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Starting Out
Success ultimately depends on your ambition, resolve, and killer business instincts. Master these skills at the outset of your career and you won’t be an apprentice for long.
- Perfect your interview technique. Don’t come across as a weak-minded applicant or another corporate clone.
- Succeed as an intern. You can’t get a job without experience, but you can’t get experience without a job. Once you’ve landed the job, arrive early and show your total commitment.
- Don’t feel pressured by others’ expectations. Everyone struggles at the start of their career, especially if they’re pressured to join the family business. Whether your grandfather was a Sith Lord, your mother helped “save the galaxy” with her strident activism, or your father was a scruffy looking nerf-herder who couldn’t hold down a proper job, don’t be afraid to forge your own path.
- Find a mentor. You’ll never get from entry-level to Emperor on your own. You’ll need guidance from someone who recognizes your talents and knows how to put you on the path to success.
- Shoot for the stars! Dream big! You’re literally at the start of your brilliant career and the whole galaxy is literally yours for the taking. As Anakin Skywalker told Princess Padmé Amidala, “I am more powerful than the Chancellor… I can overthrow him. And… together you and I can rule the galaxy.”
Brady’s Perspective
Much of this advice is consistent with my own. In fact, I encourage aspiring HR professionals to start with a good foundation, supported and enabled by their own values and the values of the organization. Then, work to be responsive and timely to customer needs. Provide quality products and services.
Of course, I couldn’t agree more with the “find a mentor” advice, as I’ve previously suggested in this blog. And I love the advice to “shoot for the stars”—in fact, I made that the tagline of my web site!
Getting Established
Discover how to command your peers’ respect, but just know that the Death Star wasn’t built in a day.
- Master the power of self-confidence. Always be confident in your abilities. As Darth Vader put it, “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”
- Control the conversation. Keep your conversation on a tight leash in meetings by silencing anyone who is derailing the conversation with small talk or pettiness. Some colleagues, whether at the office or on your Death Star, may fuss over protocol or fight over turf—remind them that they are here to serve the Emperor.
- Refine your negotiation skills. You don’t need to rely on Jedi mind tricks to become a dealmaker extraordinaire: focus your discussions on what both parties will gain in any negotiation. You may be coercing a local politician to carbon freeze their best friend, but remind them how they’ll win their city’s autonomy in return.
- Don’t bring problems: bring solutions. There’s nothing worse for starship morale than an individual who constantly focuses on problems or worst-case scenarios, and who cites legal niceties at every opportunity. Stay true to your vision and look for creative solutions to potential problems—before they arise.
- Present with confidence. You can be guaranteed to make a strong impression by following these top tips: have a clear message, decorate the stage with a bold insignia, and project your voice. Make sure even the Stormtroopers at the back can hear you!
Brady’s Perspective
This is where I differ from the Sith and Darth Vader’s advice. I believe that you can be equally as successful, seeking to serve others. Live by the Platinum Rule—treat others the way they want to be treated. As a leader, Ask Questions…Don’t Give Answers.
I agree with the advice to bring solutions and present with confidence. Doing that has served me well in “getting established” throughout my career.
Seeking Promotion
Acknowledge and, more importantly, promote your achievements. Make sure that your efforts are suitably recognized and rewarded.
- Manage changing circumstances. At some stage in your career, you will face change at your workplace. Find the opportunity in change and execute on it—or be executed from your current role.
- Assess your competition. Rivalries can be healthy. They can make you stronger, sharper, and fiercer. The Sith say that even within a defined relationship, the master should embody power while the apprentice craves it. A young Anakin Skywalker once said, “It’s all Obi-Wan’s fault! He’s jealous! He’s holding me back!”
- Insist on proper recognition. How you communicate your achievement is as vital as the achievement itself. Make your superiors understand it—then make them grasp your worth by demanding a higher position, with an appropriate pay raise. Advancement is never given; it is taken.
- Make your requests with conviction. It is imperative to show steely resolve during negotiations. Never back down, even if that means feeding enemy negotiators to hungry beasts and starting a galactic war.
- Devise a solid career plan and stick to it. You can’t take your eye off the ball, especially if that ball is the Death Star—a monumental statement like that will ensure your abiding legacy. Darth Sidious noted, “Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design.”
Brady’s Perspective
In my experience, self-promoters generally fail. Maybe that’s because I work in an organization based on teamwork. In fact, as we promote leaders to Executive roles, part of our process involves describing personal impact and accomplishments. Many of our leaders struggle to do that because their natural language is “we accomplished…” rather than “I accomplished…”
Vader obviously has a different experience and different perspective to share, but I would tread carefully, and recognize the culture of your own organization before following the advice to “Be More Vader” as you seek to be promoted.
