Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to Strategic Careers
Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to Strategic Careers
Strategy. It’s one of the most abused words in our language. This matters, because in its absence, it’s unlikely we’ll achieve the things we want most in our careers.
The term is usually used in a way that reduces it to the level of tactics. This is not to suggest tactics are unimportant. They’re vital, but they’re dangerous if used in any other way than in support of a strategy. If we mistake them for strategy, then we won’t have a strategy. The consequences are described in the saying (author unknown, though it’s usually attributed to Sun Tzu):
“Strategy without tactics is the slow route to victory.
Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
Full table of contents
Understanding the Strategic Career
The term ‘Strategy’ is usually misused in a way that conflates it with Tactics. Both terms address key requirements for success – but neither addresses the issue, fundamental to deep levels of success, of Why we are acting in the first place; instead, they’re both about How we will act. So a third term is required to address the ‘why’. Let’s call it Clarity.
Strategy sits, appropriately, between clarity and tactics. It’s the linchpin that’s required to align all of these levels and hold them together.
- What Every Executive Ought to Know About Their Career
- How Will a Strategic Career Approach Benefit Your Quality of Life?
- How Your Career Strategy Can Benefit Society
- How to Know if You’ll be Happy in Retirement
- How to Make Sure Your Career Supports the Life You Want
- Why You MUST Ensure Your Career Supports the Life You Want
Symptoms of a Developing Career Crisis
The symptoms of a developing career crisis begin to reveal themselves long before the crisis becomes obvious. They can manifest themselves in a range of ways, including even effects on our health. And as with physical health problems in general, the earlier they’re addressed, the better the outlook for a full recovery.
Check in with yourself as to whether any of the symptoms outlined in the articles below are present in your life.
Symptoms of a Developing Career Crisis
The symptoms of a developing career crisis begin to reveal themselves long before the crisis becomes obvious. They can manifest themselves in a range of ways, including even effects on our health. And as with physical health problems in general, the earlier they’re addressed, the better the outlook for a full recovery.
Check in with yourself as to whether any of the symptoms outlined in the articles below are present in your life.
Removing Roadblocks to a Satisfying Career
On a highway, any roadblocks are usually obvious. That’s not the case in our careers, though, where they can be intangible but just as real as a fallen tree across a road. If we’re unaware of them, that can be the career equivalent of driving on a country road, on a moonless night, without headlights.
Check to see if any of the roadblocks identified here are hindering your career. If they are, once identified, you can take action to remove them.
Implementing Strategic Career Essentials
The essential elements of strategic career management begin with the right mindset and proceed through clarity, strategy, then tactics. You’ll need a compelling vision for your life and of how you want your career to support it. These will need to be backed by a viable plan, that you’re positioned to achieve. You’ll need to effectively manage your brand and ensure the right people know of you and fully understand the value that you create.
Strong focus and execution will be vital.
Implementing Strategic Career Essentials
The essential elements of strategic career management begin with the right mindset and proceed through clarity, strategy, then tactics. You’ll need a compelling vision for your life and of how you want your career to support it. These will need to be backed by a viable plan, that you’re positioned to achieve. You’ll need to effectively manage your brand and ensure the right people know of you and fully understand the value that you create.
Strong focus and execution will be vital.