You’ve seen a version of the Venn Diagram below before, right? Maybe when you were deciding on your major in college? Maybe it crossed your social media feed when you were at another career crossroads, and you sat with it for a few moments.
Now, even the most ardent Venn Diagram fan might acknowledge this is an over-simplification of career design. I’m sure it’s intended to be more of a conversation starter than a career guidance panacea. For example, you could use it for a fun litmus test of the oft-debated “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” chestnut. Any serious career conversation would need a few more variables/Venn bubbles.
Nonetheless, with our 720 words today, let’s keep it to these three bubbles and add only one more ingredient – the central idea from the classic film Rashomon. For those of you who need a quick refresher on the Akira Kurosawa gem from 1950, in a nutshell, there is a shocking event and multiple witnesses, all of whom bring the baggage of their priorities and worldview, resulting in wildly differing perspectives and accounts of the same occurrence.
Life isn’t so different from art. It’s interesting to ponder that the distance between being in any of the orange categories below and the magic red “#WIN” area can be a very short journey. Any of the following could see a border-crossing: a small shift in your perception, a shift in your manager’s view, the right new hiring manager, a recruiter seeing something in your skill set that “pays well” in the current market that your current manager is blind to, etc.
As an HR Executive Search partner who’s also a recovering Chief People Officer, I’ve seen countless cases of perspectives playing a massive role in career fortunes.
- I’ve seen executives desperate to leave one environment as they were under-appreciated, maybe even on a PIP or equivalent job jeopardy, and then take their same skills to a new setting where they were seen as an absolute star and get multiple promotions in short order. “WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT” is often in the eye of the beholder.
- I’ve seen talented leaders end up, for any number of reasons, very much underpaid in their current role and take their talents to a new setting where their W2 income was 50% more the following year. “WHAT PAYS WELL” is a function of the organization’s needs, finances, and perceived value of an employee’s impact.
- I’ve carved out my favorite 10% of the Chief People Officer job to create the new “Culture Doctor” role. “WHAT YOU LOVE” as a % of your total job can be molded over time – without changing fields. My case may be unusual, but every day I see people take jobs in larger organizations (where roles are more specialized) to jettison the bits of a generalist role that they didn’t care for.
One of the refrains I hear from candidates is that what they seek in their next career move is to “work with good people.” This might sound obvious, but there’s a reason why that requirement gets so much airtime. You need to set yourself up for success by surrounding yourself with people who’ll value the things that you enjoy to do well.
- Do you shore up one of the hiring manager’s key weaknesses?
- Are you comfortably above the bar set by other people who’ve performed the role before?
- Do your favorite things to do line up well with their primary needs from the role?
Of course, this can cut both ways, but hopefully, the interview process, for all its flaws, surfaces any biased baggage before you step into a role where the deck is stacked against you.
The key takeaway here is that a la Rashomon when dealing with the complex creatures that people are, perception is reality. You may be closer than you think to the nexus of these three career factors. So before you shut the door on a career path as it looks like it’s in one of those orange categories – maybe consider how little it might take to get you into the red! And try to assess if you’re joining the right cast of characters who’ll help you make that leap!