I asked Mr. Sievert for his advice to young men and women embarking on their careers. Here’s what he said.
Following graduation, I wrote and published two books that were almost entirely about my faith. It wasn’t until my daughter, Dena, came to me with a request that my true calling began to take shape.
I now feel that my long and arguably successful business career was mere prologue to what I am doing today in following my passion.
Dena came to me after graduating from college and was languishing in an entry-level position in a large global cosmetics firm. She asked me to give her some tips on how to get noticed and be identified as a high-potential employee so she could build a meaningful career.
After thinking long and hard about how I might notice someone deep down within my own company, I came up with five tips. She implemented them and did extremely well. She indeed became noticed and identified as someone with high potential. As a result, she was promoted several times, while many of her peers continued to feel stuck in their initial roles.
I used those tips in two college commencement addresses, and after receiving very strong feedback, I wrote an article that was published. My literary agent read the article and then called to encourage me to write a book on this topic, given its timeliness in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. It was a time when many people would not only be graduating from college but also re-entering the workforce after an absence for child-rearing or military service.
One of the endorsers of the book, Scott Davidson, CEO of OneAmerica, wrote this after he read the book: “I wish I had read this book when I entered the workforce three decades ago.”
I can relate totally to what he said because it took me decades of on-the-job experience to glean the advice I offer in the book. That is not to say I didn’t make many mistakes along the way. I learned from the mistakes. In the book, I pass along advice to others on how to avoid those mistakes and how instead to focus more on proactive pursuits that will have a positive impact on their careers.
Each of the book’s 15 chapters contains practical, easy-to-implement tips that have proven to be highly effective in coaching and mentoring many of my own employees and executives over the years.
Before and after COVID-19, the advance of technology has been unprecedented. On balance, I would say those changes were positive, but they have had some negative consequences as well. The ability for workers to be more productive in less time and at reduced cost has been positive. However, over the years, that same advance of technology has led to reductions in the workforce and layoffs of employees who were replaced by technological advances that weren’t always well-received by customers. Services that were outsourced to cheaper labor markets overseas or replaced by voice-recognition software frustrated many consumers and resulted in a loss of the personal touch provided by human-to-human interactions.
Over many years, there has been increasing pressure to generate greater corporate profits and returns to shareholders. For most companies, that has resulted in reductions of human bench strength and the unwillingness to make the expenditures necessary to train and develop employees. In my book’s chapter titled “Take Charge of Your Own Development,” I advise employees on steps they can take to improve their skills, stay current with changes in their field of interest, and develop a strong network of like-minded professionals.
COVID-19 has resulted in significant post-pandemic human resource challenges that are still emerging. The impact on recruitment and retention of talent cannot be overstated, as workers at all levels are demanding much more flexibility in hybrid working arrangements that allow a much greater percentage of their working hours to be completed remotely. The necessity for companies to acquiesce to these demands has created an almost overnight crisis in the commercial real estate market, as space requirements for most companies has diminished considerably. And commensurate with these changes is an inevitable loss of social interactions and teamwork among employees who are seeing each other more often on device monitors than in-person.
My book is all about overcoming that initial anxiety, as well as the stress over the natural question a new employee may ask: “What do I do now?” The answer goes way beyond just doing what their boss asks them to do, though that is obviously very important.
Even before interviewing for a new job, applicants need to do their research on the company. Then they can lessen initial challenges by doing some simple tasks. If they undertake the following steps, it will, at a minimum, arm them with intelligent questions they can ask when they start working. These are just some of the many steps I recommend:
Learn about the company. Go onto the company’s website and learn as much as they can about its products, services, markets, and distribution channels.
Read the annual report. If the company’s annual report is available on the company’s corporate website, review it thoroughly. Corporate websites normally also post short bios of the CEO and other top officers that can provide further insights.
Memorize the corporate mission statement and be able to recite it. I do not recommend walking around actually reciting the mission because that would appear arrogant—and arrogance, in my view, is the biggest career blocker. Rather, I recommend new employees memorize the mission statement so it is embedded in their brains. Then they can assess decisions made by their superiors or peers to make sure those decisions are well-aligned with the corporate mission. And as they advance in the organization, it will become a meaningful test against their own future decision making.
