Are You Waiting for Opportunities to Knock, or Are You Building the Door?

Have you ever felt like your career was at a standstill, waiting for that perfect opportunity to come your way?

The most successful professionals don’t wait for opportunities—they create them.

I’ve learned that passivity is the enemy of progress, and if we are not going out creating relationships with people that care what we can do, we will not realize our career dreams. It’s not about being in the right place at the right time; it’s about making the right place and time for yourself.

Whether it was turning layoffs into lessons, leveraging my network to open doors, or creating platforms for collaboration where none existed, every step forward in my career was built on intentional actions and a relentless drive to add value.

So, I ask you: What are you doing today to create your own opportunities? Let’s dive deeper into the power of intentionality, proactive networking, and leading from every seat. Your career growth is in your hands—don’t just wait for it to happen. Make it happen.

Creating Your Own Opportunities: The Power of Intentionality in Career Growth

Every move I’ve made in my career has been because of relationships (people getting me an interview, people recruiting me because they knew what I could do) or reputation (broad impact in organizations, the fact I was a published author as a sales leader) or both, but mostly relationships.

Let me take you back to the start of my Microsoft journey. I didn’t come from a tech background. My chops were in sales and sales leadership from my time in telecommunications and advertising. When I joined Microsoft, I had to learn fast. I realized early on that I wasn’t going to become an expert in technology overnight, but what I could do was leverage my sales experience and build a community around me.

So, I asked myself: How can I add value here? What can I bring to the table that others can’t? That’s when I started to focus on unique prospecting and building community with customers and consistent networking and building relationships with the people around me—the ones who were better than me in areas I wanted to learn.

I became a sponge, soaking up everything I could from those who excelled in their fields. Once I heard something delivered, I could assimilate it into my arsenal.

Lesson #1: Be intentional about who you surround yourself with. Find people who are where you want to be, and learn from them. Absorb their best practices, their mindset, their approach.

But I didn’t stop there. I noticed that there were no formal avenues for collaboration among people in similar roles across the company. So, I took the initiative to create “Colleague Corner,” a forum where managers from different regions could come together, share best practices, and support each other. This wasn’t something anyone asked me to do; it was something I saw a need for and decided to build.

Furthermore, I kept hearing our leadership talk about how we did not have any good relationships outside of IT and procurement; we needed line of business relationships to truly drive meaningful transformative change and deals with our customers. So, I told myself, these folks are on LinkedIn – and I started reaching out to executives by the thousands. It went so well my system generated over $1B in landed revenue and led to me training employees globally.

Lesson #2: Don’t wait for someone else to solve a problem you’ve identified. Take the lead and create the solution. This not only showcases your initiative but also sets you apart as a leader who is proactive and forward-thinking.

A few years into my time at Microsoft, I was in a position that wasn’t my dream role, but I saw it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Think about it – if we created our dream role, it likely would not pay as much as a sales role where you are performing well; I found ways to do what I love inside my role in ways it had broad impact with others.

I’ve always built community with others for the purpose of best practice sharing and rising tide raising all ships.

Lesson #3: Amplify the success of others around you. When you help others grow, you grow too.

Fast forward to today. I’m doing what I absolutely love doing, while getting to be a small cog in the wheel supporting hundreds of nonprofit organizations in North America. It’s meaningful, it’s fulfilling, and I’m having the time of my life.

How did I get here? By being intentional in every step of my career, by not waiting for someone else to show me the way, but by paving my own path and helping others along the way.

Furthermore, while I couldn’t find a job for over a year back in 2010 when I had no network, I get recruited now many times per year. And it’s not cheating to talk to other people or organizations and know your worth. Until you have an offer on the table, you don’t have a decision to make! Understand the playing field. I have. And I have re-committed to my organization many, many times – they get the best I’ve got.

Lesson #4: Create your own opportunities. Don’t wait for the perfect job to come along. Instead, find ways to turn your current role into your dream job by being proactive, intentional, and adding value every day.

So, my challenge to you is this: What’s one thing you can do today to take control of your career path? How can you be more intentional in your actions to create the opportunities you want? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

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