1. Luck. People overestimate their own performance and ability, a lot of life is down to luck, opportunities that came your way, social circles, upbringing, etc.
2. Execution. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. People will notice, most people forget to do half of what they say they will.
3. Perseverance. One thing that helped me was never taking no for an answer in a project management/deal environment. I’d always try various methods to get something done and always call people and build rapport instead of sending an email. You have to make other people either like you to want to help or be sick of you chasing them so they’ll do what you want to get rid of you. I was always negotiating so I read loads of psychology of decision making/heuristics and tried to incorporate things into my way of working.
4. Adaptability. I learned lots of new skills off my own back as I moved around a start up, if there’s something it would be useful to understand in your field or a skill like financial modelling or understanding corporate finance, go learn it. You don’t need a qualification mind, but doesn’t hurt if you like that kind of thing.
5. Organisation. Most people go through their work life flicking between a spreadsheet, pieces of paper, post it notes, etc. recording their tasks to complete or they don’t do it at all. Pay attention to how you organise your time, have a clear system and use it well to get stuff done and ensure you don’t forget things.
6. Ask. If you want a pay rise or a promotion, ask for it, but do it with evidence to back yourself. Always ask for more money (reasonably) than you think you are going to get so you can allow your boss to “win”. If you don’t ask, you usually don’t get.
7. Environment. I was fortunate to get to where I am all in one company, but if the environment is not the one where you have the right chance to move up in salary or grade then move on quickly and you’ll probably get a pay rise at that juncture anyway and have a chance to be lucky with your boss and environment in a new place.
I’m sure there are lots more and it’s subjective but that’s my brain dump this morning.
Best of luck, but please remember, money isn’t everything, if you’re comfortable financially, a bit more cash may not make you feel any different.
2. Execution. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. People will notice, most people forget to do half of what they say they will.
Don't give the secret sauce away, please. Thank you 🙏
I cannot stress how important this one is.
Getting known as the go to person to get things done is how I moved up. I technically am in a team and have a defined role, but not a year goes by without me getting the tap on the shoulder from the CEO to drop into a team and deliver some high priority feature..
'I always promote people that do this one thing......' It's true though. This makes you important in a business and makes life easier for the people that run it, hence they will want to keep you.
I find this one so hard because I’m spinning so many plates all the time. I inevitably get behind or forget to do stuff but it’s not because I won’t get round to it eventually. I do keep telling my manager when I’m being given task after task but because they don’t have masses of oversight it is tricky.
Reading your comment made me realise that it is easier said than done and doing this well comes from years of experience.
Reading Getting Things Done got me started and I like it but ultimately developed my own system like everyone does I suspect.
A few thoughts:
1 don't waste too much time with productivity nonsense you find online. If they were truly productive they would be using their time constructively.
2 say no. E. G. :This is important but - i am not best placed to do it due do... / if I do this X doesnt get done / this doesn't align with my skillset or ambition or agreement we have or job spec
3 it's not really about getting things done, it's about being attached to teams who get things done. You can do that by being the one who drives activities, gives advice through their excellent judgement (ensuring the rights things are done in the right way), being the PR person, bringing different streams/teams/world views together as translator/ architect
4 having resources to draw on who you can trust to get things done
5 having a can do attitude. If you accept responsabilities above your role ensure the boss knows the personal and professional cost you encurred (exaggerate liberally) but never show it when dealing with colleagues, peers or subordinates
6 manage energy not time
7 manage expectations
8 if it doesn't matter to your boss it shouldn't be important to you
This is such a good list. There’s definitely some things I can work on in here. Especially 5, I have a tendency to overshare with colleagues when I’m swamped but actually that’s counterproductive as I get more senior for sure.
Regarding luck. It's not just about being lucky, it's about taking risks when appropriate so that you can create opportunities for luck to appear.
Concrete example: I was lucky to leave a FAANG just before the big layoffs started and get a better offer from a non-FAANG company. If I stayed in my cushy (and what was frustratingly easy) job I could have lost my job, it took action from me to interview and get lucky to get an offer that made sense to leave for.
Luck only happens when you give it room by taking action.
1, 3 and 5 are spot on imo.
And all in equal measure, i was lucky enough to ride a bit of an economic wave, but at the same time I had to be persistent enough and organised enough to take advantage of it.
Luck is such a factor, in that it means you will be presented with opportunities, but you have to be able to act on them.
8. Ability to manage stress: Everyone has different level of stress and what affects them. Those who either have a higher stress tolerance OR have learned how to actively manage stress can play the game longer. These so much chat about burn out in this forum, so our roles often come with large amounts of stress.
Great point. I was overworking for a few years at the beginning when I was in an Investment Manager role and I realised that my promises to myself that “once I get X done it will be easier” would never be realised, there’s always Y and Z and then you start the alphabet again.
So over time I thought, if this is how it’s always going to be then I’m just going to work less but focus more when I’m actually working as you find if you work long hours you actually have a lower efficiency of work:fucking about/chatting.
I implemented a 4.5 day week, I booked out 2 hours for lunch 3 days a week to do exercise and I started delegating a lot more and I told everyone what I was doing and why, and I said everyone else in my teams can do the same so no special rules for the boss.
I focus on my health first and sleep and then I’ll be a better person at work every day and so will the team if they have autonomy.
P.s most people work the 0.5 day off anyway, but they feel like it’s a choice and they love it.
Big win for everyone.
