When we come across an obstacle, people typically do one of three things:

• Turn back
• Get through it by any means necessary
• Get to a vantage point to see if the reward is worth the effort to overcome the obstacle

For a long time, I was very much the second person.  Call it an ego thing, call it stubbornness, but I did whatever it took to achieve a goal.  Sometimes at great sacrifice to myself.  I don’t believe this is necessarily a bad thing, as I think we all need to build tenacity.

However, after the past few years, I’ve come to change my thinking.  I’ve come to value the “resources” it would take to acheive some goals, and I realize that often a goal is not worth the sacrafice.  So, before I dedicate my time and energy, I put some due dilegence into making sure the outcome is worth it.  This saves unneccessary effort.

The takeaway from all of this is to keep the end result in perspective and realize what it’s value is.

To succeed in corporate America a person must continually take more and more work.  To do this, it requires the ability to scale.  However, many very smart people do not scale because they feel the need to show their brilliance on all tasks assigned to them, and they eventually run out of hours in a day to get all the work done. It is almost an arrogance which inhibits them from delegating (speaking from my personal experiences).

The average person career is able to rise above the brilliant person’s when they are able scale more effectively.  To scale effectively it requires the ability to delegate.  If one of your direct reports is able to perform a job that you are performing at the same quality, then you are “paying” too much to get that task done (assuming you make more than your direct).  Instead, it should be delegated.  With that extra time, you should be able to perform the more important tasks to a higher quality, or else take one of your boss’ tasks.

As a person moves through their career it becomes less about how brilliant you can make a presentation, but rather about the people under you who will determine how far your career goes.

At the risk of my management reading this, here is a little trick which leads to faster promotions.

Plant the “promotion seed” in your manager’s mind far before you think you’re up for a promotion.  This is done by simply asking your manager if you will get a promotion at the next opening.  While it may seem innocuous, by having them think about you getting a promotion, you have planted the seed for consideration of a promotion.

Managers have an internal clock of how long they need to consider someone for a promotion before they act on it.  By making them “consider” you earlier, you have started that internal clock sooner.  This has the double effect of additional pressure on a manager knowing that you expect a promotion from them.  If there is no pressure, then the manager thinks you’re okay with your current level and has no guilt about not promoting you.

Do this whenever you get a new manager, or right after you just got a promotion.  For example, I waited 2 months from getting a promotion before I planted the next seed.