HOW TO BUILD A GREAT CAREER

I began my career in Quality Management in 2004 as a Microbiologist in a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Nigeria. 16 years later, here I am sitting in my own restaurant in Edmonton, Canada writing this article on a blog. In all these years I have moved from Microbiologist to Administrative Officer to Operations Manager to Quality Control Officer to Quality Assurance Manager to Quality Management consultant and then I moved to Canada in 2016. My aim of writing this is to let you in on the things I did and learnt on my journey. To have a great career is very possible but it requires a lot of work. When I say work I don't just mean work in the sense of the word. I mean work that is intentional. If you work hard like every one else you will end up like every one else but if you are intentional about the work you do you will end up great. 

The first man I worked for, Chigozie Anyachebelu, who passed away last week (may his soul RIP) took me through the school of hard knocks. I did not appreciate the words he said and the things he made me do at the time. Now I do. I will share some of the lessons he taught me. I learnt so many but I have narrowed them down to the 5 most important ones.

1. THINK BIG

This is arguably the most important one. You cannot have what you don't dream of or think about. If you dream small you have small things but if you think big you will have big things. The West Edmonton Mall (WEM) in Canada was built in 4 phases (1981, 1983, 1985 and 1999). It opened its doors on 15 September 1981 and at that time it was the biggest indoor shopping mall in the world as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. It lost this status in 2004. This is a perfect example of thinking big. The WEM has an area of 5.3m sq.ft, 2 hotels, 100 dining venues, 20,000 capacity parking lot and before the coronavirus pandemic hit it employed over 20,000 people. All this was planned in 1981. Today the WEM is number 24 in Worlds' biggest malls. Its still big. That is how you need to start thinking about your career. Think big. See yourself beyond what you are looking at today. It costs nothing to expand your horizon because thinking is free. Thinking big means you have to stop thinking only about now but also about yesterday and tomorrow. Thinking big can do many things for you. It can generate revenue (this is what consultants do), solve problems (what good managers do), create opportunities (what investors and inventors do). While you exist today you should think of the biggest you you can be and keep that in mind at all times. You cannot be bigger than the size of your thoughts but you can be smaller. This means that the bigger your thoughts the bigger your potential can be because if you aim for the sky you fall on the tree top but if you aim for the tree top you know where you will fall. Have a projection of where you wanna be in 5 years time. If your projection does not scare you its not big enough. 

2. BE PASSIONATE

Diego Armando Maradona is an Argentinian soccer legend who won the world cup in 1986 and is regarded as one of the best soccer players of all times. He could easily have been named the best soccer player of all time if his passion for soccer was not tainted. His playing career was plagued by indiscipline and while he played for Napoli in Italy he had drug related problems that affected his career. He never recovered from that. His passion switched from soccer to indiscipline. Cristiano Ronaldo is another soccer player whose passion for the game has been unbridled. He knew his talent alone could not make him a great soccer player. Passion is boundless enthusiasm, a strong excitement about or active interest in something. As far as this interest is concerned you can never be tired or say no to it. It is like an addiction but a good one. According to Norman Vincent Pearle, "There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment (excellence)". It is passion or enthusiasm that spurs excellence, growth and development. The more you do something you are passionate about the more you learn about it and the better you get at it. As you progress in your career you will encounter challenges but being passionate is what gets you through these challenges. A passionate person never sleeps until a challenge is surmounted. Following this cycle repeatedly is what makes you a guru in your field of endeavor. It is passion that keeps your appetite for continuous learning and development alive. Passion is the difference between failure and success. 

3. HAVE GOALS

 A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the human eye. This is achieved by viewing the object through an array of lenses that bring the object into focus so it can be magnified. Without this focus there will be no magnification and the object cannot be seen. The blood hound is a dog breed that is famous for it ability to discern human scent over great distances, even days later. This keen sense of smell and a strong tracking instinct makes this dog ideal for use by the Police to track escaped prisoners, missing people or animals. Once this dog is given a scent as a goal it will not stop until the scent owner is found. I had a boss who always said that every day he woke up he knew what he wanted from that day and what he needed to do to accomplish it. He charged us to have that same attitude because any day that nothing is accomplished is a wasted day. A passion without direction will run out of steam soon enough and frustration will set in. Every company has a vision and a mission. That is their goal. You should have yours as well. Make sure you have goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and has a time line for their accomplishment. Your career will not be great if you do not set goals and try to accomplish them.

4. DOCUMENT THINGS

The inspiration to write this came from something I wrote in my diary in March 2016. I was going through this diary and found the notes I made. This article would not exist if I did not make the notes I made in 2016. Documentation is very important because it serves as a reminder of where we have been and what we have done. It is said that the faintest ink is better than the longest memory. This is because what is written down will not be forgotten but a good memory can be lost. In my days in company management I took notes on everything I did. I had a diary where I wrote down the things I wanted to do for the day and at the end of the day I went back to check off the ones I did and state why the ones I did not do were left undone. At the end of the week I reviewed my activities to know how productive I was. Many of us that are immigrants in Canada do not joke with our immigration documents. We guard them jealously and that is excellent. You need to start treating your career that way. It is great to have goals but if you do not write them down you may not accomplish them and even when you do you will find such goals impossible to replicate because you do not have a template to emulate. This is why documentation is critical to a successful career. No one is smart enough to remember everything. There are hard drives for that. 

5. BUILD OTHERS

The best way to put this is to say that while standing in a crowd you will not be seen by anyone but if a crowd starts to lift you up everyone will see you. To get the benefit of having a crowd lift you up you have to bear the cost of helping people in a crowd. Think about it this way. To get to where you are in life today people helped you in one way or another. You speak well of these people and have recommended them to others. Remember that word of mouth is the best kind of advertisement, if you are willing to put your reputation on the recommendation of someone, then they are likely worth the recommendation. In order to get to where you need to be you have to help others. It is not mandatory but your career cannot be said to be successful if no one knows who you are. If you become an island then no one can consult you because no one knows how capable you are. It is the people you help along the way that become megaphones that speak to others about you. If you stand on one corner of the world and yell how good you are not many people will hear you but if 20 people are standing on different corners of the world and yell for you lots more people will hear them and ask who you are. The easiest way to develop is to develop others. That is how a great career is built.