| Who is responsible for the success or failure of | | | | opens the door, what people do once they get in |
| your dreams? You are. That is right, in the end, | | | | the door is the key. |
| you have ultimate responsibility. Are you upset | | | | Martha is automatically at a disadvantage when |
| that you have only gotten to a certain level in | | | | someone with experience and a degree applies |
| your career? I once knew a woman, let's call her | | | | for a job she wants. She thinks "they only got |
| Martha; she was always thinking a person getting | | | | the job because they have a degree" not realizing |
| promoted quickly was unfair. She was a hard | | | | that they got the job because they had the |
| worker and had spent twenty-plus years getting | | | | experience and the degree. Advancement takes |
| to where she was-a journeyman level IT | | | | work, beyond the work put in at your job! |
| specialist. She had the hardest time with people | | | | Another common complaint was that the |
| moving up the ladder faster than she did. Although | | | | organization does not pay for enough training. |
| she never reflected on "why are people moving | | | | Again, you have to pay for it-it benefits you the |
| up faster than me?" The reason was that she | | | | most. The organization will benefit from you |
| lacked motivation to pursue the tools required for | | | | training of course, but you will be providing the |
| advancement: education, professional development | | | | benefit-your leaders will notice that you take the |
| and aggressive career management. She happily | | | | initiative to get the job done. It will pay off in the |
| bought into "I am a victim of the system" and | | | | end; Martha never realized the cost is relative. |
| would rather criticize people succeeding than | | | | The last area where Martha fails to take control is |
| making a change herself. | | | | in the aggressive management of her career. |
| She never went to college or earned a degree. | | | | Many highly qualified professionals move around |
| She entered into the Information Technology field | | | | and take jobs to broaden their skill base. Martha |
| when there was a super-high demand-she knew | | | | stayed in the same job for years-and-years. She |
| more about computers than her peers at the | | | | has a family. No excuse; she could have |
| time. Time though, moves on. Martha failed to | | | | aggressively asked her local employer to allow her |
| move with it. She entered into a professional | | | | to work in other areas of the organization. She |
| occupation without the ambition to becoming a | | | | did not have to uproot her family. Martha probably |
| better professional. Great professionals get | | | | thought "they would never let me." Aggressive |
| education, training and experience no matter the | | | | career management means you give them |
| cost. If their organization does not pay for it, they | | | | reason to allow it and stand by your desire. |
| pay for it, because in the end it helps them get to | | | | Martha could have said she needed to gain more |
| where they want to be. Today there are people | | | | experience. She could have said something like |
| with graduate degrees in Information Technology | | | | this: "to better provide information technology |
| working for half what she earns-yet she expects | | | | services to the different and unique areas of the |
| more. Candidates these days, in her field, have | | | | organization, I should rotate through their |
| degrees. She places little value on a degree and | | | | operations. That way I know first-hand what they |
| thinks that people that have them think they are | | | | require from me." It is hard to argue with an |
| better than those that don't. (Not true in most | | | | employee that rationalizes their request with |
| cases.) What she fails to realize is that a degree | | | | organizational improvement. |