The thing is, until every organization has a leader from your peer group, you have to contend with people and attitudes that have their genesis in a different time than you.
I get that you want something different. You want organizations to take more social responsibility. You want them to take more ownership of environmental sustainability. You want more career opportunities than past generations and you want them NOW.
And you want jobs that provide a better balance between life and work and you will move around quickly to find one that satisfies this important objective.
But here’s the thing.
It’s going to take many years for your contemporaries to populate the leadership of organizations.
And it’s going to take years for them to change their culture and attitudes about issues that you feel should be acted on NOW.
So you have a choice.
You can either hold out for “new school thinking” to take hold and provide the career context you favour OR you can work with the current system and maximize your personal opportunities while change evolves.
And perhaps become a leadership member of the new order where YOU can more strongly influence change.
The “old school” provides a rich learning environment that will help you get a job, grow in it and earn the right to lead others into the new school.
These 5 acts of old school will both help you stand apart from your millennial compatriots and position you well to capitalize on opportunities as they arise.
1. Lose the entitlement tag. It doesn’t matter if the perception is wrong, perception is reality and must be dealt with. Work hard in words and deeds to dispel the notion that you expect anything and that you are prepared to earn your way.
2. Express loyalty to those around you. Show loyalty to others and they will return it. You need an active support system to see your way.
3. Exercise patience. Be prepared to deliver results consistently before expecting a move. Your “moment of brilliance” will definitely attract attention and praise but will not foreshadow career success in the long term. Impatience is seen as a disregard of the hard work it takes to grind out a rewarding future.
4. Accept human frailty. Business is not a textbook but a living organism of people who make mistakes, have their own biases and who will not move as quickly as you want them to. Empathy of their realities will go a long way to show that you are equally concerned about HOW results are achieved; not just the result itself.
5. Be contrarian. Watch what your contemporaries are doing (to act out the “typical” millennial role) and go in the opposite direction. It’s important that you remove yourself from the herd; herd identification and imprinting won’t give you opportunities that others miss. Find ways to step out of the millennial crowd and BE DiFFERENT. Give people a reason to think you are special and that YOU deserve the brass ring not them.
But to be successful, make sure you standout from everyone else in it.
Roy Osing (@royosing) is a former President of TELUS and Current president and CEO of the consulting firm Brilliance for Business, with over 33 years of leadership experience covering all the major business functions including business strategy, marketing, sales, customer service and people development. He is a blogger, content marketer, educator, coach, adviser and the author of the book series Be Different or Be Dead.
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