CHAPTER ONE                               

Career Drift

You Need a Vision, Strategies, and a Plan

Anything you can imagine, you can create.

—OPRAH WINFREY

Corinna, a midcareer manager at a large professional services company, found herself in a quandary. She had strong technical skills and an aptitude for leadership and had been tagged by senior leaders as someone with high potential. We’d been asked to work with her because of the theme that cropped up in Corinna’s feedback assessment again and again.

People made comments such as, “She’s competent, but I have no idea what she wants to do long-term,” “I’d like to help her, but I don’t have a clue where she wants to land,” and “She’s likable and a hard worker. But if she has career goals, I’m unaware of them.”

As Brenda discussed the major motif that had emerged in the feedback, Corinna expressed surprise about her colleagues’ perception that she had no vision for her career development. But when Brenda asked her if she had career goals, her answer was nebulous. “Kinda,” she said. Corinna had a desire to head “north,” but she couldn’t define how far north and couldn’t visualize how she might start moving north. She struggled to describe the destination she was aiming for. She told Brenda that she found some areas in the company more interesting than others. She knew she wanted to be promoted. Corinna had not really established concrete goals and a career plan to get her there.

What do you want to be when you grow up? When children are asked this question, they often excitedly discuss their “grown-up” visions of themselves—sometimes several possibilities at once. “A firefighter, an artist, an astronaut, and a teacher. And maybe a doctor.” Their answers change from day to day and week to week. That works for kids. They’re supposed to imagine and explore and they have years to figure it out. For adults, it’s a little trickier. They need something more concrete.

Establishing a career plan can help you define your direction, build capacity and confidence, and forestall missed opportunities. Clarity about where you want to end up will help you disrupt unhelpful patterns that distract from your vision, and as your career develops, you’ll be able to more quickly spot when you should amend your plan or create a new one.

In our experience, lack of a career vision applies to men and women more than most of the blind spots we will be writing about. We’ve found that many people aren’t very clear about where they want to land in their careers.

However, we also know that messages about the importance of mapping out a career don’t go out as early and as often to women as they do to male colleagues. Educational institutions don’t typically promote career planning; the focus tends to be about deciding how you want to earn a living, earning the degree, and landing your first job. And once you’re employed, most companies don’t devote resources to helping employees craft a vision for their careers. Too often, the organizational chart becomes the default and progress is measured by whatever promotion opportunities are available and secured at any given time.

In addition, women are more likely to be stymied by double binds and gender stereotypes. One glaring example: how often are men asked whether they will be returning to work after a new baby is born or adopted? While we recognize and welcome changes that allow men to be more connected to family, such as parental leave and flexible work schedules, we’d love to see the assumptions made about women as they navigate their careers and their families disappear. It’s still common for women to feel more crunched for time than men because women typically take on a greater portion of the emotional and organizational labor of running their families.

Many of the double binds for women are more subtle. A 2018 article in the Harvard Business Review points out that women are expected to exhibit warmth and kindness, but when they do so, they are seen as less competent or rigorous. Women are told they must be authoritative to be considered credible, but when they are, they’re also seen as arrogant. They are expected to serve others and the business but are viewed with suspicion if they advocate service to themselves.¹

For these reasons and others, it’s particularly important for women to be intentional about creating a vision for their careers and establishing clear plans and goals about how to achieve it.

Researchers Dasie Schultz and Christine Enslin point to studies showing that intentional career planning helps women navigate obstacles to advancement and proactively overcome gender bias and stereotypes on their journey to attaining executive level leadership positions. “Career planning was identified as one of the unwritten rules to advancement for women in organizations, and female executives who participated in past research studies exploring the hurdles to advancement for women wished they had discovered and applied career planning earlier.”²

On the rare occasions when we hear women talk about career plans, the blueprint is typically sketchy, and most of the women we work with who have goals haven’t thought through the concrete steps they must take to achieve them. We see too many women who are reluctant to step into their ambition and own it.

