EXECUTIVE CAREER PLANNING: A LOST PRACTICE

made the case that a strategic planning assignment would give Tom some much needed skills and make him a more well-rounded resource for other organizational positions.

After months of working exclusively on improving his success in his current role, Tom still couldn’t get excited about his work or career direction. He decided to change his thinking and approach. Clearly this assignment was not a good fit and Tom needed to take control of his career.

Tom made three commitments: First, he planned to develop a more informed career plan (versus his vague and less self-directed: “do a good job and get promoted” approach). Secondly, he agreed to work with his management to arrange for better assignments where real organizational needs were being met and he could once again, be successful, enjoy his work, and grow in his preferred career role. Finally, he decided to optimize his current work experience along the dimensions that mattered most to him.

Why Should We Care if Executives Have A Career Plan?

With Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and Tyco fresh on our minds, executives are eliciting little compassion these days. In fact, a recent poll by Fortune magazine found that executives are less popular than politicians. Despite our bitterness towards some of today’s leaders, effective executives are still the lifeblood of corporate America.

The key word here is “effective.” To be an effective executive, you must be motivated and driven both for your own good and for the good of the organization. Research shows that people who are placed in jobs for which they are best suited to perform are more effective. What constitutes “best suited” includes an integration of skills, knowledge, experience, values and interests. Putting that all together requires some intention and expertise.

Unfortunately, there are many executives in Tom’s position. You start your career in the right direction, but somewhere along the line your path takes a turn toward what market conditions dictate or what the organization or your boss presents as your career options. As you climb their career ladder, it is easy to find yourself in a position that isn’t right for you. For example, some people are not suited to managing people, yet the higher you ascend in an organization, the more people you manage. Bad bosses are often just people who aren’t good at leading others and aren’t genuinely motivated to make their mark leading others. But they just don’t know how else to get ‘ahead’ in a career.

Let’s face it…. Having a job and loving your job are not the same thing (even for executives). Being successful does not mean feeling significant; working hard is not the same as contributing what you feel you are best suited for.

To be an effective leader, there must be a marriage of skills and passion. It takes us into our adult lives to know ourselves and to be able to separate what we think we’re supposed to do to be successful and significant from what we know we want to do to achieve these goals. We must use our actual life experiences as data sets to examine

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