Today’s topic is I’m ambitious. I want to reach the C suite. A lot of people say that to me because I specialize at the senior executive level. And it is possible, yes, of course, it’s possible. Anything’s possible, but you have to have the right attitude. It’s not impossible, but bear in mind the higher you go the fewer jobs there are.
It’s the pyramid.
So right at the top, there are fewer jobs than there are right at the bottom where you started your career. So really you have to do a lot of career planning, a lot of navigating through maybe some hurdles, some obstacles to get to where you are. No career management goes without obstacles or false failures or rejection.
So you’re not gonna win everything. So yes, it is possible, not impossible, but first of all, you need to get your frame of mind and your career planning aligned. So you need to have that ambition, that drive. That energy, that excitement, and empowerment to reach where you want to go, even in your personal life when you want to go do something, you have to have all those attributes as well.
So you need to convert your mind and align with going to where you want to go. And it doesn’t happen overnight, and it can be very frustrating. The whole thing of career management, job search, et cetera, is a very frustrating exercise, but you have to conquer that frustration and move on. But ambition is very, very crucial.
They don’t hire non-ambitious leaders, okay? And that will come out in the interviews as you go up the ladder. So you need to exude, express that ambition, that drive that passion to get to that very senior. Executive level Now.
Good career management means starting at the bottom level when you graduate from college, school, or university, and setting down a career plan for your life. Now, there are many different functions in business across the world. Most of them are siloed, and you have to think about where, and where do I want to be.
What do I want to be a salesperson? Do I want to be a marketer? Do I want to be in the supply chain? Do I want to be in finance? Do I wanna be in business transformation or digital transformation? Do I wanna be in it? So you have to have that particular mindset. And obviously, the skills to work for that. I could never be in it because I’m hopeless at technology, but I could be in the supply chain because I like the supply chain.
I could be in sales cause I’m good at sales. So you have to think about, well, where does my passion lie? And what are my career goals? What function am I going to go up on? You can go for up and then you can go across from sales to marketing, marketing to sales, and you can do other transitions at mid-level, but you can’t do it at the senior executive level because they’re looking for world-class experts at the CSU.
So the C-suite involves the CEO, Chief Executive Officer, the CFO, Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Operating Officer, the COO, and CHRO which is the Chief Human Resources Officer. And there are many others there. Pretty neat. New titles just come around in the last few years at the C-Suite level.
So when you start your career planning, when you graduate from university, college, or whatever, select the function early on in your career. Then the next step will be to work towards educating yourself on that. Become an expert in that function, become renowned, and be recognized within your industry, and your sector as an expert in finance, as an expert in operations, and as an expert in human resources.
So there is a plethora of education, both in person. And online education designations, courses you can take to build your value. So education is very, very important. If you want to do a broad business degree, and you are at the senior manager level wanting to get to the C-Suite, I would suggest you look at an executive.
Master of Business Administration and E M B A. And if anybody’s contemplating going to do an E M B A, I’m more than happy to do a little bit of coaching about how you choose a school, which school you choose, and many other criteria, because I work extensively with business schools across the world, executive Master of Business Administration, but if you wanna stay in finance and you wanna become a finance expert, Think about a master of finance.
Start with a bachelor of finance and go to a master of finance. There are so many other graduate degrees and courses and designations and certificates you can get. So education is a crucial role. You are not going to be hired. If you that’s at the senior executive level if you don’t have some sort of education and then designation.
So if you’re gonna go into finance, you’re gonna go into accounting. You can have a CPA.
Market yourself as an expert in your fun, in your function. So join associations, your trade association, your professional association, and then gain recognition within your association because that is a huge networking opportunity.
After Covid, we’ve moved back to a lot of people shaking. Looking at each other around the water cooler and sitting next to each other at conferences or symposiums or trade shows or whatever. So you can network within that environment by joining associations and attending conferences and whatever, to gain recognition.
Another way to gain recognition within your industry. As an expert volunteer to speak. If you have a particular topic you want to speak on and, you feel comfortable in your soul, your heart, that you can articulate that you are an expert. Then why don’t you volunteer? You have a huge audience.
