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HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth
Don't wait for someone else to manage your career.
The days of HR-sponsored development plans are over. Managing your career--and the skills you need to be successful--is your responsibility. If you're looking to push yourself to the next level, it can be hard to determine where to start.
The HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth will be your coach, transforming your abstract hopes and ideas into a concrete action plan. No matter where you are in your career, this guide will help
Assess your current skills--and acquire new onesElicit feedback you can useSet meaningful--and achievable--goalsMake time for learningPlay to your strengthsIdentify your next challenge
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
The days of HR-sponsored development plans are over. Managing your career--and the skills you need to be successful--is your responsibility. If you're looking to push yourself to the next level, it can be hard to determine where to start.
The HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth will be your coach, transforming your abstract hopes and ideas into a concrete action plan. No matter where you are in your career, this guide will help
Assess your current skills--and acquire new onesElicit feedback you can useSet meaningful--and achievable--goalsMake time for learningPlay to your strengthsIdentify your next challenge
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
209 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2019
135 people are currently reading
466 people want to read
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August 8, 2020
Takeaways:
1. Chapter 1 – reaching your potential by Robert Kaplan
• Know yourself – write down 2-3 strengths/ weakness
• Put company’s interests ahead of your own/ colleagues’
• Adopt an owner’s mindset
2. Chapter 2 – Developing a Strategy for a Life of Meaningful Labor by Brian Fetherstonhaugh
• Stage 1 – start of career through mid-thirties – take up special assignments at work, online courses, join an NGO
• Stage 2 - late 30s to early 50s – build on strengths
• Stage 3 – beyond 50s – reverse mentoring, stay relevant, research
• Career fuel – transportable skills, meaningful experiences & enduring relationships
3. Chapter 3 - Think strategically about your career development by Donnie Clark
• Make time for strategic reflection
• Pre-write your resume – put yourself 5 years into the future, write your resume as you envision it including new title, responsibilities
• Invest in Deep work, build external reputation - blogging for industry journals, speak at conferences
4. Chapter 4 – career self assessment worksheet
5. Chapter 5 - Self awareness by tasha eurich
• Internal & external self awareness
• Introspection done is generally incorrect i.e. people focus on “why” eg. “why” do I feel terrible. Instead, focus on “what” i.e. what are the situations that made me feel “terrible”
6. Chapter 6 - Make time for self-reflection by Jennifer porter
7. Chapter 7 – make yourself indispensable – john zenger
• Non-linear development – i.e. work on complementary skills
8. Chapter 8 – play your strengths – laura morgan Roberts
• Paradox of human psychology – people remember criticism but respond to praise. Hence, criticism makes them defensive & unlikely to change, while praise produces confidence
• RBS Test (Reflected Best Self) – available on University of michigan’s site
• Format of feedback letter to be sent to colleagues:
Dear Colleague,
I’m currently working on creating a personal development plan. As part of that
process, I’m gathering feedback from a variety of people I work with closely to help
me develop a broader understanding of the strengths I bring to our work. I’m hoping
you’ll be willing to share your thoughts with me.
From your perspective, what would you say my professional strengths are? Just
two or three would be helpful, and if you could cite a specific example of situations
where I used those in ways that were meaningful to you, that would be great. Your
candid feedback and examples will help me shape my development plan.
Thank you for taking the time to help me.
9. Chapter 9 – get the feedback you need – Carolyn O hara
• Do it in real time i.e. don’t wait for performance reviews
• Pose specific questions – do not ask “any feedback for me?” Ask “how” or “what” i.e. what’s one thing I could have done better in the meeting
• Press for details i.e. if you get “you are not assertive”, ask “how can I be more assertive”
• In virtual environment, it gets hard to seek feedback, so pick up the phone. Don’t rely on emails
10. Chapter 10 – actionable feedback to get your promoted - Sabina Nawaz
11. Chapter 11 – 9 things successful people do differently
• Get specific – lose 5 pounds v/s lose weight
• Seize the moment i.e. plan specifics
• Know exactly how far you have left to go i.e. track progress
• Be a realistic optimist
• Focus on getting better rather than being good
• Have grit
• Build “will-power” muscle
• Don’t multi-task
• Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do – thought suppression reinforces the thoughts!
