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Sailboats have always interested me. They appear to effortlessly glide across the water. Few impediments exist to how far they can go, as they have no gas tank to refill and few mechanical parts to fail.
A good sailor easily goes from point to point under all but the most extreme conditions, even against a strong headwind. They do this by keeping their sails trimmed correctly. They make periodic tweaks—letting line out here, cranking line in there—as they respond to changing wind velocities and direction. Making no adjustments can lead to aimless drift, or the doldrums.
Like sailing, you must do basic things to keep on the right track so you realize your career potential. You’ll need to accept tweaks to your career—like adjusting a sail to keep it full of wind—are demanded up to the day you pull into port.
Check your direction periodically. The calendar moves by fast, and family or financial obligations remain always at the fore. You’ll begin to wander from your destination. But you must remember: only you follow the chart you create for yourself, and nobody is going to come along and tap you on the shoulder when you go off course.
Think in terms of waypoints and time. You should look three to five years into the future at every stage of your career.
Say you are a director and want a vice president role. You may be able to see the path clearly from where you are. But what if you can’t? The person whose job you aspire to may not be going anywhere soon. Maybe you are less tenured than her other, most-likely successor anyway. All the dominoes would have to fall the right way for you to be promoted. You may have to seriously consider leaving a perfectly good situation to advance. Start planning a strategic career move now. Go back to the basics of executive presence, reputation management, profile building, and, of course, networking.
Check your gut periodically. Different things will be important to you at different times in your life. Generally, you’ll be experimenting and seeking in your thirties, settling and earning in your forties, and trying to remove as much work BS from your work life as you can in your fifties.
It follows, then, if you are in early career and experience extended ennui or you can’t commit to your current career choice, it might be time for a tweak. It is more difficult to make significant changes as you age. That is a fact of life.
Your financial obligations typically peak in your forties as the new, large house needs furnishing and the kids need educating. It’s easy to do an internet search of what your job is worth in the labor market. If you think you’re undercompensated and should be doing better, it might be time for a tweak, as big pay leaps in the same position at the same company are not common.
Think “waypoints” because significant new opportunities become scarcer after you turn fifty.
As far as your fifties go, they are a topic for another article. Suffice it to say, after years of striving and politics and competition and starting anew, finding a place where you enjoy the day-to-day and like and trust your colleagues is reward enough.
Check your values periodically. Are they still aligned with your employer’s? You should be proud of their products, proud of the way they participate in the community, proud of the way they treat the planet, and proud of the way they treat their employees.
Do you still trust the CEO and her team? Do you see diversity in the senior ranks or on the board? If any of these things concern you, it might be time for a tweak.
Check your brain periodically. Make sure you are stretched, challenged, and engaged at work and at home. Press hard, and always be a learner. Take advantage of every formal and informal learning opportunity your current employer offers. Pay attention to the good leaders in the organization to adopt their effective habits. Pay attention to the crappy leaders in the organization so you can consciously avoid bad habits.
If you aspire to a larger job in your organization or industry and you know intuitively you’ve learned all you can in your current gig, time for a tweak.
Lifestyle issues outside of work play a big role, too. I know I took a pass at several intriguing opportunities because they were in places I didn’t want to live. But another phone call always seemed to come. They will for you, too.
Of course, you are not making these assessments in a vacuum. If you have a family, they may appreciate being involved in a career decision. And they deserve to be involved.
So many factors deserve consideration when you reach a career crossroads. Here are a few more.
Blue-chip companies are great to have on your résumé early in your career. A level of panache is attached to having experience at companies like Google, Amazon, GE, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, and others.
Executive recruiters keep databases, and you will come up in a lot more searches as they source candidates if you’ve worked at one of these well-known companies. So even if you’re not ready to make a lifelong commitment to them and even if you can make more at generic brand X, I always recommend doing a three-to-five-year stint at high-profile places if you have the opportunity. It will slingshot your career.
Know that, like cottage cheese, your tenure in any given job or organization has a shelf life. The game and the players change over time. Even coaches and teams who win championships are often scattered to the winds within a few years. Better to leave a job with a nice send-off than to have to clear your office in thirty minutes. Know when to stay and when to go.
It’s tempting to stay at a place that meets 80 percent of your emotional, intellectual, and financial needs. Nobody will think less of you if you decide it’s good enough.
But if the final career destination on your chart is not closer after a bit of time, or is even receding from view, the reality is you’re going to have to decide to unfurl the mainsail and go. You may fail (you won’t). Big deal. Other opportunities will pop up. My experience dealing with successful people is they all went all-in at one point in their career.
You—only you—are accountable for how the boat is steered.
Kevin Salcido was the vice president and chief human resources officer at Arizona State University.
Salcido has been a human resources leader for over thirty years. Early in his career, he had a senior personnel role with a major retail chain in Phoenix and spent time as the Southwest region HR manager for the Pepsi-Cola Company, a division of PepsiCo. Salcido then became the vice president of HR at Central Newspapers Inc.; a media and information company that operated seven daily newspapers include the Arizona Republic and the Indianapolis Star. Salcido was then senior director of labor and employee relations and leadership and workforce development at Arizona Public Service before joining ASU in 2007.
Salcido’s major areas of interest include employee and labor relations, organizational development, building performance-based cultures, creating inclusive work environments, and leadership coaching.
He is also the author of the book Your Afternoon Mentor. He holds a BS in Justice Studies and an MBA from Arizona State University.
Salcido’s nonprofessional interests include travel, hiking, rafting, golfing, and anything else outdoor-related. He is also a licensed private pilot. He lives in his native Phoenix with his wife, Toni.