Some of those audiences, in conferences, can be a thousand strong. You have a thousand people who get your name and your name will be planted in their minds. And when they look for talent or whatever, they, your name comes to recognition straight. Please. If anybody’s got any, comments, or questions on executive career management, please put them in the comments and I will answer them as I go through this.
Tuesdays at two. So join associations and gain recognition. Then develops your leadership skills so there are various designations or certificates in leadership. In each university, most business schools have a leadership program separate from the business. So you need to think about, well, you know, I need to enhance this part of leadership.
So you need to think about maybe going on your lead on leadership programs and ask your boss when you’re on the way up whether you can assume more leadership. So embrace additional responsibilities. Leaders like their teams to take on extra responsibilities because it’s twofold. It reduces the workload for them, but it also increases the team performance and team empowerment, the team, the team.
The mixture and, and, and skillset. So, think about taking leadership skills. Skills and skill courses show a willingness to learn. Get recognized. Always, always show a willingness to learn. Articulate, never miss out on this. Articulate your ambitions to everybody. Tell. When you come to sitting around, standing around the water cooler, or go out after work with your mates, your, your buddies in the office, tell ’em, you know, talk about career management, career planning, and tell ’em where you want to go because they will take that on board.
And then, you know, you, everybody has a network and you need to use that network. And when a job comes available, they might say, oh, Joe, I saw a. Advertised today, which I think will be will be perfect for you. So they can be your champions. They can be your cheerleaders as well. The whole crux of career management is whether you wanna go right up to the top for C-Suite or whether you wanna stay within your environment laterally, you wanna stay at the bottom or wanna move up slightly up the top.
Towards the top, the middle range is relationship management, it boils down to building and retaining relationships. So personal relationship management and business relationship management are very, very crucial to career success. It’s also very important in your life building and, excuse me, building and retaining career or, or relationships is very, very, I.
And then internally, if somebody comes and says, you know, there’s a job the next level, never miss out on an opportunity. If you are not cut for that particular job, see if you can apply for it anyway. Because that tells the senior leaders that you are ambitious and you want to get up the ladder.
So always seek promotions internally. So that, that, that’s, that is very, very important. Make it known to everybody, including human resources. Human resources can be very good friends to you. Make sure that, they know of your intention and your ambition, and that you want a promotion. So when a job becomes vacant, A new job is created and it fits your skillsets.
They will approach you with a particular where they were asking, and encourage you to apply. So always seek promotions. Make it known. Make it known to everybody, anybody, and everybody that you want a promotion. Now, backing off, I think as sort of ending up here, anybody, oh, we got, I’ve got a quiet question here.
Let me where are we. Manage my glasses here. Hang on. Hi, Martin, and Mike Verge. Hi Mike. Good to see you again. Great topic. Oh, great. Thank you, Mike. I’ve known Mike for many, many years since I re-ran I think executor in Toronto over a decade ago. So thanks Mike, for your, for your very kind words.
So always seek promotions. Make it known. Make it known to everybody that you want a promotion. So as we wrap this up, the whole of life, not just your career life, but your personal life revolves around you being patient. Patience is a virtue. You need to have a lot of patience. Never show your anger, or your rage, especially when you are terminated.
Never show your anger, your rage, rage, and also make sure that you conquer rejection. You aren’t going to win any e everything, you know formula One racer or a horse racers, they never win everything. But the chances, the more there times they compete, the more chances for a win. The statistics go up. So conquer the fear of rejection.
Yes, it can be very nasty to your emotions, but you will win someday. And hiring across the world in all functions, all levels, especially at the C-Suite, is very robust today. Very strong. So if you have that drive, that ambition, you can move on quite fast today. So patience is a virtue and conquers rejection.
I’ll end up, you will get there if you have that ambition, that determination, that vision. That career plan. I do not doubt it. I’ve been in this business resume CV, writing, LinkedIn, writing, LinkedIn teaching, coaching and general coaching, executive coaching, career coaching, job search coaching, et cetera.