Of all the reasons why a client may decide not to continue a selection process with a candidate, this was a new one. Could it be true that the ability to take risk is a quality that can determine success?

When I started researching I immediately ended up with hundreds, if not thousands, of articles that have been written about how risk taking is linked to the willingness to fail. Managers are often thought to tolerate mistakes to foster a learning organization.

I believe that that is turning things the other way around. If risk-taking is immediately linked to making mistaking and learning from them, we are focusing on the negative. After all, who likes to fail? The concept of failure immediately entails the idea of embarrassment and the loss of esteem and stature.

When we look at today’s top business leaders, it is not their mistakes that we remember. It is their willingness to make bold moves, their courage to take tough decisions.

Is it an inborn characteristic or is it a skill that they have acquired throughout the years and improved with practice?

I believe that it is the latter.  People who become good leaders may have a greater than average willingness to make risky moves, but they strengthen their chances of success—and avoid career suicide—through careful deliberation and preparation.

And that is exactly where the key to success lies. The skill to make intelligent decisions between risk and irresponsibility combined with careful preparation and forethought will to a large degree determine the level of achievement that you will attain. 

Not all risks are equal. You can close your eyes and jump but without looking where you are going, you are merely rolling the dice in a casino. The most intelligent risks are those where the potential downside is limited and fixed, but the potential upside is wide.  Those are the risks you should jump to take. Making that choice comes with practice, with talking to others as a sounding board.

Ensuring that your choice becomes a success requires careful planning, clear objectives, the ability to look ahead and possibly a contingency plan. That way you can minimize risk and maximize the odds that you'll succeed.

Many people do what you do and so the only way you are going to stand out from the crowd, is by leaving the well established, proven paths.  That means taking risks. Consequently, having the ability to choose and manage risks by going through the process of calculating the risks, taking your chances, but also learning from your mistakes is how leaders are made and a key determining factor for your success.

So, go out there and find an intelligent risk you can take today.  Maybe it won’t work out. But what if it does?  Celebrate either way because no matter what the outcome, you’ll gain courage just by making the attempt.

I look forward to talking to you

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch

How do you know it is time to give me a call?

I don’t know about you but during the holidays I take the time to look back at the past few months, check what went well (and what was not that successful) and determine my objectives for the months to come. And yes, I have a head bubbling with ideas, plans and resolutions. No doubt I will be sharing a number of them with you in future blogs.

A lot of people reflect during the holidays on their jobs. For a headhunter, September is one of the peak periods for successful hunting. But how do you know it is time to give me a call and discuss future career opportunities?

First of all, let’s state the obvious: if you dread going to work on a Monday morning because the hours are killing you, teamwork looks like a toddler’s playground or if your boss is a copy of David Brent …then it is time to start thinking about a change. However, before entering into any discussions, reflect on whether this is a temporary thing.  Acting on an impulse because you had a horrible week, may prove to be a bad plan for your future career. But if each new day is a little worse that the one before it, then it’s time for that call.

It is a totally different thing if nothing is wrong per se…. except that you have a nagging feeling that you are running on autopilot  (yes the notorious ‘passively looking candidates’). Then it is time for some soul searching.

Here are a few tips to determine whether it is time to give me a call.

• ·       Figure out if you are staying simply for the sake of staying

Routine can be comfortable but you risk ending up in a situation where you are no longer growing.

You can make a pro-con list comparing the advantages and drawbacks of staying versus making a job change. You can have a look at the job-boards to see what is out there. A little snooping around never hurt anybody and it might get you over your initial fear of changing jobs.

• ·       Find out what you really value

Are you looking for a job that offers a good work-life balance or do you want to climb the corporate ladder? Do you want to work close to home? Do you seek continuous change and challenge?

• ·       Evaluate what it would cost to stay in your comfort zone

Your market value is likely to decrease if you are in the same job for more than 7 years.  Headhunters and recruiters will automatically assume that you lack ambition and your skills have stagnated. If you are serious about making a career change, it is important that you don’t miss out on the time-slot.

You may come to the conclusion that your current job is exactly what you are looking for and there is nothing wrong with that. However, if your gut check reveals that it is time for a change…give me a call and we can explore your future career.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch