Whether you're just starting or building your career, you've undoubtedly faced new challenges that no textbook or classroom could have prepared you for. Using a simple set of core principles can help you start and build your career.

Career Success Guide

Establish a decentralised friend group to learn from and grow with. Interacting with this group will expose you to new ideas, industries, and opportunities. Features of a decentralised friend group: <ul><li>Unconnected to other groups</li><li>Different backgrounds</li><li>Range of experience sets</li><li>Novel perspectives</li></ul>

Create a Decentralized Growth Tribe

<ul><li>The comparison trap is the desire to compare ourselves and our progress to others. But comparing ourselves to others is also dangerous.</li></ul> <ul><li>The zone of excellence trap is the area where you are highly competent but don't have a passion or energy for. You'll be told you are great, but it's not where you want to be. Instead, find your zone of genius. It is where your interests, passions and skills align.</li></ul>

Avoid the Comparison Trap and the Zone of Excellence Trap

When you start, you won't be good at most things. Most jobs are apprenticeship-oriented. You have to learn by following and doing, meaning you will make mistakes. That's ok. What's not ok is not owning your mistakes or making the same mistake twice. So when you make a mistake, own it and build a system to avoid it in the future.

Own Your Mistakes

T-Shaped knowledge has breadth & depth. <ul><li>Breadth allows you to be thoughtful and constructive across various business areas.</li><li>Depth allows you to be world-class in a specific area of expertise. You get there through hard, task-specific effort over time.</li></ul> Ensure you are building breadth and depth. Breadth makes you an asset to an organisation, while depth makes you critical to your organisation.

Build "T-Shaped" Knowledge

The “frog” is a complex or annoying task your boss doesn’t want to do. However, that frog is your opportunity to get ahead early in your career. <ol><li>Observe your boss.</li><li>Figure out what they hate doing.</li><li>Teach yourself to do it.</li><li>Take it off their plate.</li></ol>

Swallow the Frog for Your Boss

Treat your career lifecycle as a company.<ul><li>You start as a high-growth startup.</li><li>You grow into a bigger business.</li><li>You IPO and are a public company.</li></ul> At each phase, you will encounter a variety of difficult and new decisions. Traditionally, people have turned to mentorship to guide them through the uncharted waters. A better approach is building a personal board of 5 -10 advisors comprising of individuals (not family) from varying backgrounds willing to give you raw feedback.

Build a Personal Board of Advisors

If you can sell, you'll always make it. Selling means learning to tell a compelling, convincing story. The more you progress in any field, the more of your job becomes sales: <ul><li>You sell yourself when you want a company to hire you.</li><li>You sell your idea when you want investors to back you.</li><li>You sell your vision when you want customers to pay you.</li><li>You sell your culture when you want employees to join you.</li></ul>

Learn to Sell

The biggest mistake young people make early in their careers is to prioritise salary. Instead, think long-term.  A foundation-building experience will be more effective than extra money. What are the opportunities, experiences, and relationships that will build the strongest foundation for your future?

Prioritize Experience, Not Salary

In every company, there are certain rooms where the big stuff happens: The important negotiations, the critical decisions, or the conflicts and debates. Find these rooms and ensure to get in there. It could be as simple as offering to take notes and send around action items. Then, when you're in the room, listen and observe. You will get a huge learning experience.

Get In "The Room"

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