My friend, Nick, loved everything about his job at a huge architecture company. The Lead Architect, Ron, was a generous mentor. Nick had a supportive set of colleagues. And a stellar work environment.
Then—pow! Ron announced he was leaving, and Nick’s once stable world went crack.
There was good news and bad news. The upside was that Nick was instantly reassigned as the interim project manager for several corporate building projects. The increased responsibility put him on the fast track to be the next Lead Architect. He just had to play his cards right to get promoted.
Nick found out that navigating office politics was a real-life version of a wild video racing game. Settling in with his new manager was like driving a street under construction. That bumpy road ended six months later.
Then Nick had a similar problem with his successor. Their relationship hit a hairpin turn when she suddenly announced she had taken another job to be close to family. One hazard after another appeared as Nick’s supervisors kept rotating.
I thought Nick might have given up on getting his promotion, but he surprised me. He looked down, remembering the good times and said, “I wish I could have worked for Ron forever. We made such a great team! But then, one day it hit me—I was trying to clone my relationship with Ron. Of course, that was ridiculous—no wonder I was frustrated. He was one in a million.”
“But it sounds like you had plenty of reasons to be annoyed,” I replied. “It’s no wonder you replayed the past.”
Nick shook his head. “You’re right, but doubling down on my point of view made life worse. Pretty soon, I was irritable with everyone. I was slowly turning into someone who was always complaining and nervous.”
“So, I stepped back and asked myself what are the qualities I need to get promoted? I came up with ‘Resourceful. Approachable. Respectful.’ Now I take those essentials to every meeting. What a difference!”
In the September series, Right View, Right Action, we’re talking about how having the right perspective can inform your actions. Nick couldn’t select his next boss. What he could control was how he showed up to his clients and colleagues. Once he had that insight, he took the mature action of retooling his personal brand.
Knowing when to be adaptable is a game-changer. Let’s use Nick’s idea to see how you can take the right view, then use right action to shift a situation:
Potholes are part of life, but don’t let a few obstacles become the boss of you. This week, make flexibility your middle name.