12. Chapter 12 – setting goals you don’t actually care about by Elizabeth Saunders
13. Chapter 19 – make yourself an expert
• Observation, Practice, partnering, taking responsibility
14. Chapter 26 – having the “here’s what I want” conversation with the boss
• For eg. if you are targeting for a promotion, you could ask “now that I’ve been in this role for 2 years, what actions would it take to advance to the next level”
• Assuming things are different 6 months from now (say promotion freeze lifted off), what are the chances of getting a promotion
• What specifically do I need to do to achieve it
• If no to salary hike, then ask for an extra week of paid leave, continuous education payment
15. Chapter 27 – how to ask for a promotion
• Reflect – be ready for a “what have you done for me” question; prepare a one pager to convey your “track record”
• Examples – “I’m excited to be here and make an impact, here is the impact I’ve already made. I would like to have ongoing discussions with you about what it would take to get to the next level.
1. Chapter 1 – reaching your potential by Robert Kaplan
• Know yourself – write down 2-3 strengths/ weakness
• Put company’s interests ahead of your own/ colleagues’
• Adopt an owner’s mindset
2. Chapter 2 – Developing a Strategy for a Life of Meaningful Labor by Brian Fetherstonhaugh
• Stage 1 – start of career through mid-thirties – take up special assignments at work, online courses, join an NGO
• Stage 2 - late 30s to early 50s – build on strengths
• Stage 3 – beyond 50s – reverse mentoring, stay relevant, research
• Career fuel – transportable skills, meaningful experiences & enduring relationships
3. Chapter 3 - Think strategically about your career development by Donnie Clark
• Make time for strategic reflection
• Pre-write your resume – put yourself 5 years into the future, write your resume as you envision it including new title, responsibilities
• Invest in Deep work, build external reputation - blogging for industry journals, speak at conferences
4. Chapter 4 – career self assessment worksheet
5. Chapter 5 - Self awareness by tasha eurich
• Internal & external self awareness
• Introspection done is generally incorrect i.e. people focus on “why” eg. “why” do I feel terrible. Instead, focus on “what” i.e. what are the situations that made me feel “terrible”
6. Chapter 6 - Make time for self-reflection by Jennifer porter
7. Chapter 7 – make yourself indispensable – john zenger
• Non-linear development – i.e. work on complementary skills
8. Chapter 8 – play your strengths – laura morgan Roberts
• Paradox of human psychology – people remember criticism but respond to praise. Hence, criticism makes them defensive & unlikely to change, while praise produces confidence
• RBS Test (Reflected Best Self) – available on University of michigan’s site
• Format of feedback letter to be sent to colleagues:
Dear Colleague,
I’m currently working on creating a personal development plan. As part of that
process, I’m gathering feedback from a variety of people I work with closely to help
me develop a broader understanding of the strengths I bring to our work. I’m hoping
you’ll be willing to share your thoughts with me.
From your perspective, what would you say my professional strengths are? Just
two or three would be helpful, and if you could cite a specific example of situations
where I used those in ways that were meaningful to you, that would be great. Your
candid feedback and examples will help me shape my development plan.
Thank you for taking the time to help me.
9. Chapter 9 – get the feedback you need – Carolyn O hara
• Do it in real time i.e. don’t wait for performance reviews
• Pose specific questions – do not ask “any feedback for me?” Ask “how” or “what” i.e. what’s one thing I could have done better in the meeting
• Press for details i.e. if you get “you are not assertive”, ask “how can I be more assertive”
• In virtual environment, it gets hard to seek feedback, so pick up the phone. Don’t rely on emails
10. Chapter 10 – actionable feedback to get your promoted - Sabina Nawaz
11. Chapter 11 – 9 things successful people do differently
• Get specific – lose 5 pounds v/s lose weight
• Seize the moment i.e. plan specifics
• Know exactly how far you have left to go i.e. track progress
• Be a realistic optimist
• Focus on getting better rather than being good
• Have grit
• Build “will-power” muscle
• Don’t multi-task
• Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do – thought suppression reinforces the thoughts!
12. Chapter 12 – setting goals you don’t actually care about by Elizabeth Saunders
13. Chapter 19 – make yourself an expert
• Observation, Practice, partnering, taking responsibility
14. Chapter 26 – having the “here’s what I want” conversation with the boss
• For eg. if you are targeting for a promotion, you could ask “now that I’ve been in this role for 2 years, what actions would it take to advance to the next level”
• Assuming things are different 6 months from now (say promotion freeze lifted off), what are the chances of getting a promotion
• What specifically do I need to do to achieve it
• If no to salary hike, then ask for an extra week of paid leave, continuous education payment
15. Chapter 27 – how to ask for a promotion
• Reflect – be ready for a “what have you done for me” question; prepare a one pager to convey your “track record”
• Examples – “I’m excited to be here and make an impact, here is the impact I’ve already made. I would like to have ongoing discussions with you about what it would take to get to the next level.