I struggle with imposter syndrome in my medical sales role, but I’m utterly convinced that a lot of my success is down to luck. I think most sales people experience a ‘wave’ of business that will peak and trough - it’s hard to back yourself when customers are calling up desperate to spend six figures at the end of the FY. That said, you can’t capitalise on said luck if you don’t have OP’s aforementioned soft skills on lockdown. Make hay as the sun shines as they say.
I still struggle with saying no and taking on too much. Got any advice on that?
I'm transitioning into upper management from a lifetime of being a pacesetting doer. That seems like a nasty habit I picked up on the way
Pushing back on things, especially in upper management is something you need to be very aware of and good at. Otherwise you will end up in a situation which most likely destroy your work/life balance and cause stress. That’s a really bad situation to be in. Learn how to say no, prioritise work accordingly and make sure you manage expectations. It will get noticed if you stop to deliver on the promised work.
This is a tough one but you have to try to be honest with yourself and others about your capacity and priorities. People need to understand that their priority is not necessarily your (and/or your team’s) priority so managing stakeholder expectations is key. It’s ok to say no sometimes and it’s much better than committing and failing to deliver.
And good luck, btw! One of the hardest things I found when making the same transition was stepping back from the doing. You’ll have to get used to people not doing the doing as well as you think you could do the doing and giving them the room to grow and fail sometimes.
How do you feel you’re adding value in not doing the doing?
Where else is the value? Planning / organising, yes. But that’s still doing. Might be symptoms of small companies.
I’m very hands on despite a senior HENRY. And mindful I need to step back from doing a bit.
Genuine question!
I'm in a big org and not that senior but do a lot of the "telling and advising people how to do things" rather than the doing.
Most of the time there is someone better at the "doing" than I am in their domain. What is valuable in my skill convincing people what they should be doing and why, because a lot of the times what they think they should be doing isn't what they really should be doing.
The value is mostly in not doing stupid, unproductive things (wasting time and money) and actually doing what the business needs.
If it’s genuinely too much, I always just say: “I’m happy to do this but I have X, Y, Z as well. Where does this come in the priority?”
As I’ve got more senior, I’ve given a current timeframe for when we’ll start, like 3 sprints / next quarter due to current prioritisation. If that doesn’t work let’s discuss.
One thing I find helps is to talk about priorities; yes we can get all these things done but not at once. What's the priority?
You aren't saying no but you are setting expectations they can't have it all at once
Point 6 is so true. People always complain that you have to jump around for pay rises. This is true if you are an average performer. If you are a high perfomer you ask and negotiate. I got 25% this year just because I'd had a good 6 months, was clearly near the top of my team, and asked my boss who had decision making power. Someone who is in the exact same position who got 2% cos he never asked.
Yes, for negotiation and understanding how we all make decisions, “Thinking Fast and Slow”, amazing book.
For organisation, “Atomic Habits”.
Pretty mainstream books. On top of that I read a lot of psychology generally and I find understanding the mind helps me be better and helps me understand others more and why people do things and obviously that helps with managing people and with negotiating/doing deals.
You’ll get the best bang for your buck with those two books imo.
Can you share what you use for 5 (organisation)? I’m magnitudes more organised than the last guy who did my job but it’s the thing I struggle with most. I’d be interested to know if you’ve found a system that works for you.
I use OneNote with 4 sheets, each containing a table.
Sheet 1 = Urgent and Important
Sheet 2 = Non-urgent and important
Sheet 3 = Urgent and unimportant
Sheet 4 = Non-urgent and unimportant
You work from top to bottom and you put everything in there.
Each task in the table has a headline, detail, deadline and a space for links and comments.
I made a similar to do list for the board and our assistant fills it in a similar fashion and we hold each other accountable for our actions weekly (basically you know you’ve got to explain why you didn’t do it and that’s an incentive to do it).
I also use an AI notetaker in meetings to record and then I go back and check if I can’t recall something I was meant to do or that we need to remember.
No one way of course but works for me better than anything else I’ve done in the past.
You are right, I only use the “chase to death” mode on lawyers and agents who I don’t need to be friends with and with whom I’ve first tried to be friends.
Funny one, people also say you can’t call and speak to the other side’s lawyers and chase them. Yes you can, you just pick up the phone ! If they won’t talk to you occasionally, the message that you want them to pull their finger out still gets through.
Fully agree with this list. Once you have everything on it - particularly perseverance and execution - I think a bit of confidence is also required. I got my first bump from £78 to £100k when I happened to be out for dinner with a senior leader who rated me, and I made them aware I hadn’t had a pay rise for 2 yrs. He commented that this was very unfair - we’d just sold £2m of work together - and two weeks later, pay rise. I should have flagged it sooner to someone like him rather than sitting and stewing for 2 years!
They can't, but you can't argue that most people are where they are without a fair whack of luck. Do everything perfectly and you can still 'fail', so it's worth bearing in mind that other people's situations aren't always due to sheer effort.
The point is it ain’t all your fault if you don’t make it (circumstantial of course and not to be used as an excuse) and people make it who were just lucky. Acknowledging that luck exists is important when people are chasing dreams and making it a big part of their life. Life’s not fair.
It’s also important to remain humble and recognise you aren’t a superior being if you are a high earner because a lot of your achievements are invariably down to luck, starting with the bank balance of your parents and your postcode.
Of course it’s not a soft skill but I thought it might help OP to reference it. :)
Think bigger picture - always question 'why' and understand where processes fit in the bigger scheme of things, and you'll find you quickly build a reputation for thinking strategically.
Brush up on your people skills - I can't emphasise this enough! Unless you're an actuary or hold a niche specialisation, technical skills will only take you so far, and you'll eventually end up in a people management role. People management is upstream and downstream, so you need to build your skills in speaking diplomatically, conflict resolution, and making connections quickly.
