Letter to an aspiring IT Leader – Part 3
| August 17, 2009 |
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What are the challenges or obstacles facing a person in quest of success in the workplace? Sometimes, a seemingly simple and straightforward question like this would lead to a deep, philosophical thought on the subject of emotional and spriritual intelligence. In the recent posts, I have told the story of a young IT manager seeking the secrets of a successful IT Leader. His question "What does it take to become a Vice-president?" has lead to my pondering in Part 1 about the common (and false) association of success with titles and positions in the organization. In Part 2, I shared my answer which was in essence an advice to follow his true calling regardless of the corporate strapping of titles. In this Part 3, I will share with you the rest of my letter. It addressed the second question: "What are the challenges and/or obstacles to becoming a Vice-president?" I didn’t intend to overwhelm him with a long list of challenges, even if they were all true. I’ve picked instead a few key ones. Here is the text: "On Challenges and Obstacles: - You are your worst enemy. If you under/over-estimate your capabilities, if you set your goals too low or too high, if … then you set yourself up for disappointment. - Race, religion, age … and all those classic issues in human intercourse are not the obstacle you would face at MyCompany; certainly not any more than what you would expect from a large organization. - Being cast in a stereotype (e.g. the Asians are good at technical stuff, hence not so good on the management side) is a Challenge. You need to surprise people often enough by tackling issues outside of your (technical) comfort zone to throw them off balance and avoid labels. - Visibility, a condition for success, is a Challenge. Especially if you are a low-key type of person. You need to learn how to "blow your horn" discreetly and gracefully (e.g. through a client testimonial). You may need to take measured risks from time to time to make people (i.e. your managers) take notice. But don’t be so reckless that you would earn the visibility the worst way. I trust that this letter will help put you on the right track to achieve you goals."
In retrospect, I still think that NOT knowing yourself is the biggest obstacle to success. NOT knowing who you are (self-awareness), who you want to be (vision), or what you are made of (capabilities) would waste a lot of your energy in false starts, dead ends and leave you with exhaustion, disappointment and quiet desperation. But … How can you develop a sense of self-awareness? How can you create a personal vision large enough to draw and sustain your growth yet not too large to be just a pipe dream? How can you identify and sharpen your capabilities to match your actions with your vision? Hopefully, you will find the answers in these current and future blog posts. Related Posts:
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Letter to an aspiring IT Leader – Part 2 | A Time to Optimize |  |
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