Working With Colleagues
You’re powerful with the Force, but even you can’t do everything alone. You’ll never build a new organization out of the ashes of the fallen Empire unless you instill new purpose in its former staffers and recruit new, highly motivated employees.
- Never tolerate insubordination. Some colleagues are determined to make you look bad.
- Lead by example. Sometimes, if you want something done right, you just have to do it yourself. Even the best TIE fighter pilot in the fleet could learn a maneuver or two from flying in attack formation with you. Darth Vader said, “I’ll take them myself! Cover me!”
- Hire external contractors, if necessary. There are times when your own team can’t get the job done, so you might have to call in outside experts. As Darth Vader talked with Boba Fett and other bounty hunters, he told them, “You are free to use any methods necessary…”
- Make your expectations clear. It’s only natural to have high standards when you’re a Force-sensitive, exceptionally powerful individual identified as the “Chosen One” in a galaxy teeming with billions of beings. Be patient—up to a point—but make sure your instructions are crystal clear: don’t give anyone a second opportunity to disappoint you. As Darth Vader told Admiral Piett, “Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral. I want that ship, not excuses.”
- Manage the talents of others. Deploy staff in ways that align their duties with their talents. If a staff member displays raw, untamed power, set him loose on your enemies. While your employees benefit from professional development, you’ll profit from realizing their full potential.
Brady’s Perspective
I couldn’t agree more with what John Maxwell often says, “Nothing of significance was ever accomplished by an individual acting alone.” There is power in working with colleagues, and you can accomplish more and go farther as a team than you can acting alone.
I agree that it’s important as a leader to personally take on the difficult tasks that you’re asking your team to take on—and get your hands dirty, when necessary. It’s also important, at times, to bring in an external perspective to the organization—whether that’s through hiring or bringing in consultants to offer different ideas. I also like David Marquet’s advice to “embrace the inspectors.”
As a leader, it’s critically important to make your expectations clear and to first ask yourself if you’ve done that when they aren’t being met. I don’t believe Darth Vader ever holds up the mirror when he sees a disconnect between what he’s asked and what his subordinates do. That style—while effective in the short-term—makes it difficult to engender trust and long-term commitment to the team or organization.
Becoming a Leader
Great leaders must project an aura of authority and stability. Sow seeds of fear to motivate your team in the short term, if necessary, but for long-term leadership you must command their admiration and loyalty.
- Accept a leadership position. Some individuals train for years to be a leader, while others become one overnight. If an opportunity arises, be prepared to seize it, whether it has been planned or appears from out of the blue.
- Give credit where credit is due. Your employees naturally look up to you and will thrive on your support, encouragement, and gratitude. Don’t underestimate the impact of positive feedback. Darth Sidious told Darth Maul, “You have been well-trained, my young apprentice. They will be no match for you.”
- Provide decisive and forthright feedback. You have risen to a position of prominence by meeting targets, advancing your organization’s reach, and putting your life on the line when required. If your subordinates are unable to do the same, they deserve to face the consequences. When appraising the progress of the Death Star, Darth Vader said, “The Emperor does not share your optimistic appraisal…of the situation…. And he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress.”
- Watch your back. Complacency is the enemy of a long career. Once you’ve reached the top, you will be vulnerable—strike first against those who seek to undermine you. Know that any weakness will be exploited. Such is the way of the Sith.
- Terminate contracts with immediate effect. Firing loyal staff is never easy. However, just because instant dismissal can be a painful experience for your employee, it doesn’t have to be hard on you. As Darth Vader remained in his meditation chamber, he used technology to pass on his message to the leader of the Death Star project, “You have failed me for the last time, Admiral.”
Brady’s Perspective
OK, this advice to “project an aura of authority” completely flies in the face of The Humility Imperative. While it’s important to acknowledge your position of authority, you have a new level of privilege in the organization; and you need to use that privilege honorably to serve others and maximize talents of people around you.
If you use Servant Leadership, you’re less likely to need to “watch your back,” as Vader and the Sith must do. In fact, if your goal is to promote others on your team and work your way out of your current role, both you and the organization will succeed.
As you shoot for the stars, you have a decision to make. Do you really want to “Be More Vader”?
As for me, that doesn’t really fit with my own style, strengths, and success…