QUESTION: Those who get breaks early will rise to the top early.
FACT: To reach a top position quickly, one needs to acquire Skills quickly and show an ability to adapt.
A good start does not mean a good finish. It is not true that those who get a break early in their careers will reach a top position quickly. Even If they reach a top position rather early, the challenge will be in staying there. People often make decisions that can turn out to be wrong. This in itself is not an issue, but those who cannot take corrective steps fast enough will experience a severe setback. Sometimes, a setback can derail a person’s career growth by a good number of years. And if such a setback occur at a later stage of one’s career, that will be more damaging, as recovery will be slow. In some cases, there’s no recovery at all. Sometimes, a person’s dream and passion inspire him to take a calculated risk. Then he will have to be also prepared to face any negative consequences; but even if he fails, he will have the happiness and satisfaction that he tried out what he had dreamt of.
Different skills are required at different stages of a career; one way to be successful is to have skills for a higher position than those required for the present one. And even after reaching a senior position, one has to keep acquiring and learning new skills. While it is important to concentrate on building new skills, you should also play by your own strengths. The idea is to be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to advance.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE EMPLOYEE? Those in the early stages of their career tend to feel demotivated when they find that one of their colleagues has received an early break. If you are in such a situation, It is better to get over this feeling quickly and use it as a learning experience. You win be better off if you learn from your colleagues experience and focus on self-
improvement so that you, too, are in a position to grab the next opportunity. But that doesn’t mean you have to imitate anyone blindly. You see, getting a break is important, but even more important is how you perform in the new job,
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE MANAGER? it is natural for you to try and hold on to your best people, but great managers are those who are brave enough to help their top performers seek out the best opportunities—whether in their current department, another department or another company altogether.