Develop organizational awareness. This is important but can be challenging. If new hires can get an organizational chart in advance of starting the new job, it will help them understand how they can begin to work across departmental lines to get things done and who the key players are in each of the appropriate departments.
Strive to fit into the organization’s culture. This also can be a challenge, yet it is also extremely important. Applicants are likely to get some feel for the culture in the interview process and after they are on the job. The culture is sometimes described as the “vibe” of the organization. It can encompass beliefs and values of an organization, the way employees are treated, the extent of interdepartmental cooperation, and how people interact with each other. Often, the culture is driven from the top of the organization. So understanding the backgrounds of the top officers is likely to provide some additional insights.
In my view, the key for employees to find fulfillment and even joy in their vocations is to clearly identify their passions and their own unique combination of skills and gifts.
Most of us are happiest when we are pursuing our passions. So step one for anyone is to clearly identify those activities and pursuits that leave them with the greatest sense of accomplishment, self-worth, and therefore, happiness. It may even seem that time stands still while engaged in those activities. They need to answer the question, “What makes me tick?” If they can discover what they are most passionate about doing, they can begin to see the next vocational pursuit as an exciting new beginning. I can attest to the veracity of the old adage, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
There is a high correlation between what people do well and what makes them happy. To identify their unique combination of skills and gifts, I recommend that people reflect on moments in their lives—even beyond work-related activities—when they have felt truly happy and fulfilled. What were they doing just before they felt that tremendous sense of accomplishment and well-being? When they remember those moments, the next question to ask themselves is, “How did I personally contribute to that experience, and what value did I add in the process?” The contributions they made probably resulted from their own inherent gifts and talents.
So in their next vocational move, I urge people to pursue roles they have a passion for and that can make the best use of their identified skills and gifts. When people ask me, “But what about compensation and title?” My answer is simple, and it is substantiated by experiential evidence: If you are passionate about what you do, are happy in your role, and your skills and gifts are producing great and fulfilling results, the recognition and the appropriate compensation and titles will come.
The next step is to develop a well-crafted five-year business plan that includes the size and nature of the targeted market, along with realistic projected pro forma financial statements detailing future revenues, expenses, and net income. Such projections should also identify the amount of initial capital required to sustain the business through the projected financial break-even year. These documents, if credible, will then provide the support necessary for the aspiring entrepreneur to successfully raise the required capital.
A decision then needs to be made relating to the source or sources of funds that need to be raised. This could be any combination of one or more of the following: personal assets, assets from family members or friends, and business loans or funds from other joint-venture partners.
Before approaching potential investors and/or lenders, it’s important to decide on the corporate structure of the business (e.g., S corp, LLC, sole proprietorship).
Without completing this extensive preliminary work, an entrepreneurial venture is more likely to fail. However, once such a business is successfully launched, all the advice in my book applies to the operations of the future venture.
My strong, enduring faith caused me to pray often at work and to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide my words and my actions, especially in making very difficult decisions as the president of a Fortune 100 corporation.
The book I have most recently published, “Fast-Starting a Career of Consequence,” was a very natural extension of my impact to a much larger audience.
- Chapter 1: Identify and Use Your Spiritual Gifts at Work
- Chapter 3: Jesus as a Workplace Partner
- Chapter 7: Understand and Embrace the Company’s Vision and Mission
- Chapter 9: Develop and Demonstrate Strategic Thinking Capability
- Chapter 10: Understand the Financial Underpinnings of the Business
- Chapter 11: Take Charge of Your Own Development
- Chapter 14: Demonstrate Integrity and Earn Trust
- Chapter 15: Balance Faith, Family, and Career
What has made you happiest and provided the greatest gratification in your pre-retirement years? In short, what are your greatest passions?
What are your unique gifts and skills that you can best use to generate the most satisfaction following your career?
What can you do now to position yourself for the greatest impact in your pursuits when you decide to scale back or retire from your current vocation?
The answers to questions like these are unique to every individual. They will force those contemplating a change to wrestle with elusive concepts like “success,” “satisfaction,” and “happiness.” Readers have shared that they find it thought-provoking and enjoyable to go through the exercise of contemplation and then to reach conclusions.
I went through this very process myself, and the answer to your question is revealed in the title I gave to this article, “Happier, Healthier and Younger in Retirement.” I felt that way in 2013 when I wrote the article, and I still feel that way today at age 75.