August 30, 2023
Muy buen read, literalmente una guía muy práctica de como crecer de manera profesional. Mi key takeaway es trabajar de manera constante no solo en nuestras debilidades, sino también nuestras fortalezas para distinguirnos como profesionistas.
January 15, 2020
Lots of interesting short articles all condense in a book . I wish they would go a little deeper in some topics but I guess for its size it does provide a good initial insight.
What I found useful was
1. Framework to learn a new skill on the job
- Observe : watch behaviours of someone with the competency you desire and analyse what they do well
- Practice: find situations to practice the new skill by planning for it
-PArtner and problem solve : work with the person you want to emulate to solve a problem
- take responsibility: got the skill and take ownership and be known as the go to for that topic
2. Asking for actionable feedback , when feedback is vague without examples
- how might I develop X skills
- can you share examples of x that I displayed this trait
- anything else
3. The book shares a list of complementary skills that can boost or enhance an existing skill that you have . I thought this was an interesting concept how certain related skills together produce a boost in your existing skill from good to great . So often being good is not good enough
4. The importance of getting feedback from others to identify gaps that we can’t identify or aren’t aware of
5. Self reflection is important to access where we are going or to analyse what have we learned from this situation . Too often we don’t do it as it feels as we need to be always doing something , self reflection feels like we aren’t doing anything
6. Feeling bored or no longer growing ? First look within the organisation for chances to
- take on stretch assignments
- start a side project in an area that you are interested in
- rule of thumb for growth is that you should have 50-70% chance of succeeding in that new role
7. What skills to learn ?
list down what you want to learn and check if it fits the criteria of
- are you interested in that skill
- is that skill-needed or prized in your company/ industry
- are you committed to learn that skill
- once selected think of ways to implement that skill so that you aren’t passively consuming it . We learn better and become second nature when we do things
I
-
What I found useful was
1. Framework to learn a new skill on the job
- Observe : watch behaviours of someone with the competency you desire and analyse what they do well
- Practice: find situations to practice the new skill by planning for it
-PArtner and problem solve : work with the person you want to emulate to solve a problem
- take responsibility: got the skill and take ownership and be known as the go to for that topic
2. Asking for actionable feedback , when feedback is vague without examples
- how might I develop X skills
- can you share examples of x that I displayed this trait
- anything else
3. The book shares a list of complementary skills that can boost or enhance an existing skill that you have . I thought this was an interesting concept how certain related skills together produce a boost in your existing skill from good to great . So often being good is not good enough
4. The importance of getting feedback from others to identify gaps that we can’t identify or aren’t aware of
5. Self reflection is important to access where we are going or to analyse what have we learned from this situation . Too often we don’t do it as it feels as we need to be always doing something , self reflection feels like we aren’t doing anything
6. Feeling bored or no longer growing ? First look within the organisation for chances to
- take on stretch assignments
- start a side project in an area that you are interested in
- rule of thumb for growth is that you should have 50-70% chance of succeeding in that new role
7. What skills to learn ?
list down what you want to learn and check if it fits the criteria of
- are you interested in that skill
- is that skill-needed or prized in your company/ industry
- are you committed to learn that skill
- once selected think of ways to implement that skill so that you aren’t passively consuming it . We learn better and become second nature when we do things
I
-
February 20, 2022
This book is great. It helped me create a game plan for myself during a time in which I really needed professional guidance. Now I know how to get to where i want to go. Definitely worth a reread.
Read
January 12, 2020It got a little bit repetitive in the middle, but otherwise had some pretty interesting articles
March 17, 2022
The Notes on HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth...
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
~Confucius
No one will pay as close attention to your growth and development as you.
Whether you’re lucky enough to work for an organization that cultivates a learning mindset or if only a handful of stars get all the heat and light when it comes to professional development, you are the best person to build and monitor your own curriculum.
And increasingly in today’s organizations, the success of your career lies in your hands.
Goal...
The guide will help you set a goal and chart the steps to take to achieve it, whether you’re new to the workforce, at a turning point in your career, or looking to push yourself to the next level.
