How to Reach Your Goals Without Sacrificing Your Career? Part 1 - From the Four Principles Proposed by Dorie Clark

Introduction

Even if you have career aspirations and goals you want to achieve, it’s often the case that you can’t move as you wish because you’re overwhelmed by your current job, or you need a different skill set.
Therefore, I will introduce four principles from the Harvard Business Review article “Don’t Focus on Your Job at the Expense of Your Career” (August 12, 2022) by Dorie Clark, the author of “The Long Game,” to help you move forward towards your long-term goals, even if you feel overwhelmed by your current situation. I will also analyze these principles using my own career as an example.

Don’t Focus on Your Job at the Expense of Your Career

My Career

My first career began when I pursued a path in research during my undergraduate studies in the field of biosciences. After completing my master’s degree, I worked at a public research institute (basic research) that I had aspired to join.

My next career move was prompted by the Democratic Party’s budget review and the dissolution of my research lab due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. I transitioned to a private company (a medical device manufacturer) that could bridge the chasm to product development, where I worked as an engineer developing products.

Up to this point, I was satisfied with my career as I had experienced the entire flow from basic research to product development. However, after working as an engineer for a while, I began to aspire to a role where I could think about the overall strategy of the company. Nevertheless, I was too busy with regulatory compliance and global market responses as a product manager to take any actions towards a strategic management role.

Therefore, I participated in a one-year medical training course at a university hospital, recommended by my company, to consider my next career actions. However, the Covid-19 pandemic occurred, and I was unexpectedly transferred to the marketing department, a field I had no experience in. The change in job roles involved many challenges, such as personal mindset shifts and dealing with friction between departments, but these experiences helped me develop the skill set needed to think about the overall strategy of the company.

Since then, I have learned best practices for business transformation and changing people’s mindsets, and received coaching. Now, I work in brand strategy.

Principle 1: Analyze the Strategic Value of Your Activities

Create a Venn diagram to understand which parts of your current job align most or least with your future vision. In the Venn diagram, one circle represents your current job duties, and the other circle represents the duties you aspire to have. There will likely be some overlap between the two.

Using this diagram, you can identify tasks you want to maintain (current tasks that will carry over and be relevant in your new role), tasks you want to develop (tasks you are not currently performing but will need in the future), and tasks you would prefer to eliminate (tasks that are not related to your desired role).

For example, in my career, I have expanded from a specialized skill as an engineer to industry-wide skills in business strategy, corporate brand strategy, and ultimately to management strategy.

Venn diagram

Principle 2: Enlist allies.

It is rare to have complete discretion over your workload and responsibilities, so achieving your vision requires the support of colleagues, especially your superiors. Explain your desired career path to your boss and ask for recommendations for stretch assignments or opportunities that will help you build new skills and networks. It is also helpful to seek cooperation from colleagues both within and outside your department.

In my case, as an engineer, I expressed to my boss and the responsible executives that I wanted to work in management strategy in the future. Additionally, by participating in the marketing study sessions hosted by the president, I was transferred to the marketing department, which required a company-wide perspective.

To be continued in Part 2