How would you like to discover the most effective “Human Operating System” for achieving high-value career outcomes that lead to lucrative, meaningful and rewarding work?
Hype? Let me explain…
As you know, the computer’s operating system is the most fundamental piece of software that runs on it. It is also the most important piece of software, because without an operating system, none of the other apps or features would work. Everything depends on the operating system, and how the OS solves particular problems it solves.
For instance, on most Windows computers, the updates run on an automated schedule and you have very little say over whether an update is going to run or not. Updates will start when they damn well feel like and that is that.
Chances are, because of this approach to doing updates, you got stuck more than a few times on that “Working on updates” screen (especially while you’re trying to reboot), interrupting your work and frustrating you in the process.
The reality is, your computer made you wait, because of how the operating system was setup. It didn’t have to update that way. It chose to. (Or more accurately, it’s developer’s chose for you)
But it didn’t have to be this way…
And how do we know it didn’t have to be this way… Well… Let’s take a different operating system, like the Ubuntu system, which is a popular Linux distribution that has about 3.4% of the operating system market share.
In this system, you have complete control over how the updates are done. You can schedule them yourself, start them manually, even disable the schedule and stop them all together. You have full control. No updates have to happen and keep you waiting, ever.
Of course, there are good reasons behind both operating systems, and why they do things the way they do them.
A system like Windows gives you a much more pre-defined sandbox to play in with clear boundaries and restrictions on what you can and cannot do. A Linux system, however, gives you full control.
The important point to realise here is that, these are not matters of necessity “like you need electricity to run a computer”. These are matters of choice, like “you want to do updates, and when you do them has consequences”.
So one set of developers favor one set of consequences – updates pick their timing so we get bug fixes and security updates to users faster. Whereas the other set of developers favor another set of consequences – users can decide when they run their updates, so they don’t get their work interrupted, and they feel more in control.
It’s ALL about Choices & Consequences
So… Why does this matter?
Well, this matters because the EXACT same thing applies to you!
Just like a computer, your brain needs an “operating system” to function. And to grossly oversimplify with full awareness of the limitations of the analogy, for our purposes here, the part of your “operating system” that dictates your career is called your “career imprint”.
And just like the various flavors of OSs I described above, your career imprint is a matter of a bunch of choices, all of which has significant consequences regarding your career outcomes…
It’s called a career imprint, because just like a computer coming out of a manufacturer, your mental attitudes and emotions about your job, your place in the world, your career goals, aspirations, and your beliefs around what’s possible and what’s out of your reach…
All of these are all set by the “factory” that produces you – which is at it’s core, your family and the schooling system you had to go through.
- How you think about your work.
- How you feel about your position.
- How you act to develop your career.
- How you present yourself to employers and colleagues.
These are all manifestations of your career persona, dictated by your subconscious mind and your career imprint.
This model of viewing your work personality becomes excruciatingly important – and empowering – since your career imprint, indirectly, determines everything you do about your career. This includes whether or not you ask for a raise, or if you even think about applying to that job, or if you stand up tall or slouch, or what facial expressions you present when you meet someone… All of it is under the influence of your career imprint.
In summary: Your career imprint determines what’s in your head when it comes to your career.
But your position and power in the workplace is not just about you and what’s in your head. It’s also objective…
Your Work Personality is Negotiated With The People You Work With
It’s never enough for you to consider yourself a “boss”. Others have to treat you like one as well.
Ironically, your career imprint – through your choices as well as non-verbal communications – indirectly influences, and sometimes outright determines, the way others perceive and treat you as well!
This is why, it’s not a far stretch to say that your career imprint determines literally EVERYTHING about the way people see you in the professional world, including how much they value you, how much they respect you, how much they remember you.
All of this and more is determined single-handedly by your career imprint – or perhaps we should call it your “career self-esteem”.
Yes, your career imprint even shows on your LinkedIn profile, including when people look at your picture; Research has shown that people – including recruiters – spend a good chunk of their time on your profile, looking at your picture. And the fact that people can see moods, confidence and social status from pictures has essentially been accepted as cannon, and is part of every decent social psychology book.
And yes, your career imprint even shows on your resume! From the choice of your words, to the specific responsibilities and accomplishments you boast, to the font you use; These all give away your career imprint.
Remember: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. On a resume, that sum carries with it a “sense” about your career imprint, which in turn gets interpreted as your value and whether or not you are a “good fit” for the role you are after (i.e. the same brain mechanism decides: Are you one of us, or are you an outsider – decides to hire or pass on you)
The harsh reality is: your career imprint gives it all away, including all your vulnerabilities and shortcomings you’ve worked so hard to overcome.