Learnings:
- Identify and address gaps in your knowledge or skills
- Gather, interpret, and act on constructive feedback
- Develop or nurture a growth mindset
- Make time to learn by figuring out what to stop doing
- Evaluate educational opportunities from formal business degrees to online courses
- Set new goals—regularly—to keep learning
- Talk to your boss about making positive changes to your job
- Recognize when it’s time for a new challenge
"I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do." ~Helen Keller
SECTION ONE: Set a Vision for Your Career
(Chapter 1- Chapter 3)
Despite racking up impressive accomplishments, you feel frustrated with your career—convinced you should be achieving more. You may even wish you had chosen a different career altogether.
To reach your potential, Kaplan suggests taking a deeply personal look at how you define success:
Begin by recognizing that managing your career is your responsibility.
Then, follow these three steps:
1: Know yourself
2: Excel
3: Demonstrate character and leadership
There’s nothing anyone can do to prevent you from reaching your potential; the challenge is for you to identify your dream, develop the skills to get there, and exhibit character and leadership. Then, you need to have the courage to periodically reassess, make adjustments, and pursue a course that
reflects who you truly are.
In a world of constant disruption, both opportunity and uncertainty exist in the workplace. All of us need a new way of thinking about work and taking personal responsibility for our careers, which last 45 years and beyond.
The career strategy:
1: Calculate How Much Longer You’ll Be Working
2: Figure Out What Career Stage You Are At
3: Take Inventory of How Much “Career Fuel” You Have
4: Grade Your Current Work Situation
5: Invest Your Time Wisely
A career is a long ride, and it’s more than just work: It’s a huge part of life.
Take time to think strategically about your career journey. Only one person will be with you for the whole ride, and that’s you.
Don’t just worry about it—take some action.
We have to take control of our career planning to ensure we’re positioning ourselves for long-term growth.
Four ways to become more strategic about the process:
1: Force Yourself To Set Aside Time
2: Get Clear On Your Next Steps
3: Invest In Deep Work
4: Build Your External Reputation
Taking time to think about your career development is obviously important, but it’s almost never urgent, so many of us fail to take action, year after year. By focusing on these four steps, you can begin to carve out time to be more deliberate and lay the groundwork for the job you want— five years from now, and beyond.
“Work to become, not to acquire."
~Elbert Hubbard
SECTION TWO: Assess Yourself and Gather Feedback
(Chapter 4 - Chapter 12)
To manage your career effectively, you need to know yourself well. Identifying your strengths and gaps can help you know where to start when asking for the learning opportunities and support you need.
Self-awareness seems to have become the latest management buzzword— and for good reason. Research suggests that when we see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.
Leaders who focus on building both internal and external self-awareness, who seek honest feedback from loving critics, and who ask what instead of why can learn to see themselves more clearly—and reap the many rewards that increased self-knowledge delivers. And no matter how much progress we make, there’s always more to learn. That’s one of the things that makes the journey to self-awareness so exciting.
The hardest leaders to coach are those who won’t reflect—particularly leaders who won’t reflect on
themselves.
The most useful reflection involves the conscious consideration and analysis of beliefs and actions for the purpose of learning. Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amid the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations,
and create meaning. This meaning becomes learning, which can then inform future mindsets and actions. For leaders, this “meaning-making” is crucial to their ongoing growth and development.
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection, will come even more effective action.”
~Peter Drucker
Good leaders can become exceptional by developing just a few of their strengths to the highest level—but not by merely doing more of the same. Instead, they need to engage in the business equivalent of cross-training—that is, to enhance complementary skills that will enable them to make fuller use of their strengths. For example, technical skills can become more effective when communication skills improve, making a leader’s expertise more apparent and more accessible. Once a few of their strengths have reached the level of outstanding, leaders become indispensable to their organizations despite the weaknesses they may have.
You need feedback to learn and grow, and if you’re waiting for your annual review to find out how you’re performing, you’re not getting enough of it.
How to ask for feedback?
- Understand What You’re Looking For
- Ask for Feedback in Real-Time
- Pose Specific Questions
- Press for Examples
- Turn to Colleagues
- On Virtual Teams, Ask More Frequently
To help you move up the promotion ladder, shed light on your blind spots, and shine up your strengths.
By taking charge of the process, you free up the feedback provider to do only one job: provide you with the input you need to become an outstanding executive.
“It's not what you achieve, it's what you overcome. That's what defines your career."
