I’ve given variants of this talk at a few events in 2024 and received a lot of requests for the slides and a blog post. So here we go.
There are many factors to being successful in most fields at various stages of your career. These can be long lists, and you will all have your own variants of these, but for me it all comes down to this top 6:
Before we unpack each of these it’s worth showing some humility here. I’ve had a long career with plenty of ups and downs across various industries and geographies. What success I’ve experienced has come from 30% ability, 30% raw luck (and not the kind of “make your own luck”, just flat out dumb luck), and 40% showing up and relentlessly doing the grind. Some work and some moments might be 90/5/5 but mostly it might even be more like 10/40/50.
The most formative moment of my career was quite early on. I was feeling frustrated that I wasn’t progressing far or fast enough vs. where I thought I should be. I asked my boss at the time why he or the company weren’t supporting me more and I got the following, deserved, response from him, below. This being at an investment bank in the 1990’s the response was laced with expletives that I won’t reproduce. But you can likely imagine.
Having processed this blunt, but eminently fair, guidance I spent the coming years taking significant personal accountability for my own path forward which led to these principles I’ve applied to myself and others. Or, rather, I should say I’ve tried and been mostly consistent but there are plenty of moments where I let myself down and picked myself up again.
1.Take Action and be Persistent
One of the most frustrating phrases (for everyone) that is uttered in some environments is, “someone should do something about this”. Yes, most things to fix or otherwise in need of improvement might be beyond your personal direct control. But, taking ownership to frame the issue better, communicate or escalate it to others, and suggest paths to resolve it will push it further along than not taking ownership. Having a sense of your personal mission can help give you the energy to do this, since many situations will be at odds or in support of that mission. It’s exactly the focus on your wider mission that gives you the impetus to keep being persistent. I don’t think I’ve ever got anything substantial done where it was all smooth sailing. Most things need multiple runs at them, ideas might need reframing, or sometimes it’s just not the right time. In which case keep pushing the idea at intervals or when triggers, like an incident or close-call, raise the temperature. When taking action it helps to look for the 80/20 opportunities - that is the 20% of work that can make 80% of an impact. Doing that can create an impetus for the 100%, but more likely it might be that 80% is good enough.
2.Add Value - Focus on the “Customer”
When looking at how well you are meeting what your customers need, you need to think broadly about what a “customer” actually is. This could be a literal customer of your company. More usefully it is anyone who you are delivering value to, inside or outside. For many in security roles, yes, the ultimate customer is the literal customer but most of the time it’s other teams and business units in your organization. When doing this it’s vital to look at the other person’s viewpoint. Imagine or, better, actually spend a day in their shoes to see how you are really doing and how you are actually delivering what they truly need vs. what you suppose they want. When you do all of this you might be overwhelmed with the opportunities so be careful to really understand what needs the supreme effort to get an “A-grade” vs. what might simply be ok to do good enough work. This will also mean trying out lots of things, pursuing options and then determining which to focus more deeply on - both in the delivery of work and in what skills you want to develop.
3.Be Who You Are - Play to Your Strengths
Your strengths are your personal competitive advantage. Paradoxically, these might be the things you least value because they seem easy to you. But, take a look around and you’ll find many people are not so good at your strengths and you will likely get much more leverage by becoming even more excellent at these rather than working too much on your weaknesses. Now, of course, you can’t exclusively only work on things you naturally enjoy or are otherwise strong at. You will always have to take on roles, projects or other work that isn’t naturally appealing but you can make the way you do the work more in line with how you would prefer to do it, and aligned with your strengths. For your weaknesses, this is where you need to leverage your team to support you and as a leader focus on balancing a team so that while every individual might not be strong at all things, the team as a whole can be.
4.Collaborate and Take Broad Responsibility
Build relationships with people ahead of when you need them. Find appropriate ways to remind people what value you have provided to them. Many work irritations come down to not feeling valued, but when you remember to assume positive intent, that people may be overwhelmed with their own issues to take the time to recognize what you do, you will reach a new level of teamwork. When you do find ways to communicate more widely about your work you will often realize people are appreciative. More so, they’ll find ways to use you even more. However, when things aren’t going your way then assume it’s always your fault, even when it actually isn’t. Taking this approach will keep you focused on improvement, and there are always ways to improve how you are going about things.
5.Deal with Reality and Ambiguity
I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t ambiguity in all the work we do. This is getting even more so. The world is changing faster and faster, our missions and businesses are adapting and the threat landscape is ever evolving. New technologies come thick and fast, regulations are created and customer demands change. This all leads to uncertainty and ambiguity. If your decision making progress, either in specific strategies, projects or even your career relies on only moving forward when you are certain then you are sure to fail. By all means gather as much information as you can get, seek advice, but then take the first step. Those first actions will create momentum that will reveal more insights and aid further decisions and actions. When things aren’t going so well look at why. This could be you personally or your overall team or company strategy. You might be facing an irresolvable situation or a macro-headwind that isn’t going to go away. The sooner you deal with that reality, have the tough conversations, and get moving in a different direction, the better.
6.Be Honest with Yourself
Finally, when you are looking at how to develop your career, be brutally honest with yourself. Are you running away or toward something? Is what you want to do going to give you more options? Have you actually listened to feedback? Are you making the best of the current situation?
Bottom line: managing your career is your job and your job alone. You should seek help. If you’re lucky you will get it - perhaps more than you might reasonably expect or even deserve - because people are generally good and want you to succeed. But ultimately your progress is a function of your attitude, the skills you add to your “toolbox” and the grit you show in relentlessly showing up. Good luck.
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These are some of the books I’ve found most useful, inspirational and motivational, that I regularly revisit.