This is a major blind spot, and we get consistent evidence of this in the 360-degree feedback assessments we do for women. This invaluable tool gives us data and information from a cross-section of people who know the women we’re coaching: colleagues, team members, direct reports, bosses, and other business stakeholders. Among the questions we ask are: “What is she good at? How could she be more effective? What does she need to do to get to the next level?”

Our feedback reports contain a common theme: vague expressions about the direction the women want to go. When you get that kind of feedback from the people you work closely with, it’s a wake-up call to make a change. If you don’t make your preferred destination clear to yourself and others, your career path might well become happenstance rather than deliberate.

Imagine a conversation with the CEO of a business who didn’t know where to take the company. What if the company’s business plan was a vague notion of “earning money”? Would you invest in a company with a mission statement that consisted of “Let’s see what happens next”?

If you’re going to be in charge of your career, you have to think like a CEO. And that means getting clear about your direction, establishing goals, and developing a strategy for achieving them.

THE BLIND SPOT: CAREER DRIFTING

Women don’t hesitate to work on strategy or use critical thinking skills to benefit their companies, their teams, and their projects, yet they often don’t apply that same level of creativity and strategic thinking to their careers. Because women tend to be rooted in the moment and focused on doing well in their day-to-day work, they can become blind to the importance of establishing a career vision. They haven’t thought much about why it’s important, so they often neglect to do it. This can be a blind spot in the same way that navigating to a destination without knowing its location would be. If you don’t know exactly where you want to go, how will you find a map or ask for directions? You’re at risk for getting lost or stuck in a place you don’t want to be.

Without a focused career plan, women are more likely to follow a mentor, an advocate, or a sponsor into whatever role or opportunity is presented to them. Many women go with the flow of what the company needs instead of designing a career and intentionally charting their course. We see this all the time. It isn’t wrong, exactly. It’s just that “going with the flow” has a real chance of taking you to a place where you’re not that excited to be. If you allow other people to manage your career—even unconsciously—there is a risk that they’ll steer you to the places that serve them or the organization without accounting for your desires and strengths. You could end up sidelined or in a role that doesn’t leave you fulfilled. You’ll end up with a default career. Not having a plan can delay your ascent, create anxiety, and leave you with a sense of having no control over a major segment of your life. “There are no ‘job fairies’ who magically make a dream job appear,” says Lynne Ford, CEO of MissionSquare Retirement. “You have to go out and get what you want.”³

The most effective CEOs, those who are most likely to make an impact, have a plan. They know where they want to go, they deliberately scan the horizon for growth opportunities, and they overcome challenges and obstacles. CEOs study the environment to find that competitive advantage. You can do that too, if you’re aware of where you want to land and take specific actions to be the steward of your future.

PERILS OF THE BLIND SPOT

It’s an old saying that keeps getting said because it’s true: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Will you get lucky by letting the fates decide your career for you? You might. But should you allow your career to be based on luck? We don’t advise it.

Neglecting to develop a strategic plan and establish interim goals will make it more difficult for you to take advantage of your strengths. The value of relying on strengths as you navigate your career should not be underestimated. It’s true that you can learn new things and improve existing skills, but you have inherent strengths. Why not leverage your superpowers to help you design a meaningful career that will leave you feeling satisfied and fulfilled? When you think about setting goals, start with your strengths instead of reaching for something way outside your area of expertise. Our experience shows that using strengths to aid your career trajectory will get you farther much faster.

Lakshmi, who worked in a large insurance corporation, is a good example. One of her superpowers was creativity and problem-solving skills. Her bedside table always had an eclectic stack of books because she was curious and interested in learning. While she liked the company she worked for, she wasn’t always that content in her assigned roles. Lakshmi continually found herself in process jobs that she easily could do because the work was mostly a matter of moving things along and hitting deadlines. But she was frustrated. She felt that her work rarely allowed her to employ her brainstorming skills, find inventive solutions to sticky problems, or showcase her creativity. She had a superpower that was covered over in burlap.

Once she established what was really important to her, she landed a job with a start-up. Her new job allowed her to help the company by using her finely honed process skills, and because the company was new, she had plenty of opportunities to use her creativity in ways that served the business.