~Carlton Fisk
SECTION THREE: Set Goals for Yourself
(Chapter 11 - Chapter 13)
Nine Things Successful People Do Differently:
1: Get Specific
2: Seize the Moment to Act On Your Goals
3: Know Exactly How Far You Have Left to Go
4: Be a Realistic Optimist
5: Focus On Getting Better, Rather Than Being Good
6: Have Grit
7: Build Your Willpower Muscle
8: Don’t Tempt Fate
9: Focus On What You Will Do, Not What You Won’t Do
While the goal itself may feel as if it is something that fits the needs of their professional role, it doesn’t match the individual’s preferences or ambitions.
- Pick Your Goals
- Make Time in Your Schedule
When you have professional development goals that reflect what’s important to you and you align your time with those goals, you’ll find the results can feel effortless in the year ahead.
Before You Set New Goals, Think About What You’re Going to Stop Doing!
- Question All of Your Work Commitments
- Reassess Your Work Style
- Add New Goals Strategically
To say yes to the new, you must say no to some of the old. By eliminating some of the activities in your calendar that are no longer the best use of your time, you can finally make progress on what’s truly important to you.
“Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it."
~Katherine Whitehorn
SECTION FOUR: Become a Better Learner
(Chapter 14 - Chapter 18)
“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
~Arie de Geus
The ability to acquire new skills and knowledge quickly and continually is crucial to success in a world of rapid change. If you don’t currently have the aspiration, self-awareness, curiosity, and vulnerability to be an effective learner, these simple tools can help you get there.
Four Ways to Become a Better Learner:
Develop Learning Agility...
1: Ask For Feedback
2: Experiment With New Approaches or Behaviors
3: Look For Connection Across Seemingly Unrelated Areas
4: Make Time For Reflection
Practicing these strategies will help you extract the maximum learning from experience.
You Can Learn and Get Work Done at the Same Time...
- Pick a Skill You Want to Develop
- Research The Skill You Are Trying to Develop
- Set a Series of Progressive Goals
- Ask a Colleague For Feedback
Four Practices of People Who Are Always Learning New Skills:
1: Focus on Emerging Skills
2: Get Synchronous
3: Implement Learning Immediately
4: Set a Golden Benchmark
Learning is a career-long process.
After you achieve one big goal, set your sights on the next one. That’s how you make learning a part of your normal routine. The more you do that, the less likely you are to stop.
Talking to Yourself (Out Loud) Can Help You Learn!
- Talk To Yourself
- Ask Why
- Summarize
- Make Connections
Self-explaining should go into the learning tool kit of workers today, as the economy places new demands on making connections and adopting new insights and skills.
"Failure doesn't mean you are a failure it just means you haven't succeeded yet."
~Robert H. Schuller
SECTION FIVE: Gain New Skills
(Chapter 19 - Chapter 23)
Make Yourself an Expert!
- Rare Asset
- The Right System
- Guided Experience
Good judgment comes from the experience of having made bad decisions.
There is a belief it’s more effective and efficient to build expertise through experiences guided by the smart people around you. If you observe, practice, partner, and problem-solve with them before taking responsibility on your own, you’ll soon become as indispensable as they are.
Your Career Needs Many Mentors, Not Just One!
Professional success requires a myriad of skills, knowledge, and abilities, more than we could ever hope to learn on our own. That’s why mentors who can help us improve are so critical. Archetypal mentors— beneficent, all-knowing senior professionals—are in short supply these days. By updating our notions of mentorship and building a mentor board of directors, we can benefit from the knowledge of talented colleagues all around us.
There’s never been more free—or nearly-free—quality educational resources available to anyone with an internet connection. Why wouldn’t you find a way to use it to improve your skills and career? After all, someone else in your field surely is.
"The best way to predict the future is to create it."
~Abraham Lincoln
SECTION SIX: Move Ahead, Move-Up
(Chapter 24- Chapter 28)
You Don’t Need a Promotion to Grow at Work!
- Make a Lateral Move
- Reshape Your Role
- Expand Your Influence
- Deepen Your Skills
Most 21st-century managers will find themselves on a similar plateau somewhere along with their careers. Before succumbing to the temptation to jump to a new escarpment, consider whether branching out in place may be the best way to build your skills, both personally and professionally, for your next ascent.
Position Yourself for a Stretch Assignment!
- Do You Really Have What It Takes?
- Is It The Right Opportunity?
- How Can You Get It?
Having the Here’s-What-I-Want Conversation with Your Boss:
1: Avoid Assumptions by Asking the Right Questions
2: Gather Context Through Open Dialogue
3: Use˝What If˝ Responses
4: Let The Conversation Evolve
No matter your perceived level of expertise in negotiation or the style you use to go about it, there is power in simply moving beyond your nervousness and starting a conversation with your boss about what you want. By doing so, you’ll begin to build both your skill level and confidence, preparing you for future negotiations. While you may not get what you want every time, if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.
