Michael C. Hyter - The Power of Choice

I also came to understand the importance of fostering relationships with others, even those I might not like or choose to have as friends. I spent more time cultivating a “brand of excellence” with senior executives. I became much more willing to make mistakes, admit what I didn't know, and learn from my errors. Perhaps most important, I began to seek out feedback constantly—even if I didn't always like what I heard. I stopped waiting for others to discover me, and I stopped assuming that other people's biases were holding me back. Instead, I started relying on my belief in my capacity to learn and improve and become increasingly more effective in accomplishing the goals that were important to the company and to me.

These strategies opened many doors for me. Through my efforts, and with the support of some wonderful mentors and coaches, I was rewarded with a satisfying and challenging career.

When I look back, I realize there were many starts and stops, many lessons I wish I had learned more quickly, and much advice I wish I'd received sooner. I'm grateful to the wonderful individuals who recognized my potential and helped me learn how to navigate my career. So this book is my effort to “pay it forward” and provide straightforward answers to the questions you might face as you immerse yourself in an often confusing and challenging workplace culture. It is about how to take informed personal responsibility for your career.

There are many books with good advice for attaining and managing a successful career. However, most of them do not address the challenges facing professionals who are underrepresented in the leadership of today's organizations. This book is intended as an open discussion about the deliberate choices that must be made about who you are and how to represent yourself in the organization you work for. It is about how to create options for yourself, consciously choose what's important to you, and decide how you will achieve your goals. Making these choices might require more work or numerous tradeoffs if your background and identity don't always square with your work culture. However, to ignore the challenge also means cutting yourself off from the possibility of reaching your full potential—and developing yourself to the fullest is the core message of this book.

The power of choice is not about becoming successful in spite of your differences or even because of your differences. It's about expanding your definition of who you are and who you can become.

It's about expanding your sense of possibilities for yourself.

In the first part of this book, we explore the foundational principles of the Power of Choice's approach to career development. In the second part, we discuss how to develop the skills—especially the relational and influence skills—that are required to shape the kind of career you want. We also examine the factors that sometimes undermine our efforts and stunt our momentum. At the end of each chapter, a summary highlights the key ideas explored and provides direction for using the Power of Choice principles to make decisions and navigate your development.

The third part of the book offers case studies to help you shape your reality in a way that sets you up for success.

Long‐term career growth is never the result of luck; it's the result of conscious and deliberate choices. My intention is that by reading this book, you will become more aware of the choices you've made to date and the options that will best serve the vision you create for yourself. By honestly looking at the impact of your decisions—what's working and what could work better—you put yourself in a position to engage even more effectively than you have in the past. In areas where you're frustrated with your career, make different choices and get a different outcome. In areas where your choices are serving you well, be open to the possibility of an even bigger vision for yourself.

We can choose to be mediocre and to let our lives be limited by others, or we can choose to find out just how great we can be. I encourage you all to choose greatness.

AS INDIVIDUALS CONTEMPLATE their potential for success, they often wonder what's required. Individuals understandably want to know which skills will best advance their careers and earn just rewards for the effort. Women and others who are underrepresented in their organizations' leadership sometimes have additional concerns: Do I have to work twice as hard because of my race, gender, or background in order to be recognized and rewarded? Do some folks get better opportunities because of who they know rather than the skills they've developed?

At Korn Ferry, we've researched different kinds of organizations and the nuances of their cultures, and we've found there is a consistent pattern to the career trajectory of professionals whose skills are most developed and who are most respected. Regardless of their background or experience, and whether they've worked in large or small organizations, in for‐profits or nonprofits, or in traditional or cutting‐edge industries, successful professionals have all built their credibility and value by developing in three areas:

Technical Skills. Technical proficiency is having the operational and analytical skills required to do a job. It refers to a person's capability to do a job accurately, reliably, and efficiently, whether it's a highly process‐driven set of responsibilities, such as issuing invoices, or a highly creative one, such as designing a new ad campaign. Individuals who are technically proficient are knowledgeable about their field of endeavor and are able to do their jobs with a high degree of excellence in order to succeed. If these professionals hadn't made the effort and commitment that enabled them to be very good at their jobs, there's little likelihood they would have been offered the opportunity to do more.However, the mistake many professionals make, especially women and traditionally underrepresented groups, is to believe that technical skill alone guarantees they'll be recognized and rewarded. After developing a foundation of expertise in a field, professionals have to learn how to use that expertise in a manner that mobilizes others to act on their ideas. This is why the next two areas of competency are as important as technical competence.

Relational Skills. Relational skills are the capability to relate to others and have others relate to you, whether or not you like one another. Organizations are made up of individuals who are expected to work together effectively. Because most people prefer to work with others they know and feel comfortable with, professionals who have developed relational skills, who can navigate across a wide variety of people and circumstances, tend to be the most sought after.

Influential Skills. Influential proficiency is the capability to engineer mutually satisfactory solutions to problems. It requires the skills to sell ideas and to navigate an organization effectively in order to get things done. Individuals who can shape outcomes and engineer the engagement of others add more value to the organization than those who bring technical skills alone.

Organizations' expectations of individuals' contributions change over time. After professionals master the technical requirements of their role, the organization looks to them to influence the work of others and do more to advance the business's objectives. While professionals must be technically competent in order to be credible, relational and influence skills tend to differentiate individuals who experience the greatest growth and satisfaction in their careers from those who are perceived as good, but not stellar, performers. (See Figure 1.1.)

Figure 1.1