10 Tips for Personal Career Development

You went to school. It was the best school you could get into or could afford. You got an MBA. Congratulations! Now what? How are you going to really learn about leading in a dynamic world that changes every day? How are going to lead multiple generations of people that have different expectations of you and the organization? How are you going to keep your team focused on the customer? How are you going to keep an eye on costs without destroying the culture? What about your personal career development?

The answer is simple and yet, one that most leaders I work with do not want to hear.

School is never out.

Getting your MBA or even your Ph.D. is not enough. The world is too dynamic. And… most business schools are years behind the times with professors that are rarely in the trenches, or at least haven’t been for years.

To learn what it takes to lead and be successful today, leaders need to live by the mantra that school is never out. Ever.

The excuse “I don’t have time” is now used by those who will be left behind wondering what happened. You need to invest in your personal career development to be a true leader.

Here is what the leaders on the edge are doing:

1. Going to conferences (and actually going to the sessions – versus what I see tons of leaders doing… playing golf, shopping, sleeping in, taking a long lunch, etc.)
2. Joining a peer group like Vistage International or TEC (The Executive Committee)
3. Working with a mentor
4. Working with a coach (the world’s top leaders and athletes all have coaches)
5. Finding a Mastermind partner (a Mastermind partner is a cooperative partnership with someone that pushes you and vice-versa)
6. Reading the latest articles in Fast Company, Inc., Harvard Business Review, etc.
7. Further reading in their field
8. Reading outside of their field – get yourself immersed in strategy, marketing, sales, HR, leadership, customer and culture titles
9. Listening and watching. Turning their commute or morning workout into a university, with podcasts, audio books, YouTube videos…
10. The best leaders are also teachers. You can learn by doing. You learn WAY more by teaching.

What you will discover is that when you invest in your personal career development you will start to leapfrog the internal and external competition for success (however you define that). Too much effort? Then mediocrity awaits. And the mediocre eat leftovers.

Harsh message but it’s reality. School is never out for today’s leaders.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, connect with Robert on LinkedIn.

Click here to get his weekly Tuesday Tune Up blog posts straight to your inbox.