How to Ask for a Promotion?
- Reflect
- Do Some Research
- Build Your Case
- Consider Timing
- Plant the Seed
- Nurture the Seed
- Don’t Be Reckless
- Be Patient (to a Point)
- Case Study: Create a “Résumé of Accomplishments” to Bolster Your Argument
Learn to Get Better at Transitions!
1: Pacing and Planning
2: Leaving Gracefully
3: Letting The Inside Out
4: Letting The Outside In
5: Leaping
"Dreams are extremely important. You can't do it unless you imagine it."
~George Lucas
"If you can DREAM it, you can DO it."
~Walt Disney
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
~Confucius
No one will pay as close attention to your growth and development as you.
Whether you’re lucky enough to work for an organization that cultivates a learning mindset or if only a handful of stars get all the heat and light when it comes to professional development, you are the best person to build and monitor your own curriculum.
And increasingly in today’s organizations, the success of your career lies in your hands.
Goal...
The guide will help you set a goal and chart the steps to take to achieve it, whether you’re new to the workforce, at a turning point in your career, or looking to push yourself to the next level.
Learnings:
- Identify and address gaps in your knowledge or skills
- Gather, interpret, and act on constructive feedback
- Develop or nurture a growth mindset
- Make time to learn by figuring out what to stop doing
- Evaluate educational opportunities from formal business degrees to online courses
- Set new goals—regularly—to keep learning
- Talk to your boss about making positive changes to your job
- Recognize when it’s time for a new challenge
"I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do." ~Helen Keller
SECTION ONE: Set a Vision for Your Career
(Chapter 1- Chapter 3)
Despite racking up impressive accomplishments, you feel frustrated with your career—convinced you should be achieving more. You may even wish you had chosen a different career altogether.
To reach your potential, Kaplan suggests taking a deeply personal look at how you define success:
Begin by recognizing that managing your career is your responsibility.
Then, follow these three steps:
1: Know yourself
2: Excel
3: Demonstrate character and leadership
There’s nothing anyone can do to prevent you from reaching your potential; the challenge is for you to identify your dream, develop the skills to get there, and exhibit character and leadership. Then, you need to have the courage to periodically reassess, make adjustments, and pursue a course that
reflects who you truly are.
In a world of constant disruption, both opportunity and uncertainty exist in the workplace. All of us need a new way of thinking about work and taking personal responsibility for our careers, which last 45 years and beyond.
The career strategy:
1: Calculate How Much Longer You’ll Be Working
2: Figure Out What Career Stage You Are At
3: Take Inventory of How Much “Career Fuel” You Have
4: Grade Your Current Work Situation
5: Invest Your Time Wisely
A career is a long ride, and it’s more than just work: It’s a huge part of life.
Take time to think strategically about your career journey. Only one person will be with you for the whole ride, and that’s you.
Don’t just worry about it—take some action.
We have to take control of our career planning to ensure we’re positioning ourselves for long-term growth.
Four ways to become more strategic about the process:
1: Force Yourself To Set Aside Time
2: Get Clear On Your Next Steps
3: Invest In Deep Work
4: Build Your External Reputation
Taking time to think about your career development is obviously important, but it’s almost never urgent, so many of us fail to take action, year after year. By focusing on these four steps, you can begin to carve out time to be more deliberate and lay the groundwork for the job you want— five years from now, and beyond.
“Work to become, not to acquire."
~Elbert Hubbard
SECTION TWO: Assess Yourself and Gather Feedback
(Chapter 4 - Chapter 12)
To manage your career effectively, you need to know yourself well. Identifying your strengths and gaps can help you know where to start when asking for the learning opportunities and support you need.
Self-awareness seems to have become the latest management buzzword— and for good reason. Research suggests that when we see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.
Leaders who focus on building both internal and external self-awareness, who seek honest feedback from loving critics, and who ask what instead of why can learn to see themselves more clearly—and reap the many rewards that increased self-knowledge delivers. And no matter how much progress we make, there’s always more to learn. That’s one of the things that makes the journey to self-awareness so exciting.
The hardest leaders to coach are those who won’t reflect—particularly leaders who won’t reflect on
themselves.
The most useful reflection involves the conscious consideration and analysis of beliefs and actions for the purpose of learning. Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amid the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations,
and create meaning. This meaning becomes learning, which can then inform future mindsets and actions. For leaders, this “meaning-making” is crucial to their ongoing growth and development.
