If you want to break out of middle management, it's a no-brainer to focus on your Leadership skills and Relationships.
Leadership skills include execution, enabling others to deliver projects on time, and communication and planning skills.
Then, you need to focus on the Relationships. This includes the trust you build with your reports and your peers. This area also includes the people you have in your network. This second area of focus takes your career to the next level.
However, having just the above two is not enough. These are necessary, but not sufficient.
This is where most managers are stuck. The effects of learning as many skills as possible for your career and building your network, without the right mindset, leads to an overflowing calendar, constant re-prioritization, and firefighting. Congrats, you're on an arc for burn-out, forget any career growth.
Here's an even more important area that'll take your career to the next-next level👇
Inside-out Leadership.
In other words, 👉 leadership that is based on your personal growth.
When you're a leader in the tech industry, you are often the smartest person in the room. The best outside strategies and advice only give you temporary solace.
🙋If you're at a career impasse and are trying to figure out what the hell else you can do, this is it.
This is the missing piece.
When you grow from the inside, your leadership becomes magnetic for the outside results - the better title, the better work, and the better impact.
And what does growing from the inside mean?
Here are the elements of Inside-Out Leadership-
- Ownership - You own your emotions and the reactions that come out of those emotions. You understand fully to your bones that outside situations are not responsible for your emotions (they can only reveal what's on the inside).
🌞You own your messes and clean them up
- Responsibility - In every situation, you ask- what's my responsibility in this? You do not blame people or situations for the results (or lack thereof).
🌞You dilute your blame mindset.
- Deliberate creation - You use every situation as an opportunity to create something for yourself and the world. You ask- What can I create given this situation?
🌞You are generative.
Whether you're a leader or not by your title, you can embrace Inside-out leadership.
Practice these principles each moment, and watch your career take off.
You'll also find your career fulfillment on the way.
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Want to read more about this?
I'm starting a weekly newsletter - Conversations for Career Transformation. It is for leaders in tech, who want to go beyond organic growth and fast-track their careers.
In my first letter this Friday, I'm going to dig into these elements of Inside-out Leadership. The Venn below is a snippet of the full version. If you find it interesting, you'll love my newsletter. Subscribe here - https://bit.ly/3z1yMAI
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If you love this post, connect with me on LinkedIn to follow my work - Mounica Veggalam | LinkedIn. Send me a DM that you found me on Elpha.