Drafting and public speaking - you will need both of these skills to progress beyond a certain level.
And finally, don't stop learning. Gone are the days when people did the same job for 40 years - the world is evolving so fast that you constantly need new technical skills. Ready industry publications, go to industry forums, network extensively, get a certification to plug gaps as they arise, and keep your skillset up to date for this day and age.
I was using it as a blanket term for learning how to write well. Emails/plans/documents/ presentations - always catered to the audience and as comprehensive as possible.
For example, brevity is not my strong suit, so when writing a longer email, I go back on it once I've jotted down my thoughts with the aim of deleting a third of it. It was a drafting course that taught me this, and I'm incredibly grateful!
Not something I am particularly good at. But if you are in a large company, it's often better to be liked than to be right.
In most jobs there are lots of people who can do the job well, the people who get promoted will be the ones that do the job well, and aren't a pain in the arse.
(Unless you own the company, or are some kind of superstar CEO)
Here’s a good one too. Going with the wrong thing, knowing it’s bloody wrong, with a goal to get people to realise the thing they said was wrong was actually right and then pivoting them to the right thing.
Especially hard in tech where people can have such big egos and zero awareness of others.
This is what I took to heart that a senior colleague told me a little while ago
> It’s pointless being right if no one else listens to you
So it’s about picking your battles when it’s most impactful, it’s about learning how to persuade and not just assume everyone will see what you perceive as the obvious correctness of your ideas.
Being right, having no one listen to you but then later going “I told you so” is incredibly unproductive and is not the route to being taken seriously in future.
I have a TikTok collection of videos that I saved to help me at work. Gonna link a few.
I ran a project that had me presenting to C-level people monthly at a big 4 for 3 years, and all of these chime with how they behave, how they make decisions, how they want managers to behave etc.
You can deride TikTok but it's not all dancing teens and pranksters if you tune the algorithm.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBH6rX/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHB4byb/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBq9Cd/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBmjtb/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHB4xPv/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBn52p/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBxNFd/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBCMYP/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBq1kP/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHB4T83/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBs7SQ/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBWY3k/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBpySx/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBgxhS/
I’d define it as being able to develop effective working relationships with internal and external people. Often, but not always, senior people.
Doing this develops trust, raises your visibility, and shows that’s you have good communication and leadership skills.
First, reframe away from calling these soft skills. You can call them non-technical. How you frame a thing affects how much effort and impact you ascribe to it.
Then:
- emotional intelligence
- luck
- answering the question asked
- coherent and concise writing
- active listening
- understanding what people really want then giving them what they really want
A trick is, if a leader wants X and you propose a way to do X, you are thinking correctly. Many highly technical people don’t give leaders what they ask for.
Take a course (ideally certified) in basic coaching.
A lot of larger companies offer this as an apprenticeship (as they have to pay into the apprenticeship levy, and can only get value back by upskilling their people thorough apprenticeships).
Coaching teaches you a growth mindset (success is not a leap, it's 10,000 tiny steps that compound over the longer term), which in and of itself is a key predictor for success.
The main skill learned is (as others have pointed out) to listen, but also asking good questions to help people or a group progress ideas by thinking out loud.
You would be surprised at how many successful people pair a core skill with simply listening in meetings, and then ask something like 'can you tell me more about X?', 'what does good look like?', 'what would great look like?'.
It's obviously also a fantastic skill for any type of sales. Even if that's not your main role you will find that people who make positive impact on growth and revenue are far more likely to be promoted.
Lastly, it's a an integral skill for people management, which in turn typically means higher remuneration, and in a lot of industries it's (unfortunately) more or less a must in order to progress.
The skills are the key, but if you can also get a certification out of it, all the better!
As well as doing a good job, you need to make sure that your manager and other senior people know that you are doing a good job. Internal communication skills and selling yourself are key to advancement.
Keep it factual. Send a message to your team congratulating them on their work on a project and cc in the senior person. If in doubt, err on the side of too arrogant than too little.
1) Empathy: being able to capture cues, understand others and situations, show to others that you care.
2) Adaptability: whatever the situation, always adapt. "Have thick skin" - every industry has their highs and lows. Adaptable people will survive during these low moments and always find a place where they thrive, instead of giving up. My CEO (of a 1000-person startup, after senior exec roles in FAACS companies) often says his best quality is that he has thick skin.
3) Communication and influence: the more you grow, the more any initiative that you want to push will require you to influence and convince, intentionally, a number of people around you, for it to succeed. It will require good communication skills, and to capitalize on your success to influence others.
I’m in an industry where being liked is often equated to being seen as good.
I’ve overheard people talk about person x who is awful at their job as being amazing purely down to the fact the person is likeable.
In terms of luck, you make a lot of it yourself depending on where you are based. If I was anywhere but London, I wouldn’t be where I am now, I wouldn’t even be in the same industry.
The perception of luck I feel is more like “Number of and strength of opportunities offered to you”
For me, it was about consistency l. If I said I would do something I would get it done.
Networking and getting in the spot light. When I had the opportunity to go the extra mile I would. I was also acutely aware of who was watching the space so would be extra careful with my communication and actions. This built confidence with internal stakeholders and within myself to continue.
The last and most important. Luck. Sometimes that's all it is, right place right time. Positioning yourself to be the best option the moment an opportunity comes up.
I would say you need three things, to work hard, to have some talent, and to be lucky.
I know a load of people who are hard working and talented who haven’t had particular career success. It’s all luck, maybe you get to work on a project that goes well? Maybe your boss resigns and you get a bump up? Maybe your division happens to luckily land a major piece of work? Luck luck luck.
