Reflections from Coaching LBS Sloans

After five years as the Sloan Career Lead at London Business School, it’s a natural moment to look back and reflect on how people successfully advance their careers, and gather a few of my favourite insights gained over 20 years of coaching and supporting the transformation and career progression of so many global Leaders and Executives.

- Often we are just a few small steps away from our target career goals and the secret to success is working through the uncertainties in order to identify opportunities that will bring us one step closer to our goal.

- There is magic in storytelling … but the hardest question to answer is “tell me about yourself”. The answer needs to be impactful, strengthen your relationship with your audience, whilst leaving a memorable impression and “practice makes perfect”.

- Networking should be renamed ‘Relationship Building’. When you build and strengthen relationships, people get to know you, which leads to trust and opportunity. There is no short cut to this process, it takes time and effort and sadly, networking is not a team sport. No excuses, make time to connect with others.

- Career transitions are possible. You can move industries, job functions and get promoted. However, ‘compromise’ tends to play a major role in most career transitions so it’s vital to have figured out, what’s really important to you and to know which compromises you can live with.

- Career Stories are powerful learning experiences. We learn significantly more from honest and empathetic stories that describe when things didn’t go to plan. Build learning from a career story into your weekly routine. Listen to a podcast, chat with a colleague or attend a networking event with new people.

- Advancing your career does not happen in isolation to the world in which we operate. It’s vital to stay relevant by actively doing your homework to understand the career implications of what’s happening around you.

- Community is all about who shows up. Have a diverse group of people around you, who can offer you a fresh perspective when needed.

- My final take away is that advancing one’s career is “not a destination, it’s a journey”… so it’s important to enjoy every moment.