I don’t like it any more than you do… But I’d rather tell it to you as I see it, rather than as you’d like to hear it.
In This: You Cannot Fake It Until You Make It
It doesn’t matter whose resume you copy, how many answers you memorise to anticipated interview questions, which college you graduated from, or “who you know” that refers you to a given position – without changing your career imprint to a high-value one, you will forever be bound by the rules and norms of your industry.
This means putting your time in, working your way up, justifying your position with past experience, slaving years away for “reputation”, jumping through all sorts of objectifying, demeaning, and sometimes outright dehumanising corporate hoops. At it’s core, it means existing as a human resource who has given all their power away.
This is what we call the life of a “hireling”… This is what most people do.
Fortunately, there is another way. It is called the path of the “professional”.
The Career Imprint of a High-Value Professional
When you change your career imprint to a high-value one, you naturally – effortlessly – start to exude a certain type of confidence, but more importantly, you back it up in such a way that others buy into it (hint: it has to do with creating value).
While some people confuse this professional career imprint with executive presence, executive presence is only one part of it. A high-value career imprint not only changes how you present yourself and command a room, but it also changes your outlook, your perceptions, your thought, your emotions and your actions.
Instead of seeing work, you start seeing opportunities. Instead of laboring for people, you start working with them. People start seeking you for your opinions and ideas. They care about where you stand on issues. You become an adviser, an ally, and most importantly, you become an exception to the rules.
And here’s where it gets even better…
When The Rules Don’t Apply
You see… Most of the so called “rules” in the corporate world, such as promotion ladders or past experience requirements or salary caps are invented by human resources to manage and control hirelings. They don’t apply the same way to high-value professionals.
While a boss will obsess about how much time a hireling spends at his desk down to the minute, the same boss will not even think twice about where a high-value professional is during work hours. He will micromanage every little detail of a hireling’s work, while fully delegating to the high-value professional with instructions like “get it done”. He will nickel and dime and give the bare minimum raise (if any) to the hireling, while going over budget just to make sure the high-value professional stays and is happy.
Sorry, not sorry… It’s not a fair and equitable world in the corporate world!
And make no mistake: In fact, there are two very different corporate worlds. The world of hirelings who toil under the “default” factory mode career imprint. And the world of high-value professionals who leverage their empowered career imprint to live the life they want.
Just ask yourself:
- Am I getting headhunters and recruiters seeking me every week?
- Do I feel excited and happy to see my boss, or do I worry about looking busy?
- Has my boss, in writing, scheduled my next promotion?
- Do I get unexpected bonuses or gifts for my performance?
- Do my colleagues and co-workers seek me for opinions and decisions rather than to “do stuff” for them?
- Am I happy and proud of what I’m doing?
- Could I get another, maybe even a better job, in about two weeks, if I wanted?
If you answered yes to at least half of these questions, congratulations, knowingly or not, you have a high-value career imprint. (You should contact us, as we have others like you in our network who would enjoy meeting you)
If you haven’t answered yes to at least half of these questions, don’t fret… These questions are in no way to demean you or make you feel ashamed of where you are right now.
On the contrary, it is only to make an important point that can change your trajectory toward a better corporate world.
Your Career Imprint Was NOT Your Choice
Your career imprint was not your choice. It’s not something you did to yourself. This was done to you, and it is, by definition, not your fault!
More importantly, your past need not dictate your future. Your current career imprint does not have to keep you in your current place.
In fact, once you understand that the career outcomes you experience do not result from the excuses people give you to distract you (i.e. “you don’t have enough management experience to take on this job”), but rather that, they directly stem from your career imprint and how your gatekeepers perceive it; you start to see how things really work.
And once you learn the core techniques for changing your career imprint, you can turn this ship around, and get your gatekeepers to finally go along with your goals.
This Change Does Not Have to Take Time
Don’t get me wrong: these things CAN take time. But they don’t have to.
In some sense, it can be like turning a titanic ship around – slow, methodical, sluggish, very energy consuming…
But in another sense, it can be just like unlocking a door. Pretty much instantaneous.
The more important point is that, you need the right tools to get the job done. Changing a career imprint to one that empowers you isn’t hard. It’s just… Delicate…
You can try all day long with the wrong keys and get nowhere. But a simple two inch piece of metal forged into the exact shape it needs to be, will get you to the other side of that door in practically an instant.
If you want to discover what’s on the other side of this door, and switch from being the “pursuer” to the “pursued” in your professional relationships – which is what freedom, wealth and power are all about – you must start thinking about a new career imprint.
Do so now, not later.
That’s how change really happens…