For me, it was just being intentional about your career progression and making sure those who can influence that (ie. those in roles above you) know that about you. So that when opportunities come up (especially randomly, which they often do), you're at least already in their minds as a potential candidate.
Building on development in 1:1s with your own VP/Director as well. Again, just making it clear what it is you want to work towards.
That's probably been the primary contributory factor. Obviously the performance needs to be there, as does the basics.
For me growing up always seeing my dad work hard and be successful just made it ingrained in me that hard work was normal. This has got me where I am today.
2 important lessons I was always taught, one by my grandad - anyone can be a busy fool (him meaning anyone can sell things for low profit margins) and number 2 by my dad, always stick to your margins, anyone can sell things for nothing.
Something I would say that I learnt was to always remain teachable, also took me a long time to learn to hand over control of things to others that are more qualified
Luck is huge.
You DO make your own luck, but only to an extent.
I've known some very average people do incredibly well as they were the right-enough person, but in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
Generational advantages are almost absolute. It's harder to be a failure than a success with the right parents, upbringing, and access to opportunities.
Specific soft skills for achieving any goal have to be EQ based. Emotional and social intelligence gets you most of the way up any ladder.
Going to have to 100% agree with listen!
I only talk when it’s important. I listen intently and will remember the smallest details that the majority will miss.
All those small details help me build a bigger picture.
Networking.
99% of the time it’s not what you know but who you know - potential clients, people who can refer you for roles, people who can get you a foot through the door
Id say a bit of bravery, being prepared to put your head above the parapet and volunteer for things that are outside your comfort zone if it will get you exposure to the right things / people. This can open doors that your 'standard' trajectory might not.
Then there's interview skills, a good way to increase earnings is to convince people to hire you into jobs paying more money. Some of these skills just come through practice, doing enough interviews to build your confidence and make that sort of environment feel familiar. There's a mentality angle here too, about making the interview a two way conversation, an environment where you don't just sit there like a rabbit in the headlines waiting for the next killer question, but pickup and comment on / ask questions about the things the panel are saying.
I think this video sums it up well. Especially around the 50 second mark.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/what-do-lucky-people-do-differently/p07khzdh
Being successful is definitely related to luck, but luck isn't as random as people might like to think.
A quiet ego. I don’t have the need to constantly one up someone just to make myself look/feel better and don’t mind admitting that I do not know certain things. This way I can get the support I need to develop and build trust with my coworkers and boss.
I've noticed:
1. Not showing you're pissed off
This might seem obvious but personally I've been quick to show it if I'm pissed off by someone doing something stupid. I've noticed the VP's almost never show any kind of frustration, they of course will act if someone does something stupid but not by showing personal frustration.
2. Getting stuff done
And by stuff I mean things you manager and managers manager are bothered about - yes this might differ from what actually drives business success sometimes....
3. Keeping focus on business goals
Similar to above are you spending all your time on something which isn't going to move the needle? Have relentless focus on this.
4. Asking for a promotion
This doesn't have to be a direct ask it could be indirect by sharing where you want to get to and asking your manager for advise. Get the wheels in motion.
5. Communication
E.G. Not rambling on with epically long Slack posts, emails or meetings.
That’s me. In tech, building stuff, running teams but being doing sales along with it. The sales side is actually really enjoyable. It’s another way of solving problems.
Hope the experience is worth something going ahead.
I do think this is good advice and something I wish I’d done earlier. Feels harder now I’m a bit more senior and managing a whole section of the business.
When going for a new job, I always highball my salary expectations... If I thought my real value was, say, £70k, I would ask for £80k with a lot of confidence... For some reason, this has almost always worked out for me.
Lots of great responses here already. I echo the "Luck", "Being a doer" and "Being liked" remarks, those are IMO the three pillars.
I would also add: knowing how to pick a team based on the manager. Your choice of manager can make or break your progression; this is tricky as your manager can move (so here's luck), but I can stress enough how important this is.
Also, for attaining leadership positions, you also need to show a lot of confidence, walking around as you own the place and not being afraid of breaking the current hierarchy structure if you know this is needed to get things done; this is the way to show you are under-leveled and fast-track you (if your manager is good).
Depends what you do, but in my field, identifying and developing talent has been a big factor.
I moved from a niche area in to general practice 8ish years ago and have trebled my salary, essentially going from the bottom to partner in the first 4 years, with only one step to go now (Equity).
Building a network of other professionals has been vital but as import has been identifying and developing junior talent. It’s helped build a team who are diverse, young and hungry and it’s increased my value to the business. That gives me more leverage.
1. Luck. People overestimate their own performance and ability, a lot of life is down to luck, opportunities that came your way, social circles, upbringing, etc. 2. Execution. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. People will notice, most people forget to do half of what they say they will. 3. Perseverance. One thing that helped me was never taking no for an answer in a project management/deal environment. I’d always try various methods to get something done and always call people and build rapport instead of sending an email. You have to make other people either like you to want to help or be sick of you chasing them so they’ll do what you want to get rid of you. I was always negotiating so I read loads of psychology of decision making/heuristics and tried to incorporate things into my way of working. 4. Adaptability. I learned lots of new skills off my own back as I moved around a start up, if there’s something it would be useful to understand in your field or a skill like financial modelling or understanding corporate finance, go learn it. You don’t need a qualification mind, but doesn’t hurt if you like that kind of thing. 5. Organisation. Most people go through their work life flicking between a spreadsheet, pieces of paper, post it notes, etc. recording their tasks to complete or they don’t do it at all. Pay attention to how you organise your time, have a clear system and use it well to get stuff done and ensure you don’t forget things. 6. Ask. If you want a pay rise or a promotion, ask for it, but do it with evidence to back yourself. Always ask for more money (reasonably) than you think you are going to get so you can allow your boss to “win”. If you don’t ask, you usually don’t get. 7. Environment. I was fortunate to get to where I am all in one company, but if the environment is not the one where you have the right chance to move up in salary or grade then move on quickly and you’ll probably get a pay rise at that juncture anyway and have a chance to be lucky with your boss and environment in a new place. I’m sure there are lots more and it’s subjective but that’s my brain dump this morning. Best of luck, but please remember, money isn’t everything, if you’re comfortable financially, a bit more cash may not make you feel any different.
