Roundtable Discussion with Gorick Ng - Author of "The Unspoken Rules"
*This is a collaborative event between ACE and Morgan Stanley Emerging Women Leaders.
ACE started its first annual summer book club in early July and had a well-received small-format discussion among members of the book club.
Due to overwhelming requests outside of the Book Club, we are more than excited to have Gorick Ng, the author of a Wall Street Journal Bestseller "The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right" , to share with us some top secrets in starting or advancing your career.
1. Asking For Help
Follow the unspoken rule of asking a junior coworker and working your way up until you get an answer.
Do what you can to solve the problem first so that when you ask for help you can show your homework and provide something for your colleague to react to
2. Time Management
Don’t waste time trying to perfect an aspect of an assignment where you just need to be "good enough". This is particularly true in professional services where you often have tight deadlines
You don't have to treat every assignment from your manager as a command from god! Have a conversation when requests come in and manage expectations by talking about how to prioritize what's on your plate
To avoid suffering privately and or fumbling a request, be transparent. Always ask: Why? What? How? And By when?: What is the broader objective? What do I need to do? How should I do it? and By when do I need to do it?
Share bad news early: If you can foresee not being able to make a deadline, get ahead of it by saying, “Hey, I know we talked about doing A by B, but C and D came up. Could I get you E by F time or G by H time?”
3. Mastering Meetings
Try to push yourself to go from reacting to what’s on the page or in the discussion to thinking about what’s not on the page and not being discussed
Ask yourself 5 questions: What's missing? What's problematic? What's confusing? What's wrong? What's surprising?
4. Maintaining a Growth Mindset
Being reliable means: (1) doing what you say you will do and (2) doing your work fully, accurately, and promptly without needing to be micromanaged
Be cognizant of when you should be transitioning from "learner mode" (i.e. absorbing information) to "leader mode" (i.e. speaking up, having a point of view, helping shape the agenda)
5. Landing A Promotion
Make sure you know the rules of the game and how your performance is being evaluated
Pay attention to what matters to those who matter (i.e. what is the most senior member of the team or the organization CEO stressed about?). The more you align yourself with work that matters, the more you will matter
Every organization Is looking for the same 5 things: More, Better, Faster, Cheaper, Safer. If you can identify an opportunity to do one or more of those things you will find an opportunity to show your potential
Collect a portfolio of responsibilities that you can turn into a role. Find an unoccupied swimming lane and claim it for yourself
