Think of Your Career As a Climbing Wall, Not a Ladder
It is easy to imagine your career path as climbing the corporate ladder. We want to move forward and progress, and this is what you do up the stairs – you move up and go from point A to point B. But in reality, things are not so simple. Your career path is probably not straightforward – it probably looks more like a climbing wall.
Roger Ferguson is President and CEO of TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Pension Fund). He explains that career advancement often means finding unexpected paths:
Sometimes you need to veer off course to make progress. You may even have to go down the wall at certain points. The key is to keep growing and learning.
My career path was far from straightforward. I started practicing law and then joined the consulting world for 13 very fruitful years. When I had the opportunity to serve as Governor of the Federal Reserve, I agreed without hesitation. Since 2008, I have been fortunate enough to lead TIAA-CREF. I enjoyed applying my talents in so many different roles and in different organizations. This has been extremely helpful both on a personal and professional level. But if I started out with tough ideas about how to get from A to B in my career, I would be missing out on many of the opportunities that have enriched my life.
Certainly some of the career paths are straightforward. If you want to become a doctor, you go to medical school, complete your residency, and get a license. But many careers don’t follow a step-by-step guide to success. If one straight path is not available, it may be worth walking sideways to get to point B. As you grow and learn in general, you still work up the wall.
For more details, check out his full post at the link below.
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