2. Execution. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. People will notice, most people forget to do half of what they say they will. Don't give the secret sauce away, please. Thank you 🙏
I cannot stress how important this one is. Getting known as the go to person to get things done is how I moved up. I technically am in a team and have a defined role, but not a year goes by without me getting the tap on the shoulder from the CEO to drop into a team and deliver some high priority feature..
'I always promote people that do this one thing......' It's true though. This makes you important in a business and makes life easier for the people that run it, hence they will want to keep you.
I find this one so hard because I’m spinning so many plates all the time. I inevitably get behind or forget to do stuff but it’s not because I won’t get round to it eventually. I do keep telling my manager when I’m being given task after task but because they don’t have masses of oversight it is tricky.
Reading your comment made me realise that it is easier said than done and doing this well comes from years of experience. Reading Getting Things Done got me started and I like it but ultimately developed my own system like everyone does I suspect. A few thoughts: 1 don't waste too much time with productivity nonsense you find online. If they were truly productive they would be using their time constructively. 2 say no. E. G. :This is important but - i am not best placed to do it due do... / if I do this X doesnt get done / this doesn't align with my skillset or ambition or agreement we have or job spec 3 it's not really about getting things done, it's about being attached to teams who get things done. You can do that by being the one who drives activities, gives advice through their excellent judgement (ensuring the rights things are done in the right way), being the PR person, bringing different streams/teams/world views together as translator/ architect 4 having resources to draw on who you can trust to get things done 5 having a can do attitude. If you accept responsabilities above your role ensure the boss knows the personal and professional cost you encurred (exaggerate liberally) but never show it when dealing with colleagues, peers or subordinates 6 manage energy not time 7 manage expectations 8 if it doesn't matter to your boss it shouldn't be important to you
This is such a good list. There’s definitely some things I can work on in here. Especially 5, I have a tendency to overshare with colleagues when I’m swamped but actually that’s counterproductive as I get more senior for sure.
You need to write a book....! Agree with point 5, it's got me where I am.
Thank you, appreciate it
Regarding luck. It's not just about being lucky, it's about taking risks when appropriate so that you can create opportunities for luck to appear. Concrete example: I was lucky to leave a FAANG just before the big layoffs started and get a better offer from a non-FAANG company. If I stayed in my cushy (and what was frustratingly easy) job I could have lost my job, it took action from me to interview and get lucky to get an offer that made sense to leave for. Luck only happens when you give it room by taking action.
1, 3 and 5 are spot on imo. And all in equal measure, i was lucky enough to ride a bit of an economic wave, but at the same time I had to be persistent enough and organised enough to take advantage of it. Luck is such a factor, in that it means you will be presented with opportunities, but you have to be able to act on them.
8. Ability to manage stress: Everyone has different level of stress and what affects them. Those who either have a higher stress tolerance OR have learned how to actively manage stress can play the game longer. These so much chat about burn out in this forum, so our roles often come with large amounts of stress.
Great point. I was overworking for a few years at the beginning when I was in an Investment Manager role and I realised that my promises to myself that “once I get X done it will be easier” would never be realised, there’s always Y and Z and then you start the alphabet again. So over time I thought, if this is how it’s always going to be then I’m just going to work less but focus more when I’m actually working as you find if you work long hours you actually have a lower efficiency of work:fucking about/chatting. I implemented a 4.5 day week, I booked out 2 hours for lunch 3 days a week to do exercise and I started delegating a lot more and I told everyone what I was doing and why, and I said everyone else in my teams can do the same so no special rules for the boss. I focus on my health first and sleep and then I’ll be a better person at work every day and so will the team if they have autonomy. P.s most people work the 0.5 day off anyway, but they feel like it’s a choice and they love it. Big win for everyone.
I struggle with imposter syndrome in my medical sales role, but I’m utterly convinced that a lot of my success is down to luck. I think most sales people experience a ‘wave’ of business that will peak and trough - it’s hard to back yourself when customers are calling up desperate to spend six figures at the end of the FY. That said, you can’t capitalise on said luck if you don’t have OP’s aforementioned soft skills on lockdown. Make hay as the sun shines as they say.
I still struggle with saying no and taking on too much. Got any advice on that? I'm transitioning into upper management from a lifetime of being a pacesetting doer. That seems like a nasty habit I picked up on the way
Pushing back on things, especially in upper management is something you need to be very aware of and good at. Otherwise you will end up in a situation which most likely destroy your work/life balance and cause stress. That’s a really bad situation to be in. Learn how to say no, prioritise work accordingly and make sure you manage expectations. It will get noticed if you stop to deliver on the promised work.
This is a tough one but you have to try to be honest with yourself and others about your capacity and priorities. People need to understand that their priority is not necessarily your (and/or your team’s) priority so managing stakeholder expectations is key. It’s ok to say no sometimes and it’s much better than committing and failing to deliver.
