(Pic: #246, you are set to start your triathlon race now!)
I have a client who has worked for a large corporation for almost 20 years. In terms of the corporate ‘ladder’, he is still around 30% counting from the bottom. He reckons he is good (well, ‘great’ according to him) at work, but he is usually not the one who got promoted in the past few years. He wonders why.
His most recent project has the potential to save the company US$10 million next year, so he reckons he will be promoted soon.
I told him that he may not. I happen to know a senior manager in this guy’s company, so I asked in private on a casual occasion about my client and his performance in the company. It turned out that, according to this manager, no one in my client’s term likes to work with
him because he has a big ‘ego’. In other words, he ‘believes’ that he is better and knows more than other people. Is this my client’s competitive advantage?
The answer is No; a BIG no. Why?
People don’t like to work with ‘geniuses’ because this makes them look dumb! If you are that ‘genius’, what you should do is to ‘transfer’ what you know to your colleagues and help them become geniuses, too! People like that and then you are in the ‘team’. Luckily, my client is a smart person, so he has something to offer to his teammates, so there is still a chance for him to be successful at his workplace.
What if you are not smarter than others, no higher degrees and no fancy title or no fancy Big Data programming skills? There is still a way out for your future, but you need a coach to help you.
Dr. C. Richard Wu @ REEAConsulting.com
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