I once had a mentor tell me that he was just playing a game in his career. And he was playing to win.
I had never thought of my career as a game before. But as I sat in the office of this man who had risen to the top of his field as an Engineering Fellow, Chief Engineer, and Director over hundreds of engineers before he turned 40, I realized he was right.
The work we were doing, the products we developed, and the customers they served were no joke. But when it came to rising through the ranks in our careers, we were just playing a game. To win, we had to know the rules, follow a strategy, and compete.
My mentor was a brilliant engineer. That obviously helped boost his career. But he knew exactly what game he was playing. He had a proven strategy. And he competed every day to beat people with twice as much experience.
For him, the prize was both money and status. He had a great salary. Big bonuses. And a rank and title that commanded respect.
If you’ve read much at PathwayToFI, you know that we aren’t about gaining the highest power and status or dying with the most money and toys. But we do want you to reach Financial Independence (FI) quickly so you can live your best life.
Winning the career game will cause you to earn more and achieve the ultimate prize of FI in less time, with less effort overall. You have to work anyway. Why not earn more while you’re at it?
Here are 8 universal rules that will help you play the corporate career game and win. They sure helped me!
1 Do more than your job requires
Your job has a specific set of requirements and expectations, whether written or just understood between you and your boss. If you don’t get certain things done, you aren’t doing your job.
Do those things. Then go further.
Early in my career, I was responsible for developing, assembling, and testing a radio antenna, receiver, and other electronics. I was the electrical engineer. Not the software guy. But I had some software experience and decided that I would make the program that controlled the radio and helped us test it.
I could have asked for a software person to do the work for me. But by doing it myself, I became more of an expert on the product, was in higher demand, and had more value to the team.
What can you do that’s an extension of your job, needs to get done, and will make you more successful in your career at the same time?
2 Always deliver on time or early
No one likes a late project or a late response. Projects have deadlines for a reason. And getting information late may cause someone else to be late on their own delivery.
In the career game, you want to be known as someone who can deliver. Your company wants employees they can count on. So do everything you can to execute your tasks and meet or beat the deadline.
Communication is key
A huge part of being consistently on time is setting expectations.
Some deliveries have well-understood deadlines. FedEx needs to deliver a next-day package by the next business day. No questions.
Other times deadlines aren’t communicated well. Your boss wants you to respond to her email by 5pm so she can finish her presentation by 7am. But she didn’t tell you when it was needed. To win the game, you need to ask or offer.
“I can get you that information before lunch tomorrow morning. Is that alright? If not, give me a call.”
If you didn’t send this question, you would have been on time in your own mind, but very late in the eyes of your boss.
What if you can’t meet a deadline?
You’ll have situations in life where you can’t make a deadline and it’s no fault of your own. Again, you need to communicate this. But not the day before the deadline. As soon as you know it will be late.
And you can’t just make excuses. Give your boss or customer the data they need to see why an extension will be needed, how much time you’ll need, and how you’re going to be successful meeting a new deadline.
I was leading a team of over 100 people, designing a complex system of electronics, when a supplier told us they would be months late delivering our parts. It didn’t matter that it was our supplier and not my team at fault. It was my problem either way, and I wasn’t going to meet the schedule that I had communicated to my customer.
So my team went to work on a solution that would allow us to bring in a prototype and keep moving forward on the design while we waited for the real thing. I communicated the new plan to my customer. Gave them confidence that we were doing everything we could to succeed. And in the end, we still beat our competition and won several billion dollars of future business.
3 Lead from the middle
Just because you’re not in a leadership position doesn’t mean you can’t lead.
To win the career game, you need to be a leader. Depending on your career field, that might mean you’re leading people, processes, or ideas. But don’t wait until someone gives you the title. You can lead from anywhere in an organization.
Speak up when you have good ideas. When you have specific knowledge or experience that others on the team might not. And when you have a different opinion that might keep the team from making a bad decision. The best ideas often come from the lower ranks.
Be careful when disagreeing with your boss’s own ideas, however. If you don’t know how they will take an opposing opinion in front of the entire team, bring your disagreement to your leaders in private. Then let them decide if it’s something worth discussing with the rest of the team.
In this article, John Maxwell explains how you can lead from the middle as a Wingman, who is a positive influence on your leaders. You can do this by getting to know them, earning their trust, making the most of their time, knowing when to push and when to back off, and improving yourself every day.
The article also describes three negative influencers: Backseat Drivers, Dead Weights, and Brownnosers. These influencers distract, cause more work, and reinforce poor decisions. The bottom line is that you need to help your leaders be successful. And in turn, it will make you successful.