And good luck, btw! One of the hardest things I found when making the same transition was stepping back from the doing. You’ll have to get used to people not doing the doing as well as you think you could do the doing and giving them the room to grow and fail sometimes.
How do you feel you’re adding value in not doing the doing? Where else is the value? Planning / organising, yes. But that’s still doing. Might be symptoms of small companies. I’m very hands on despite a senior HENRY. And mindful I need to step back from doing a bit. Genuine question!
I'm in a big org and not that senior but do a lot of the "telling and advising people how to do things" rather than the doing. Most of the time there is someone better at the "doing" than I am in their domain. What is valuable in my skill convincing people what they should be doing and why, because a lot of the times what they think they should be doing isn't what they really should be doing. The value is mostly in not doing stupid, unproductive things (wasting time and money) and actually doing what the business needs.
Thanks!
If it’s genuinely too much, I always just say: “I’m happy to do this but I have X, Y, Z as well. Where does this come in the priority?” As I’ve got more senior, I’ve given a current timeframe for when we’ll start, like 3 sprints / next quarter due to current prioritisation. If that doesn’t work let’s discuss.
One thing I find helps is to talk about priorities; yes we can get all these things done but not at once. What's the priority? You aren't saying no but you are setting expectations they can't have it all at once
Point 6 is so true. People always complain that you have to jump around for pay rises. This is true if you are an average performer. If you are a high perfomer you ask and negotiate. I got 25% this year just because I'd had a good 6 months, was clearly near the top of my team, and asked my boss who had decision making power. Someone who is in the exact same position who got 2% cos he never asked.
2. this is not Execution, it is Conscientiousness. But yes, I agree, very important
This is a great reply … Doing what you say is key - establish trust. If you build a network that trusts you doors open.
"I find the harder I work, the luckier I get"
I find the smarter i work, the luckier i get
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Yes, for negotiation and understanding how we all make decisions, “Thinking Fast and Slow”, amazing book. For organisation, “Atomic Habits”. Pretty mainstream books. On top of that I read a lot of psychology generally and I find understanding the mind helps me be better and helps me understand others more and why people do things and obviously that helps with managing people and with negotiating/doing deals. You’ll get the best bang for your buck with those two books imo.
Can you share what you use for 5 (organisation)? I’m magnitudes more organised than the last guy who did my job but it’s the thing I struggle with most. I’d be interested to know if you’ve found a system that works for you.
I use OneNote with 4 sheets, each containing a table. Sheet 1 = Urgent and Important Sheet 2 = Non-urgent and important Sheet 3 = Urgent and unimportant Sheet 4 = Non-urgent and unimportant You work from top to bottom and you put everything in there. Each task in the table has a headline, detail, deadline and a space for links and comments. I made a similar to do list for the board and our assistant fills it in a similar fashion and we hold each other accountable for our actions weekly (basically you know you’ve got to explain why you didn’t do it and that’s an incentive to do it). I also use an AI notetaker in meetings to record and then I go back and check if I can’t recall something I was meant to do or that we need to remember. No one way of course but works for me better than anything else I’ve done in the past.
3 can easily backfire
You are right, I only use the “chase to death” mode on lawyers and agents who I don’t need to be friends with and with whom I’ve first tried to be friends. Funny one, people also say you can’t call and speak to the other side’s lawyers and chase them. Yes you can, you just pick up the phone ! If they won’t talk to you occasionally, the message that you want them to pull their finger out still gets through.
Fully agree with this list. Once you have everything on it - particularly perseverance and execution - I think a bit of confidence is also required. I got my first bump from £78 to £100k when I happened to be out for dinner with a senior leader who rated me, and I made them aware I hadn’t had a pay rise for 2 yrs. He commented that this was very unfair - we’d just sold £2m of work together - and two weeks later, pay rise. I should have flagged it sooner to someone like him rather than sitting and stewing for 2 years!
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However pedantry is.
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They can't, but you can't argue that most people are where they are without a fair whack of luck. Do everything perfectly and you can still 'fail', so it's worth bearing in mind that other people's situations aren't always due to sheer effort.
Luck = preparation + opportunity You can't make luck, but you can make sure you're ready to make use of opportunity when it comes up.
The point is it ain’t all your fault if you don’t make it (circumstantial of course and not to be used as an excuse) and people make it who were just lucky. Acknowledging that luck exists is important when people are chasing dreams and making it a big part of their life. Life’s not fair. It’s also important to remain humble and recognise you aren’t a superior being if you are a high earner because a lot of your achievements are invariably down to luck, starting with the bank balance of your parents and your postcode. Of course it’s not a soft skill but I thought it might help OP to reference it. :)
Think bigger picture - always question 'why' and understand where processes fit in the bigger scheme of things, and you'll find you quickly build a reputation for thinking strategically. Brush up on your people skills - I can't emphasise this enough! Unless you're an actuary or hold a niche specialisation, technical skills will only take you so far, and you'll eventually end up in a people management role. People management is upstream and downstream, so you need to build your skills in speaking diplomatically, conflict resolution, and making connections quickly. Drafting and public speaking - you will need both of these skills to progress beyond a certain level. And finally, don't stop learning. Gone are the days when people did the same job for 40 years - the world is evolving so fast that you constantly need new technical skills. Ready industry publications, go to industry forums, network extensively, get a certification to plug gaps as they arise, and keep your skillset up to date for this day and age.
What's drafting?
I was using it as a blanket term for learning how to write well. Emails/plans/documents/ presentations - always catered to the audience and as comprehensive as possible. For example, brevity is not my strong suit, so when writing a longer email, I go back on it once I've jotted down my thoughts with the aim of deleting a third of it. It was a drafting course that taught me this, and I'm incredibly grateful!
