💥 39: How to Act Like the CEO of Your Career

Oh hey, happy Q2!

True story: my close friends made fun of me recently when I suggested we get our “Q3 group hang in the books,” aka make sure we have plans for the summer. Does anyone else think like that? Sue me!

I promise today’s issue is not an MLM-”you go boss queen” type of letter– it’s a strategic approach to building a resilient, legacy career that can withstand ambiguity and turmoil of the modern work landscape.

The idea: Your career is a business, and you are the CEO.

The why: Taking a CEO’s vision to the different “departments” in your career keeps you honest about what matters to you and better equipped to lead the (job) market.

We know that the Chief Executive Officer oversees each function of a business, making sure they all work in tandem to make the company successful.

The way I see it, the “departments” of your career that you’re responsible for as the CEO are:

• Product

• Marketing

• Operations

• Finance & Legal

• Human Resources

So imagine you’re the CEO at the head of a table with all of your Department Heads, asking them for a quarterly update so you can have an incredible Q2. 

Here’s what you’d want to know from each of them:

🎁 Head of Product: Your skills and strengths, the unique value you add to the market

• Are there any “bugs” in the product (constructive feedback that needs to be addressed and implemented to improve performance or relationships)?

• When’s the last time the product was updated? When did you last freshen up your skills through a training program, conference, new project, or online course?

📺 Head of Marketing: Who knows what you have to offer, and who wants to invest in it

• Who is your ideal customer, (company/person you want to hire or promote you)? 

• Has your ideal customer stayed the same for the length of your career and your goal is to become a legacy “product” in that space? Or do you want to move into a different market and get noticed by a different ideal customer (make a career pivot)?

• Are you actually reaching your ideal customer (the people who can hire or promote you)? Do those customers truly understand the value of your product and WANT to invest in it?

• What’s working with your marketing, and what needs to be improved in order to “sell” more (get hired or promoted)?

⚙️ Head of Operations: Prioritization, efficiency, and time/energy management 

• When’s the last time you checked in with your long-term goals? Are you still excited about where you’re heading? 

• Are you draining your energy or resources on things that don’t really matter?

• Are you chasing goals that aren’t really aligned with what you truly want in life, because you feel like you “should” be chasing those goals?

• Where can you free up an extra hour a week for reflection and fun, so you avoid burnout?

💰 Head of Finance & Legal: Are you protected and profitable?

• Are you due for a compensation adjustment to stay in line with the market average for your role? When’s the last time you benchmarked your salary against others in your role? Try Payscale’s compensation calculator! 

• How can you protect yourself against job market fluctuations? What do your savings and investments look like?

• If you’re running a side hustle or business on top of your 9-5 job, is everything still kosher with your company’s legal or HR team? The last thing you want is any disciplinary action that stalls your business and could have been avoided with open communication.

🤝 Head of Human Resources: Your growth as social individual and human being 

• How are your mentorship relationships? Are you due to update any of your mentors on changes to your goals or questions they could help you solve?

• When was the last time you asked for feedback on your “product” that could improve your marketing or “user experience” (how your colleagues like working with you)?

• How psychologically safe do you feel in your career or at your job? Do you feel empowered to take educated risks, make minor mistakes, and learn from doing? If not, what needs to change in order to feel safer?

Take an hour for yourself sometime next week (still the beginning of the quarter!) to reflect on how all the departments of your career are working, independently and together. 

Let me know what you think about this take on owning your career as the CEO! 

Does it resonate with you, or do you think about career growth in a different way? Reply to this email and tell me about it!

KGYGT (keep going, you got this),

Janel