Not being strategic in your career goals can also lead to a job that isn’t closely aligned with or won’t amplify your values or the things that are important to you. Alaine, for example, wanted a career based on public service, but she also wanted the better compensation that came with a job in the private sector. She knew that a nonprofit organization was unlikely to pay the salary she felt she needed to live comfortably. By being clear about the work she wanted to do and letting others know, she landed a role in her company’s newly created initiative for sustainability. Alaine could contribute to the company, satisfy her passion for public service, and be compensated in the way that was important to her.

COACH ON YOUR SHOULDER

Questions to Help You Reflect on Where You Are Now

  What stories have you been telling yourself that could hold you back from creating or stating your long-term goals?

  What new story can you tell yourself and others about what you want to do next and into the future?

  How might you reframe your situation to see opportunities differently?

  What practical concerns might you need to take into account as you plan your career?

  If you have a plan, how can you refine it? Where can you get more specific about what you want?

  If you could do anything in your work or career and not fail, what would you do?

  How can you turn your dreams into reality?

STRATEGIES

Dedicate significant time to dreaming. Seriously—close your eyes, think about where you are, and then dream about what you want, where you want to land. One client told us that after spending considerable time dreaming, she realized that her main goal was not to have a boss. She made her dream come true by eventually starting her own business. A woman Brenda coached revealed her ambition: “I want to be one of the gods of executive board searches.” Her goal was clear. After that, it was easier to plan how to get there. Here are time-tested strategies we’ve offered to our clients to help them figure out how to find their direction:

Assess Your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

This exercise, called SWOT, is one CEOs do periodically for the companies they run, but you can also do it as an individual. Take stock of what is in your pantry.

STRENGTHS What do you do well, what skill sets do you have, what characteristics can you bring to bear? Are you a world-class project manager? Are you good at organizing or collaborating? Do you love to tackle and solve big, complex problems? What have you accomplished that you can talk to others about? What about your work brings meaning to your life? In what situations do you feel most confident?

WEAKNESSES What skill deficits do you have that might create obstacles to your career path? In which areas would you like to develop and grow? Have you received feedback about where you could improve? In which situations are you most likely to lack confidence?

OPPORTUNITIES What areas do you see that could benefit from improvement? How might you amplify your strengths? Where in the company might you look for fresh opportunities? Do you see market trends where you could use your skills and expertise in new ways?

THREATS What potential obstacles and challenges could block your progress? Are you starved for time? Are you working in an area that is losing market share or that is impacted by rapidly changing technology? What resources and other support will you need to achieve your vision?

Now write down what you’ve discovered. Figure 2 shows an example of what it might look like:

Scenario Planning

Many organizations employ a process called scenario planning that is designed to account for variables as they consider the future. For example, how would an escalation in gas prices, a pandemic, or a shortage of workers affect long-range business planning? Although no one ever has a crystal ball, the unknowns can be managed better if a company plans for different scenarios. This strategy also works for personal career planning because it helps you know how to pivot. Our research on successful women shows that women pivot in many different directions as they gather experience that takes them to their destination. Think through three or four different scenarios for your career. Try them on by asking: “Which scenario would work best now?” “What might you shift to if the situation changes?” “What needs to change so you can pivot the way you’d like to?”

Add to Your Informal Research

Do you like what you do and the company or business you work for? Talk to others who are knowledgeable about the company or business you are in. In which areas is the company investing? What do your colleagues or associates see happening in the marketplace? Are some parts of the business expanding? Are there areas that are struggling that could benefit from your knowledge or expertise? Where do you see your company going and what areas might provide good potential for growth?

Sometimes you might end up somewhere that doesn’t suit you. In that case, you can talk to others in human resources, trade associations, industries, and jobs that interest you. These are called informational interviews. The idea is to learn more about those careers and roles so you can gauge your own interest and outlook.

Know the Job Market

As you talk to people, ask them to imagine where things are going in your company’s field and any related industries you’re interested in. What industries can expect to see growth? Based on the trends, what skill sets are companies looking for? Find out what your present company is looking for and consider whether it’s a match with what you want to do long term. If it’s not, what other industries might offer what you’re more interested in?

