I had a call with a new coaching student today. He brought up multiple topics, but the one that really caught my attention was about career direction.
For context, he’s currently a partner at a boutique Salesforce agency. He manages a few subcontractors, works very long hours, and is relatively unhappy about his effective hourly rate.
He asked me whether he should either
- Stay at the agency, hoping it’ll grow and he’ll benefit as a result
- Go out on his own and be an independent consultant
Instead of answering directly, I asked some questions:
- What do you enjoy the most about your career?
- What’s the one activity you would like to spend more time doing?
- Do you want to be a manager and nurture other people’s careers?
- Do you want to manage a business entirely on your own?
The goal was to uncover a direction. You need to know which way you’re going first and foremost. Then you can decide whether any particular opportunity is inline with your direction or not.
By direction, I mean a general direction. Think north, east, south, and west. So if you want to go north, then you should strongly consider declining an opportunity that would take you east.
But if an opportunity would take you north-east, then you should consider accepting it.
The takeaway
Once you’ve decided your direction, it becomes significantly easier to make career decisions.