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection, will come even more effective action.”
~Peter Drucker
Good leaders can become exceptional by developing just a few of their strengths to the highest level—but not by merely doing more of the same. Instead, they need to engage in the business equivalent of cross-training—that is, to enhance complementary skills that will enable them to make fuller use of their strengths. For example, technical skills can become more effective when communication skills improve, making a leader’s expertise more apparent and more accessible. Once a few of their strengths have reached the level of outstanding, leaders become indispensable to their organizations despite the weaknesses they may have.
You need feedback to learn and grow, and if you’re waiting for your annual review to find out how you’re performing, you’re not getting enough of it.
How to ask for feedback?
- Understand What You’re Looking For
- Ask for Feedback in Real-Time
- Pose Specific Questions
- Press for Examples
- Turn to Colleagues
- On Virtual Teams, Ask More Frequently
To help you move up the promotion ladder, shed light on your blind spots, and shine up your strengths.
By taking charge of the process, you free up the feedback provider to do only one job: provide you with the input you need to become an outstanding executive.
“It's not what you achieve, it's what you overcome. That's what defines your career."
~Carlton Fisk
SECTION THREE: Set Goals for Yourself
(Chapter 11 - Chapter 13)
Nine Things Successful People Do Differently:
1: Get Specific
2: Seize the Moment to Act On Your Goals
3: Know Exactly How Far You Have Left to Go
4: Be a Realistic Optimist
5: Focus On Getting Better, Rather Than Being Good
6: Have Grit
7: Build Your Willpower Muscle
8: Don’t Tempt Fate
9: Focus On What You Will Do, Not What You Won’t Do
While the goal itself may feel as if it is something that fits the needs of their professional role, it doesn’t match the individual’s preferences or ambitions.
- Pick Your Goals
- Make Time in Your Schedule
When you have professional development goals that reflect what’s important to you and you align your time with those goals, you’ll find the results can feel effortless in the year ahead.
Before You Set New Goals, Think About What You’re Going to Stop Doing!
- Question All of Your Work Commitments
- Reassess Your Work Style
- Add New Goals Strategically
To say yes to the new, you must say no to some of the old. By eliminating some of the activities in your calendar that are no longer the best use of your time, you can finally make progress on what’s truly important to you.
“Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it."
~Katherine Whitehorn
SECTION FOUR: Become a Better Learner
(Chapter 14 - Chapter 18)
“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
~Arie de Geus
The ability to acquire new skills and knowledge quickly and continually is crucial to success in a world of rapid change. If you don’t currently have the aspiration, self-awareness, curiosity, and vulnerability to be an effective learner, these simple tools can help you get there.
Four Ways to Become a Better Learner:
Develop Learning Agility...
1: Ask For Feedback
2: Experiment With New Approaches or Behaviors
3: Look For Connection Across Seemingly Unrelated Areas
4: Make Time For Reflection
Practicing these strategies will help you extract the maximum learning from experience.
You Can Learn and Get Work Done at the Same Time...
- Pick a Skill You Want to Develop
- Research The Skill You Are Trying to Develop
- Set a Series of Progressive Goals
- Ask a Colleague For Feedback
Four Practices of People Who Are Always Learning New Skills:
1: Focus on Emerging Skills
2: Get Synchronous
3: Implement Learning Immediately
4: Set a Golden Benchmark
Learning is a career-long process.
After you achieve one big goal, set your sights on the next one. That’s how you make learning a part of your normal routine. The more you do that, the less likely you are to stop.
Talking to Yourself (Out Loud) Can Help You Learn!
- Talk To Yourself
- Ask Why
- Summarize
- Make Connections
Self-explaining should go into the learning tool kit of workers today, as the economy places new demands on making connections and adopting new insights and skills.
"Failure doesn't mean you are a failure it just means you haven't succeeded yet."
~Robert H. Schuller
SECTION FIVE: Gain New Skills
(Chapter 19 - Chapter 23)
Make Yourself an Expert!
- Rare Asset
- The Right System
- Guided Experience
Good judgment comes from the experience of having made bad decisions.
There is a belief it’s more effective and efficient to build expertise through experiences guided by the smart people around you. If you observe, practice, partner, and problem-solve with them before taking responsibility on your own, you’ll soon become as indispensable as they are.
Your Career Needs Many Mentors, Not Just One!
