Top Tips for Career Success
One of the most important pieces of advice I can offer is this: grab opportunities when they arise. Enjoy life to the full, but be intentional. Make a career plan, think big, and don’t let landmines derail you. We all hit brick walls from time to time — what defines us is not the setback itself, but how we cope during stressful and challenging situations.
As management thinker Peter Drucker famously said,
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
That requires stopping occasionally to reflect: Where am I heading? What information, people, learning, tools, and resources do I need to get there? And what is my realistic timeframe?
Career management is not a one-off exercise. It is lifelong. Plans need to be reviewed, refreshed, and sometimes completely rewritten as unexpected events inevitably occur.
Career Progression: What the Research Tells Us
Research into career advancement consistently shows that many factors contribute to success, but two are critically important, particularly for minorities, including women, where they remain underrepresented at senior levels:
Making your achievements known (visibility)
Understanding influence (how things get done and who gets noticed)
As Herminia Ibarra notes in her work on leadership development,
“Careers don’t advance on performance alone; they advance on perception.”
This doesn’t mean self-promotion without substance — it means ensuring your contributions are visible and understood.
The Power of Proactivity
Those who progress within organisations tend to be proactive rather than passive. Research on the “ideal employee” highlights eight proactive career strategies:
Getting trained through experience
Gaining access to power and decision-makers
Making achievements known
Pursuing formal training
Actively planning a career
Seeking advice when needed
Scanning for opportunities inside and outside the organisation
While many of these may sound obvious, studies repeatedly show that making achievements visible has the greatest impact. Visibility can help counter unconscious bias.
Understanding Influence: How Things Really Get Done
Influence is not about dominance or volume — it’s about credibility, preparation, and presence.
Influential employees often:
Speak less, but with purpose, in meetings
Lean back, appearing calm and confident
Talk to the chair or decision-maker before meetings
Use clear, pithy sentences
Present fully formed arguments, having already analysed the data and considered opposing views
This aligns with research on executive presence, which shows that clarity and confidence are more persuasive than verbosity.
Influence empowers people to manage challenging situations and navigate complex relationships — a vital leadership skill at all levels.
Top Tips for Building Influence
If you want to increase your influence, consider the following:
Observe strong influencers — they are often in the most powerful positions for a reason
Understand organisational “currency” — what is truly valued? (Innovation, sales, cost savings, people management, risk reduction?)
Develop influential presentations — structured, concise, and outcome-focused
Know how you are seen — and how you need to be seen to progress
Use meetings strategically — make authoritative statements and don’t apologise for having an opinion
Consider joining a community or governance board — this can differentiate you and broaden your leadership profile
As leadership expert John Kotter reminds us:
“Power is not just about authority — it’s about influence.”
Final Thought
Career success doesn’t come from waiting to be noticed. It comes from intentional action, reflection, visibility, and influence, sustained over time.
Plan boldly. Learn continuously. Speak with purpose. And remember — setbacks are part of the journey, not the end of it.
If you manage your career deliberately, rather than leaving it to chance, you give yourself the best possible opportunity to thrive.