For more on how to lead from the middle, read Leading from the Middle by Scott Mautz.
4 Get a mentor who’s already done it
Who in your company has already won the game you’re playing? Buy them coffee or lunch, and use the time to find out how they did it.
Come prepared. Ask good questions. And ask if they would like to mentor you. You’d be surprised how many people are glad to help someone navigate the same challenges that they went through earlier in their career.
A good mentor can help you find shortcuts in your career that could save you years of trying to learn things on your own. But you need to put in the work to get value out of the mentorship.
I had several Chief Engineers for mentors. Each of them had a different set of experiences and knowledge that helped me navigate my career. They also introduced me to experts in their networks who could help with some of my most difficult problems.
5 Follow a rising star
Who in your company is rising faster through the ranks than anyone you know? Do you get along with that person?
Figure out how to work on the same team. Get involved in the same projects. Prove yourself and help him or her succeed.
I worked for the hot-shot mentor I mentioned at the beginning of this article. And I worked hard to impress him by jumping on his biggest problem and helping to solve it. It made him look good. And he kept me in mind when the next opportunities came up.
First, he got me nominated for a training program that led to my first job as a Chief Engineer. Next, when a big leadership position came up, he thought of me and put me in that role. Then, when I had a job offer from another company, he got me a big raise and bonus to stay!
It pays to build relationships with the people who influence your next career moves.
6 Know what your boss values
What’s important to your boss?
A sense of urgency about getting things done? Safety on the job? Honesty and integrity? Respect for her position and authority? Sales numbers? Customer satisfaction? Diversity?
Whatever it is, you need to play that game. Those who play it well win and move on to the next stage of their career. Those who don’t play well—or don’t even know they’re playing—fall behind.
When I worked in a factory and I learned that improving Rework was my boss’s top goal for the year, I immediately focused on Rework numbers in my factory and how we could reduce it. My team tracked Rework more closely that year, implemented improvement projects, and reported accomplishments when Rework numbers came down.
This gave my boss something to use when he reported to his boss. And it made him look good. In return, it helped me advance in my own career.
7 Volunteer to help with something
Another way you can make an impression on your boss is to volunteer for something that your boss needs help with. It will usually give you higher visibility as you report results to your boss. And it shows that you’re someone who’s highly motivated and willing to step up and do things that others in your organization are not.
Choose what you volunteer for wisely, though. Don’t just volunteer for anything and everything. You’ll spread yourself too thin and may end up working on something that no one really cares about. If you find yourself in that position, get rid of that project quickly.
8 Be the person others want to work with
Every company has people that others enjoy working with and people they try to avoid working with. Which one are you?
If you like working with someone, you’ll usually like working for them too. That likability factor can help you get your next promotion.
Also, your leadership can put you on any team this way. This gives them flexibility, makes their job easier, and keeps you in mind for new opportunities.
Plus, you might be requested by name when new teams are forming. It’s great to have your name come up in positive ways in front of leadership—even if you don’t want the new role being offered.
Some of the traits of likable coworkers are:
- Positive attitude – optimism and happiness are contagious.
- Sense of humor – work situations can be stressful. It’s great when someone lightens the mood with a little humor. It relieves stress and helps people work together better.
- Humble – the best teammates say, “we did it”, not “I did it”. Make “we” your favorite pronoun.
- Compliments others – everyone loves to hear that they’re good at something and are doing a great job.
- Trustworthy – the happiest and highest performing teams are those that trust each other without question.
- Collaborative – we want teammates who work with us rather than against us.
- Teachable – it’s easy to get along with someone who’s willing to learn, change, and admit if they were wrong.
- Helps others – it’s great when you’re struggling with something and a teammate comes over to give you a hand or to teach you how it’s done.
Which of these traits do you see in yourself? Which one can you work on over the next several weeks?
Summary
If you want to reach financial independence sooner, you need to grow your income. The only way to do that in the corporate world is to play the game and win.
We discussed 8 rules to help you win:
- Do more than your job requires
- Always deliver on time or early
- Lead from the middle
- Get a mentor who’s already done it
- Follow a rising star
- Know what your boss values
- Volunteer to help with something
- Be the person others want to work with
My career wasn’t as big as my mentor’s. But I was playing a slightly different game. I wanted a great income. And I wanted to be a Chief Engineer for the technical and leadership challenges it offered. Ultimately, I wanted FI for the option to have a second career, travel the world, and take control of my time.
I won my game.
What game are you playing?
If you enjoyed this article, read How Important Is Quality of Life to You Really next.
And don’t forget to sign up for FREE at the bottom of the page to get much more value from PathwayToFI.
Join me on the Pathway to FI!