Professional success requires a myriad of skills, knowledge, and abilities, more than we could ever hope to learn on our own. That’s why mentors who can help us improve are so critical. Archetypal mentors— beneficent, all-knowing senior professionals—are in short supply these days. By updating our notions of mentorship and building a mentor board of directors, we can benefit from the knowledge of talented colleagues all around us.
There’s never been more free—or nearly-free—quality educational resources available to anyone with an internet connection. Why wouldn’t you find a way to use it to improve your skills and career? After all, someone else in your field surely is.
"The best way to predict the future is to create it."
~Abraham Lincoln
SECTION SIX: Move Ahead, Move-Up
(Chapter 24- Chapter 28)
You Don’t Need a Promotion to Grow at Work!
- Make a Lateral Move
- Reshape Your Role
- Expand Your Influence
- Deepen Your Skills
Most 21st-century managers will find themselves on a similar plateau somewhere along with their careers. Before succumbing to the temptation to jump to a new escarpment, consider whether branching out in place may be the best way to build your skills, both personally and professionally, for your next ascent.
Position Yourself for a Stretch Assignment!
- Do You Really Have What It Takes?
- Is It The Right Opportunity?
- How Can You Get It?
Having the Here’s-What-I-Want Conversation with Your Boss:
1: Avoid Assumptions by Asking the Right Questions
2: Gather Context Through Open Dialogue
3: Use˝What If˝ Responses
4: Let The Conversation Evolve
No matter your perceived level of expertise in negotiation or the style you use to go about it, there is power in simply moving beyond your nervousness and starting a conversation with your boss about what you want. By doing so, you’ll begin to build both your skill level and confidence, preparing you for future negotiations. While you may not get what you want every time, if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.
How to Ask for a Promotion?
- Reflect
- Do Some Research
- Build Your Case
- Consider Timing
- Plant the Seed
- Nurture the Seed
- Don’t Be Reckless
- Be Patient (to a Point)
- Case Study: Create a “Résumé of Accomplishments” to Bolster Your Argument
Learn to Get Better at Transitions!
1: Pacing and Planning
2: Leaving Gracefully
3: Letting The Inside Out
4: Letting The Outside In
5: Leaping
"Dreams are extremely important. You can't do it unless you imagine it."
~George Lucas
"If you can DREAM it, you can DO it."
~Walt Disney
October 4, 2019
Great book
Fantastic read. Definitely helped me in terms of what I’m planning to do in the coming year. Recommend to all mid career switchers.
Fantastic read. Definitely helped me in terms of what I’m planning to do in the coming year. Recommend to all mid career switchers.
October 8, 2019
Covers all topics, a middle manager needs to understand to route its professional growth
May 10, 2021
I found this book (basically a collection of short essays on various topics related to professional growth) easy to read in small chunks of a couple of essays at a time. Some great insights and food for thought.
December 30, 2022
Being lifelong learner, this book allows to assess, review, and manage your continuous professional development or growth. It gives summarised information that include assessments and action plan for your next challenge.
April 11, 2023
I found this book to be great for professionals. Each chapter covers a different topic from a different author so you’re getting a fresh perspective in basically every page.
I plan on going back to this book in the future whenever I need guidance on my career.
I plan on going back to this book in the future whenever I need guidance on my career.
May 20, 2020
Condense and quite interesting, but repetitive at times. Overall, a good guide and worth the time.
November 23, 2020
A good primer for building on the key areas to bring you through your career. Recommended for those starting out in their career.
December 17, 2020
plenty of useful chapters are there, very insightful
October 24, 2021
My takeaways from this book are plan your career path, measure your achievements, and know your self-worth.
February 2, 2022
One can find atleast 20/27 good articles with key messages for self improvement.
September 11, 2024
I've read quite a few HBR books and these chapters resonated with me the most.
Chapters 1 -5
Chapter 7 (Also in Managing Yourself Vol 2)
Chapter 9, 13, 16, 23, and 37
Chapters 1 -5
Chapter 7 (Also in Managing Yourself Vol 2)
Chapter 9, 13, 16, 23, and 37
January 31, 2025
HBR is always so practical
This book should be required reading - excellent questions to ask yourself and your boss. Great January reading to start the year off right.
This book should be required reading - excellent questions to ask yourself and your boss. Great January reading to start the year off right.
December 5, 2025
Extremally important for your career. Buy too for you and your leaders.
There are good tips and resources for you think about your career.
There are good tips and resources for you think about your career.
December 11, 2021
just skimmed.. not so seriously..
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