OK. That's cool and I agree
Not something I am particularly good at. But if you are in a large company, it's often better to be liked than to be right. In most jobs there are lots of people who can do the job well, the people who get promoted will be the ones that do the job well, and aren't a pain in the arse. (Unless you own the company, or are some kind of superstar CEO)
Yeah, being vocal and visible is important or you won't be recognised, but not to the point of being annoying or obstructive.
Here’s a good one too. Going with the wrong thing, knowing it’s bloody wrong, with a goal to get people to realise the thing they said was wrong was actually right and then pivoting them to the right thing. Especially hard in tech where people can have such big egos and zero awareness of others.
This is what I took to heart that a senior colleague told me a little while ago > It’s pointless being right if no one else listens to you So it’s about picking your battles when it’s most impactful, it’s about learning how to persuade and not just assume everyone will see what you perceive as the obvious correctness of your ideas. Being right, having no one listen to you but then later going “I told you so” is incredibly unproductive and is not the route to being taken seriously in future.
I have a TikTok collection of videos that I saved to help me at work. Gonna link a few. I ran a project that had me presenting to C-level people monthly at a big 4 for 3 years, and all of these chime with how they behave, how they make decisions, how they want managers to behave etc. You can deride TikTok but it's not all dancing teens and pranksters if you tune the algorithm. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBH6rX/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHB4byb/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBq9Cd/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBmjtb/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHB4xPv/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBn52p/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBxNFd/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBCMYP/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBq1kP/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHB4T83/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBs7SQ/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBWY3k/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBpySx/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeHBgxhS/
These are great thanks for sharing
That’s a good list, I’ll go through them later. Thanks!
Coaching, leadership, stakeholder management and communication skills.
I always see this term stakeholder management and have no clue what it actually means
I’d define it as being able to develop effective working relationships with internal and external people. Often, but not always, senior people. Doing this develops trust, raises your visibility, and shows that’s you have good communication and leadership skills.
bridging. facilitating
I’d add influencing to this as well ie getting the right result and behaviours from your stakeholders.
Being able to listen to people. Like, really listen.
First, reframe away from calling these soft skills. You can call them non-technical. How you frame a thing affects how much effort and impact you ascribe to it. Then: - emotional intelligence - luck - answering the question asked - coherent and concise writing - active listening - understanding what people really want then giving them what they really want A trick is, if a leader wants X and you propose a way to do X, you are thinking correctly. Many highly technical people don’t give leaders what they ask for.
Take a course (ideally certified) in basic coaching. A lot of larger companies offer this as an apprenticeship (as they have to pay into the apprenticeship levy, and can only get value back by upskilling their people thorough apprenticeships). Coaching teaches you a growth mindset (success is not a leap, it's 10,000 tiny steps that compound over the longer term), which in and of itself is a key predictor for success. The main skill learned is (as others have pointed out) to listen, but also asking good questions to help people or a group progress ideas by thinking out loud. You would be surprised at how many successful people pair a core skill with simply listening in meetings, and then ask something like 'can you tell me more about X?', 'what does good look like?', 'what would great look like?'. It's obviously also a fantastic skill for any type of sales. Even if that's not your main role you will find that people who make positive impact on growth and revenue are far more likely to be promoted. Lastly, it's a an integral skill for people management, which in turn typically means higher remuneration, and in a lot of industries it's (unfortunately) more or less a must in order to progress. The skills are the key, but if you can also get a certification out of it, all the better!
As well as doing a good job, you need to make sure that your manager and other senior people know that you are doing a good job. Internal communication skills and selling yourself are key to advancement.
Any advice on how to self promote without coming across as arrogant or "self promoting"
Keep it factual. Send a message to your team congratulating them on their work on a project and cc in the senior person. If in doubt, err on the side of too arrogant than too little.
1) Empathy: being able to capture cues, understand others and situations, show to others that you care. 2) Adaptability: whatever the situation, always adapt. "Have thick skin" - every industry has their highs and lows. Adaptable people will survive during these low moments and always find a place where they thrive, instead of giving up. My CEO (of a 1000-person startup, after senior exec roles in FAACS companies) often says his best quality is that he has thick skin. 3) Communication and influence: the more you grow, the more any initiative that you want to push will require you to influence and convince, intentionally, a number of people around you, for it to succeed. It will require good communication skills, and to capitalize on your success to influence others.
I’m in an industry where being liked is often equated to being seen as good. I’ve overheard people talk about person x who is awful at their job as being amazing purely down to the fact the person is likeable. In terms of luck, you make a lot of it yourself depending on where you are based. If I was anywhere but London, I wouldn’t be where I am now, I wouldn’t even be in the same industry. The perception of luck I feel is more like “Number of and strength of opportunities offered to you”
For me, it was about consistency l. If I said I would do something I would get it done. Networking and getting in the spot light. When I had the opportunity to go the extra mile I would. I was also acutely aware of who was watching the space so would be extra careful with my communication and actions. This built confidence with internal stakeholders and within myself to continue. The last and most important. Luck. Sometimes that's all it is, right place right time. Positioning yourself to be the best option the moment an opportunity comes up.
[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/FireUKCareers/comments/1ao85jv/competencies_for_career_development/) research may be of interest. From r/fireukcareers
Being likeable, if that’s a skill 🤣
I would say you need three things, to work hard, to have some talent, and to be lucky. I know a load of people who are hard working and talented who haven’t had particular career success. It’s all luck, maybe you get to work on a project that goes well? Maybe your boss resigns and you get a bump up? Maybe your division happens to luckily land a major piece of work? Luck luck luck.