Consider What You Don’t Want

Sometimes it’s easier to back into what you want by achieving clarity about things that you would not prefer. What have you done in the past that you don’t want to continue? Are there conditions or environments you don’t want to tolerate? Mull over the practical considerations, such as your financial needs or whether you’re cut out for long commutes and lots of travel or, conversely, whether you have an aversion to being desk bound. Do you prefer to work from home? Is a family-friendly work environment important to you? These practical considerations can help you rule out certain paths.

Construct a Plan or Adapt to the Scenario of Your Choice

Visualize wide sky, then bring it down to the rooftops. What do you feel ready to commit to? Talk to people about the possibilities, then take notes. As the owner of your career, you need a vision of where you are going and a clear idea of the goals and actions that can help get you there. If this seems hard, it’s because it is. Many women tell us, “I cannot set a plan because there are too many unknowns.” Here’s the good news: plans are just that. They can always be revised. You’re not swearing an oath to a lifetime commitment. You’re setting a direction that can be changed, adjusted, and fine-tuned as your career unfolds and life circumstances change.

Earn Your “Badges”

One of the leaders Kathryn worked with often said, “Go toward the goal. Learn the skills for the job you want, not the job you have.” Research shows that growing your career is a mix of work experience (70 percent), interaction with others (20 percent), and formal education (10 percent). Once you’ve established a direction and a vision, you can concentrate on the 70 percent. What experience do you need? Think of it as earning badges, just as you would at a summer camp or for a digital credential. Assignments that force you to stretch will facilitate growth. This is more important than formal training programs. For example, Kathryn earned a “badge” in mergers and acquisitions. Brenda earned a “badge” in customer service turnaround. These badges become credentials for your reputation and the next level of work. Every level of leadership needs different skills, according to Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger, the authors of The Leadership Machine.⁴ Basic management is about technical skills, planning, and organizing. Advanced management is about hiring staff, delegating, and negotiating. What skills do you need to get where you want to be? The title of career coach Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, offers a crucial insight.⁵ If you want to get from the front line to the next level, what badges do you need to get there? If you don’t know, ask and keep asking. Consider a lateral job move as a way of getting more or different experience or making new connections. Many of the successful women leaders we know made a lot of job changes on the way. This enabled them to grow more quickly.

Practice Articulating What You Want

Start by talking to a few trusted people about your dreams and goals and ask for their feedback so you can refine your message. Don’t be afraid to be bold. In our coaching practice, we find that women veer toward safety instead of strong, direct, concise statements. We encourage you to be daring. Make statements such as “I want to lead people,” “I am good at organizing and mentoring and I can grow talent,” or “I’m known for building team spirit with staff.” Think of it as “career college”: declare your major, commit to it, and communicate your vision to others.

Find Your Connections

Who are the people you need to talk to or influence or who might be willing to help you? Make a clear ask: “This is what I’m looking for, this is what I need, and this is why I think it will help me be more effective.” Ask people to help you meet others, get an assignment, or review an important document. Look for opportunities to make strategic connections in ways that reflect your authentic style. It’s not about networking or “working the room”; it’s about finding the people you can have a mutually beneficial relationship with. If people don’t know what you want, as was the case for Corinna, they can’t help. People want to help, so tell them what you want.

Kathryn was talking with a former coaching client she hadn’t seen or talked to in some time. The woman delightedly reported to Kathryn that she had achieved her goal of becoming a chief operating officer partly by letting others know what she wanted and by developing relationships with people who could help. She also reported a new goal: to become the chief administrative officer of a Fortune 100 company. She was looking for a company that was big and established but was also going through a messy challenge so she could restore order from chaos, one of her major strengths. It was a bold dream, and she was busy developing strategies to make it come true.

STORIES THAT HOLD US BACK

Many women tell us they can’t make a plan because they’re unable to decide or they don’t want to be boxed in. They have many reasons why they can’t declare a “major” for their career. We’re going to reiterate: make a plan, because you can always change it and most likely will. You can have a plan for now. It used to be that people had an average of three different jobs or careers over their lifetime in the workforce. Now it is more likely to have that many changes by midcareer, and this dynamic is likely to keep changing. Nowadays, people typically have several jobs or careers in their portfolios. The goal isn’t to lock you in but rather to give yourself a direction to prevent drift.

