Making Corporation YOU Triumphant

BE The CEO. Deliberately.

Success is waiting at your doorstep. Leverage some key tenets provided here to open that door and make it a reality.

A prior story about Corporation You focused on some fundamental questions that, when answered honestly and pursued relentlessly, can enable ongoing success and fulfillment like you have never experienced before. As you develop answers to those questions — you should check out the companion article, “You Are Your Own CEO” — embark on the Corporation You journey with the energy, effort, and vision that any successful company may embody.

As a quick review, Corporation You is analogous to the role you take in defining, building, and expanding your own career. Corporation You IS your career. You are the captain of that ship, in charge of your career, and commander of your own army (whether one person or 100,000) — whether you believe it or not!

Depending on your chosen profession or ‘job’, you are most strongly associated with the background, experiences, challenges, and successes of that career. Who then, is most capable of making that career a success?

(hopefully, you answered that person is y-o-u)

To get us on the path to your personal career success…let us review the key focus areas that, as CEO of Corporation You, are fundamental to making it a success:

Assess the Market. Knowing, assessing, and addressing the market for Corporation You is what a CEO must do!

To get the best grades in school, you may have checked out the kids in your grade school class — or — later in life, taken stock of which students ‘excelled’ in your college courses. If you were an athlete, you may have watched those with natural athletic ‘gifts’ compete with others who worked harder to develop their athleticism. The work world is remarkably similar, whether it be about education, athletics, or any other industry: you must take stock of what is around you, what clients are consuming, who is vying to get the attention of the fans in the stands, and/or what product is being sold to the market.

For now, make these connections between Corporation You and some real-world examples:

· What is around you = Your work area, skills, and impacts

· What clients are consuming = Your marketability and value

· Who is vying = Key competitors, coworkers, and leaders

· What product is selling = Providing what clients want

This may seem like common sense, however, many of your coworkers or the competition are watching what YOU are doing. They may not have a good feel for what it takes to be successful. They may even be waiting to see what you may do, how you act, or what you may champion.

Hence, when it comes to your career, take the approach of staying aware of trends (sometimes you lead in developing them, sometimes you follow them), how best you capture and/or develop your skills with respect to those trends, then how much you can capitalize on the market you seek.

Whether you are an experienced homemaker, owner of a new restaurant, or the anxious and capable CEO of Corporation You, a good understanding of the market can put you ahead of the competition. This might be enabled by working smarter, aligning yourself with those who have a good grasp of the market, reading about it, or all the above!

However, be mindful that you do not have to necessarily hatch or grow the market, it is how you adapt and manage the market that is the key: the competition will not rest, so you should not either!

Build Your Brand. Why someone picks up the phone to call you, or in other words…what makes them hire, pay, and promote you.

The term “brand” is thrown around a lot, lately. Depending upon who has defined or explains the term, it comes down to how (best) you might define your skills, experience, reputation, or the impact that you make on coworkers, competition, family, or even friends.

Your brand can speak for you, represent you, and even imitate you — even if you are not in the room. A great brand can provide you with an immense advantage over the competition. It can break down walls and open doors that might not otherwise be available for you to conquer. Similarly, a not-so-good brand can also precede you…so take it seriously. Without an established or well-received brand (think of how you get one chance to make a good, initial impression), your career can wander aimlessly or bring your reputation into question.

But above all else, ensure your brand is genuinely, honestly, and closely aligned with the goals and objectives upon which Corporation You is focused. It will change over time, depending upon how often your career may need to change. That is natural and expected, so be flexible and open-minded enough to assess your brand periodically throughout your career.

To develop — and later, grow and enhance — your brand, it will take some work. You will have to be honest about what you do well, improve in those areas that may need some attention, and reflectively, reach out to others who can help you build your brand. It is not always easy to do this.

However, by making the process of brand-building central to what you do, others will likely start to take notice, and potentially begin to support and expand the process with you.

Focus, Build, and Repeat. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” so expect Corporation You to take at least a few days, weeks, months, or years to reach full potential.

But do not be discouraged, friend, because here are some notable CEOs of their own brands that had to work hard…

· George Washington Carver only held three patents, however he developed approximately 300 products — all made from peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. His tenacity, dedication to research, and never-give-up approach to experimentation were beacons for entire generations of agricultural scientists.

· Have you heard of a guy named Thomas Alva Edison? Tom Edison amassed over 1,093 patents in his lifetime. ONE of his inventions, the light bulb, took over 1,000 unsuccessful attempts to get it right. His focus on trying, then trying again until he got it right, paved the way for modern power generation, sound and motion recording, and communications.

· As a contrasting yet powerful force, Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner was an African American inventor with five patents — the greatest number awarded to a Black woman by the U.S. government. Her inventions focused on practical and straightforward applications that could be used by a wide number of consumers. She likely faced huge challenges as a woman, as an African American, and as a technologist during her lifetime…but clearly, she did not give up!

· The Wright Brothers, neither of whom obtained high school diplomas or attended college, drew plans, and built models as the foundation for powered air flight — all while working in their Dayton, Ohio bicycle shop. While growing their knowledge of, and experimentation with all sorts of mechanical devices and engines, they developed the vision for powered air flight that would change the world.

Why all these inventor examples?

Because if you need to re-invent yourself, use these stories as examples of successful folks who, like you, had to continuously work at building their success. They focused, they built, and did so repeatedly — and they did not cease in enacting their plans.

Putting It All Together

These focus areas and examples in mind, think of your career and consider these activities for making it grow:

· Develop Your Career Plan. It does not have to be elaborate or complicated, however, develop a career plan that is realistic, actionable, and authentically personal. It can be hand-written, a detailed spreadsheet, or a visual whiteboard — but it IS a plan. Without a plan, you will not reach your destination — not in a reasonable time, or with the results you desire.

· Determine What You Want to Do (or Not Do). You cannot hit a target if you do not know what it is. And you will have a low shooting percentage without eyes on the basket. Likewise, you cannot interview without a job role in mind, or obtain the salary you want without knowing what the market will bear.

· Whom or What You Need to Be Successful. Whether making a better mousetrap or flying to the moon, it takes more than just you to do it. Identify the knowledge, resources, or people who can help to enable success. Then, link them to your plan in practical and realistic ways.

· Executing Your Career Plan. A plan will not execute itself, nor will it be achieved without the energy and dedication it requires. By taking your plan, understanding how to kick it off and keep it going, you will make progress. Sometimes that progress may vary in path or strategy, however, you are the engine that powers Corporation You — so drive it!

· Refine Your Career Plan. Be willing to look at your plan and change it, over time. The rules you learn early in life may vary in their execution over the years, but they are still rules, nonetheless. It is the same with your career: the need to grow and be successful is fundamental, however how and when you achieve that success — and what it may take — will most certainly change over time. Be willing to understand and know that your career needs will change over time, however the need to refine your career plan is a requirement throughout all the chapters of your life.

If you expected this article to tell you all the steps and insights required to be successful in your career…please wait patiently for my book on the subject (no, I am not joking). Since we are each unique in our own ways, no one publication or checklist will provide an all-encompassing guide for you to achieve career success.

The intent is, however, to get you thinking (realistically), as to the key components, activities, and attitude it will take to achieve the goals for Corporation You. Take stock in your prime resource (you), the methods for growing that resource, and the proper ways for measuring your success — to realize and achieve it.

As the adage says, “success may not come overnight”, but you CAN become more successful than you ever imagined!