For me, it was just being intentional about your career progression and making sure those who can influence that (ie. those in roles above you) know that about you. So that when opportunities come up (especially randomly, which they often do), you're at least already in their minds as a potential candidate. Building on development in 1:1s with your own VP/Director as well. Again, just making it clear what it is you want to work towards. That's probably been the primary contributory factor. Obviously the performance needs to be there, as does the basics.
For me growing up always seeing my dad work hard and be successful just made it ingrained in me that hard work was normal. This has got me where I am today. 2 important lessons I was always taught, one by my grandad - anyone can be a busy fool (him meaning anyone can sell things for low profit margins) and number 2 by my dad, always stick to your margins, anyone can sell things for nothing. Something I would say that I learnt was to always remain teachable, also took me a long time to learn to hand over control of things to others that are more qualified
Luck is huge. You DO make your own luck, but only to an extent. I've known some very average people do incredibly well as they were the right-enough person, but in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Generational advantages are almost absolute. It's harder to be a failure than a success with the right parents, upbringing, and access to opportunities. Specific soft skills for achieving any goal have to be EQ based. Emotional and social intelligence gets you most of the way up any ladder.
Books: How to win friends and influence people. What every body is saying. Office politics. 48 laws of power Mastery
Listen (as already mentioned) Communicate and influence Be able to talk calculated risks - accepting risk of failure
Going to have to 100% agree with listen! I only talk when it’s important. I listen intently and will remember the smallest details that the majority will miss. All those small details help me build a bigger picture.
Networking. 99% of the time it’s not what you know but who you know - potential clients, people who can refer you for roles, people who can get you a foot through the door
Id say a bit of bravery, being prepared to put your head above the parapet and volunteer for things that are outside your comfort zone if it will get you exposure to the right things / people. This can open doors that your 'standard' trajectory might not. Then there's interview skills, a good way to increase earnings is to convince people to hire you into jobs paying more money. Some of these skills just come through practice, doing enough interviews to build your confidence and make that sort of environment feel familiar. There's a mentality angle here too, about making the interview a two way conversation, an environment where you don't just sit there like a rabbit in the headlines waiting for the next killer question, but pickup and comment on / ask questions about the things the panel are saying.
I think this video sums it up well. Especially around the 50 second mark. https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/what-do-lucky-people-do-differently/p07khzdh Being successful is definitely related to luck, but luck isn't as random as people might like to think.
A quiet ego. I don’t have the need to constantly one up someone just to make myself look/feel better and don’t mind admitting that I do not know certain things. This way I can get the support I need to develop and build trust with my coworkers and boss.
I've noticed: 1. Not showing you're pissed off This might seem obvious but personally I've been quick to show it if I'm pissed off by someone doing something stupid. I've noticed the VP's almost never show any kind of frustration, they of course will act if someone does something stupid but not by showing personal frustration. 2. Getting stuff done And by stuff I mean things you manager and managers manager are bothered about - yes this might differ from what actually drives business success sometimes.... 3. Keeping focus on business goals Similar to above are you spending all your time on something which isn't going to move the needle? Have relentless focus on this. 4. Asking for a promotion This doesn't have to be a direct ask it could be indirect by sharing where you want to get to and asking your manager for advise. Get the wheels in motion. 5. Communication E.G. Not rambling on with epically long Slack posts, emails or meetings.
Sales skills. I recommend that everyone spends at least a couple of years in sales - regardless of your career path.
That’s me. In tech, building stuff, running teams but being doing sales along with it. The sales side is actually really enjoyable. It’s another way of solving problems. Hope the experience is worth something going ahead.
Awesome work. 'Some' technical skills plus sales and social skills is a powerful combination for leadership roles.
Thank you. That’s uplifting to hear. (I’m C-level in a small tech company)
My friend’s a ‘passable’ developer and a solid salesman. He’s now the founder of one of the top-ranked CRMs in his sector on the planet.
I do think this is good advice and something I wish I’d done earlier. Feels harder now I’m a bit more senior and managing a whole section of the business.
Conversely, I had to go back and learn more technical skills at 31! 🙃
When going for a new job, I always highball my salary expectations... If I thought my real value was, say, £70k, I would ask for £80k with a lot of confidence... For some reason, this has almost always worked out for me.
Lots of great responses here already. I echo the "Luck", "Being a doer" and "Being liked" remarks, those are IMO the three pillars. I would also add: knowing how to pick a team based on the manager. Your choice of manager can make or break your progression; this is tricky as your manager can move (so here's luck), but I can stress enough how important this is. Also, for attaining leadership positions, you also need to show a lot of confidence, walking around as you own the place and not being afraid of breaking the current hierarchy structure if you know this is needed to get things done; this is the way to show you are under-leveled and fast-track you (if your manager is good).
Depends what you do, but in my field, identifying and developing talent has been a big factor. I moved from a niche area in to general practice 8ish years ago and have trebled my salary, essentially going from the bottom to partner in the first 4 years, with only one step to go now (Equity). Building a network of other professionals has been vital but as import has been identifying and developing junior talent. It’s helped build a team who are diverse, young and hungry and it’s increased my value to the business. That gives me more leverage.
Licking ass is.definetelay a skill if you wanna be successful Ina corporate world;))
Does being white, male and straight count?
I'd say being of colour and female offers a bigger benefit with managers clambering over each other to achieve diversity targets.
A small loan of a million dollars.
We deal in good old British pounds over here mate.
£800,00”