We understand that sometimes the thought of wanting more, especially when you’re juggling many aspects of life, can feel overwhelming. We had one client who likened her life to a carefully constructed house of cards. She was juggling childcare, taking care of elderly parents, and attending to her marriage. She had established a precarious work-life balance and worried that a promotion or an expanded role would be like trying to add another card to the house, causing the whole thing to collapse. But that doesn’t have to be an obstacle to planning. Making a plan can enable you to be more mindful about pursuing the career that works for your life.

When we encourage women to be more deliberate about goals related to their career development, it doesn’t often come naturally to them. They say things such as:

“I’m not sure of my next move; I can just go where they need me.”

“I’m not sure whether I can do the big job.”

“I can’t decide what my long-term goal is.”

“Even though others think I’m qualified, I don’t want to apply. I don’t think I am ready.”

“I worry about what others would think of me if I said I wanted to be the CEO.”

“I don’t have time to work on my career. I have clients to serve and a family to take care of.”

As we mentioned in the introduction, sometimes the voices in your head—those voices that chatter at you and sometimes try to convince you that “you’re not all that”—can prevent you from being precise about what you want. If you believe what those voices are saying, you’ll hesitate to go big. Don’t allow the background noise to hold you back. Laura, a deputy CEO of a major consulting firm, says shutting down her inner critic was a key ingredient to her success.

Much has been written about imposter syndrome, the fear that you will be exposed for not knowing what you should know. It’s a worry that despite your knowledge and skills, people will discover that you’re actually a fraud. We see many examples of women whose career advancement is held up by a fear of speaking up or hesitating to ask for plum assignments. They don’t apply for jobs or promotions unless they’re confident that they know everything about how to do it. This can prevent the kind of learning you need to grow and advance. If taking on something bigger and better feels a little scary, that just makes you human. Having a little fear doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Don’t let your limiting beliefs hold you back.

In coaching, we find that many women are overly loyal to their companies, their teams, or their manager. They can be too concerned about “leaving the house in order” before they take on a new role. While loyalty is a wonderful trait, if you allow that to be your driver, you might postpone the promotion because you have a project to finish or stay put because you can’t imagine how your team will go on without you. It’s important to know when it’s time to move on or change things up. Don’t let comfort or loyalty keep you from seeking new challenges.

THE POWER OF REFRAMING: A NEW STORY

Remember Corinna from earlier in this chapter? After she got over her surprise that people didn’t know her career aspirations, Corinna began to self-reflect. She began examining her situation more closely and thinking about what she wanted. She talked to peers, colleagues, friends, and one of her old bosses about what she had learned about herself. Corinna began to take inventory of her strengths, analyzing where and how she could make her mark. She worked to quiet the negative voices in her head that had subconsciously contributed to a subtle embarrassment about wanting to get ahead.

After productive conversations with us and some of her colleagues and mentors, she began making what we call strategic asks. To get where she wanted to go, she needed to expand her knowledge and skills and earn “badges” by contributing to different work projects. She knew she needed to get assigned to key task forces and volunteer for relevant committees. Once she established a direction, she got her career wheels rolling. She was soon working with a key committee that gave her work exposure and helped her develop important contacts. Both developments moved her toward her goal and helped her understand what steps to take to earn even more “badges.” She became known for being effective at managing change and shepherding challenging projects to completion. As she broadened her experience, she got noticed, and eventually she was asked to take over the account of a huge and important client.

An executive Brenda worked with often talked about the people who “couldn’t see beyond their headlights.” They can’t see their potential or anything beyond what the headlights illuminated. They need to see more of their capabilities, see themselves in other capacities and not just where they are today. When she asked what that meant, he responded that such people couldn’t see anything beyond their headlights and therefore weren’t thinking about a long-range direction or imagining the possibilities that lay beyond what was right in front of them. His perspective was that they’d given up on believing that they could do more or imagining different possibilities and were therefore more likely to remain stuck.

