Simply Said

CHAPTER 18 Inspire and Influence Leading Others

“Congratulations. We’re making you partner (or MD, or SVP, etc.). Now what have you done for us lately?”

At some point in the discussions with your firm or company about moving to the next stage of your career, you realized that the “promised land” that you had been viewing over the wall was, in fact, a heavily tilled and managed garden that required a great deal of work to maintain. If you work in law, accounting, or consulting, the partnership landscape today involves heavy emphasis on partner production rates, work generation credits, and responsibility to participate in more committees than you realized existed. If you’ve been promoted to the next level in finance or another corporate setting, the excitement about potential benefits can cloud your view of the complexity of the obligation. For some, the euphoria of receiving the promotion wears off faster than the buzz from the celebration your spouse threw for you.

We all know people who started down a particular career path because they weren’t sure what else to do, and that’s fine. You have to start somewhere. But no one becomes a senior leader in an organization because he or she “couldn’t think of anything else to do.” It takes too much work. Getting where you are took dedication and strategy—and probably a little bit of luck. The planning that allowed you to make it to this point is evidence that you want more than a job—you want a career. That career path doesn’t end ...