Readwise: How and When to Disrupt Your Career, and Yourself
Original: https://youtu.be/1wrQ6Msp7wM
SUMMARY
An excellent short video about how to disrupt your career as a high performer. Key insights for an IC and a manager, the main being that you want to avoid staying at the top of the S-Curve because that can ruin your career.
Main Points
The Cost of Not Allowing Growth
Top of my game and I was like itâs time like itâs timefor me to do something new and I went tomy boss I said hey I want to dosomething new it feels like itâs timeand he said really no really we like youright where you are within a year I left had it been possible for me to jump todo something new to disrupt myselfinside the organization I wouldnât haveleft- From How and When to Disrupt Your Career, and Yourself
Orgâs that allow lateral movements are able to retain their high performers. I was able to clearly see this at Facebook with people going from IC to Manager with no blowback.
The S-Curve of Learning
The s-curve the s-curve is a learning curve everyoneâs on a learning curveincluding you it looks like this thereare three parts number one thereâs thelow end or the launch point of the curveand itâs characterized by inexperienceyouâve just started a new role juststarted a new job growth is going to beand that means that some days youâregonna feel kind of discouraged thenthereâs a sweet spot or steep part ofthe curve which is characterized byexhilaration and learning and confidencethings will be hard but not too hardeasy but not too easy all of yourneurons are firing this is that sweetspot on that s-curve and then thereâs the height of the curve with the highend of the curve is where you become amaster youâve mastered your domain whichis characterized by boredom- From How and When to Disrupt Your Career, and Yourself
When the work stops being challenging (Flow requires challenge) you become bored. You either change what you work on or become complacent which is bad for everyone.
The Danger Zone: Complacency at the Top
get complacent and that is a huge hugedanger zone let me tell you for anybodywho knows anything about mountainclimbing youâll know that when you get to an altitude above 26,000 feet itâsitâs the the Death Zone because youâreso high up your brain and bodies startto die- From How and When to Disrupt Your Career, and Yourself
Becoming complacent at the top of your career is a death trap. You stop learning and growing and this is especially true in technology. If I stayed at Fryâs as the engineering manager focusing on PHP, where would I have ended up when that company finally collapsed? The writing was on the wall that growth was no longer an option.
Taking Ownership of Your Next Move
in my naiveteexpecting my boss to just figure it outfor me Iâve learned some good lessons bevery proactive you want to go in and sayyou know itâs time for me to dosomething new Iâve noticed that there isan opportunity over here meaning aproblem that the organization needs tosolve over here and I think I can help solve it- From How and When to Disrupt Your Career, and Yourself
If an IC came to me and said, âIâm boredâ I think Iâd react like my dad and say, âGo clean your room.â While thatâs mostly a joke, I would expect senior ICâs to take responsibility for their career. This is why I ask what theyâre interested in, where do they think theyâre weak, and what do they want to be spending more time doing. But fundamentally the choice can and should always be up to the IC.
The Managerâs Responsibility
The challenge for you as a manager is if this person is good at what they do is to make sure that they jump to new s-curves. Sometimes theyâre gonna approach you and want to jump to an s-curve and if you want to retain them then youâve got to let that happen sometimes they wonâtapproach you but theyâve been a highperformer in the past in which case youneed to push them because if theyâre thetop of the curve and theyâre boredtheyâre either gonna leave or theyâregonna disengage theyâre gonna be complacent and stay which is bad itâsbad for them itâs bad for you itâs badfor the company- From How and When to Disrupt Your Career, and Yourself
I feel lucky that this was already something I think about. For some people getting the next level was their goal, but like Charity Majors talks about in one of her posts, you may eventually reach the top of your ladder. She used the excellent Dr anology. There are no Senior Staff Dr. Some people change tracks (which is neither good nor bad). But as a manager I want to always keep my ICâs career in mind (even beyond the current company).