What stories do you tell yourself that might be holding you back? As you become aware of them, write them down. Ask yourself, “Are these things true?” Then create a new story about yourself, one that sets intentions and helps you envision who you want to be and where you want to go.

Corinna thought that focusing on the work in front of her would get her noticed and that people would naturally ask her to take on more. Sometimes it works like that, but why not boost your chances by advertising your good work and telling people where you’d like it to take you?

Getting the job done is important, of course. But if you want to effectively manage your career, you need to develop goals and take strategic steps to achieve them. Look for the people who have the power to help you and let them know what you want. Work to influence others and seek ways to help others achieve their goals. As Corinna said to us, “I know a lot of people, but there are also a lot of people I don’t know well. I need to find a way to create relationships with people who might be able to help me.”

Ursula Burns, the former CEO of Xerox and the first Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company, has written a book about her career called Where You Are Is Not Who You Are.⁶ In her discussion of what made her successful, she notes that her mother taught her many important lessons, including, “Don’t let the world happen to you. You go out and happen to the world.” This is what we want for you. Make a plan and happen to the world.

COACH ON YOUR SHOULDER

Tips for Steering Clear of the Blind Spot

MAKE YOU A PRIORITY Create a set period to think about or reassess your goals and outline the steps you’re taking. Consider it a retreat for brainstorming and establishing your personal strategic initiatives. We are big proponents of blocking out time on your calendar and protecting that time for the purpose of consciously taking concrete actions that will further your career. If your calendar is reminding you of the importance of this task, it’s harder to skip it or let it slide.

CREATE VISUAL REMINDERS A document or spreadsheet or even a vision board can become a tangible, visual reminder of your goals and the steps you intend to take to achieve them. Consider developing a spreadsheet that outlines the steps you need to take to manage your career. List the activities you intend to complete and give them a suggested due date. Make a column for the names of people who can help you in some way. Your career is a project, and a project needs management. Use the strategies you implement to be successful at work to help you achieve your career goals. Every month or so, return to the list and give yourself a grade.

SCHEDULE YOURSELF IN Make a lunch or coffee date with someone to talk about what you want. Tell the person that you have a specific agenda: to talk about your career. When your companion knows you have an agenda, it will give them time to think about how they can help. It will also give a focus to your conversation that is harder to back away from.

STEER YOUR CAREER It’s essential to have a destination in mind, but like any journey, your career navigation is likely to include twists, turns, and detours. Stay flexible. You have a plan, but it’s important to remember that even the best-laid plans need to be adjusted from time to time. If you find yourself unhappy in your job, remember that you want to steer toward something better, not away from something you don’t prefer. Don’t get stuck in the whirlpool of indecision. No decision is a decision.

BROADEN YOUR VISION INSEAD, the San Francisco–based international business school, reviewed thousands of 360-degree assessments over five years to see how women ranked in leadership abilities compared to men. In a Harvard Business Review article highlighting the findings, women got higher average ratings than men in most of the leadership dimensions measured. But there was one exception: women scored lower on “envisioning,” the ability to recognize new opportunities and trends in the environment and develop new strategic directions.⁷ Taking this task into account as you plan your career will boost your opportunity to stand out.

LEARN TO SAY “NO” GRACEFULLY You will be asked to do things or take assignments that will not fit your goal. Be thoughtful. Saying “no” to some things will allow you to say “yes” to more strategic things. Consider the three rules of saying no:

Give yourself the “gift of the gap.” Ask for time to think about it before responding, but avoid using words like “maybe,” which can be interpreted as a tepid yes.

Respond respectfully and in a way that maintains the relationship: “This role is exciting, but I want to complete the work on a project I’ve already committed to. Thank you for asking.”

Offer a suggestion that might help—another person they could ask or a different strategy to consider. Introduce them to someone else who might help.

We know good leaders are outcome oriented and have a clear destination. Determine yours. You can always pivot and change— most of us do—but with a vision and set goals, your career will be on a well-thought-out path, just like any good business plan.