Warning-Extreme Career Development is not for everyone!  If you enjoy the consistency of your day job and the warmth of your familiar cubicle walls, then run, don’t walk away from this posting.  On the other hand, if you are uncomfortable being comfortable and you have experienced the surge of adrenaline that comes from pushing yourself into new projects, positions, companies and industries, then read on.

During the train ride into downtown Chicago yesterday, I grabbed a copy of the Wall Street Journal’s The Journal Report, that was included in the December 1-2 weekend edition of paper.  The lead article was by Professor William White of Northwestern University, entitled: How to Get Ahead by Going Backward, with a subtitle of: Lessons from those who took career risks-and succeeded.   (Although focused on executives, it’s a great and stimulating read for everyone.)

In this article, Professor White describes a new approach that executives are taking to enhance their careers and enrich their lives.  He says: "Instead of trying to move up, some executives make sideways or even backward career moves.  These jobs may mean a lower salary and profile in the short term-but in the long term they can impart valuable new skills and serve as stepping stones to better positions."   He offers perspectives from those that have tried this and succeeded and this great article is filled with important caveats and hints for anyone looking to take the leap. 

What do the lessons in: How to Get Ahead By Going Backward, mean for you?

While not everyone is interested in jumping out of the career helicopter to go skiing, there are ample opportunities for you to benefit by taking some calculated risks and pushing outside of your career  comfort zone.  You might not have to move backward-perhaps just sideways.  The point is to keep  growing.  A few suggestions:

  • Develop the right perspective: you have one life to invest in your career.  This is not a dress rehearsal.  It’s up to you to derive reward, satisfaction and compensation for your labors.  It’s not your manager’s job to plan your career moves. 
  • Keep learning/develop new skills: if you’re not learning in your job, you’re going backwards.  Take a class, take advantage of tuition reimbursement and earn a new degree or a certification.  Some individuals choose to sharpen their current skills-I view that as table-stakes for the day job.  Consider focusing your education efforts on developing new skills-you will grow personally and professionally through the endeavor.  Another suggestion: volunteer for a project or committee in your company.  Often, there are ample opportunities for professional growth right in your own backyard. 
  • Change teams inside your company: I’ve always admired people that have had the confidence to move from one function to another inside a firm.  I’ve watched professional services managers move to HR and marketing people become tremendous sales representatives.  While there is always some inherent risk in changing roles, you are opening yourself up to a rich learning and development experience. 
  • If you don’t like your company-switch industries: I tend to raise a lot of disagreement on this point.  I hate the notion of competitor jumping.  It’s easy, it happens a lot and it is a poor practice for all participants.  Job-jumpers end up in a like-kind firm with many familiar people and all familiar issues and problems.  Companies retread the same people with the same biases, myopic industry views and lack of creativity.  If you want to stay in the same arena, change positions in the value chain and move to a supplier, partner or customer, but not a competitor.  Additionally, moving to a competitor devalues your prior efforts.
  • Become an educator: volunteer in your firm or in your community (local colleges etc.) to help transfer your knowledge and experience to others.  It’s remarkably stimulating to have to figure out how to create a valuable and effective adult learning experience. 
  • More extreme-become an educator on something that your not an expert at: while this may sound a bit off-beat, this happens all of the time in academia.  The exercise of mastering the content (or at least the curriculum and text) will force feed your growth.
  • Volunteer in your community: growth can occur in many ways, and one great one is to extend your social network and help with an activity in your community. 
  • Expand your network: there are many great reasons for tending to the care and feeding of your network of professional associates. Make a commitment to meet new people and help others expand their own list of contacts.  Leverage tools such as LinkedIn to reach out to people that you would like to know and forge new relationships.  We live in a social networking world and the tools available to help you expand your professional contacts are tremendous. 

OK, perhaps I didn’t suggest that anyone jump out of the helicopter with skis on, but for many individuals, the above suggestions might seem extreme.  You are in charge of your own career, and frankly, it’s no fun to run in place.  The growth that comes from taking some calculated risks and challenging yourself to learn, grow and adapt, is tremendous.  Take the leap-you might just find that the rush of adrenaline is just what you needed.  Keep growing!