Career Tips You Need to Ignore

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5 years ago

This week, I caught up with a woman I used to manage, Julie. Julie confessed that, since she transitioned to reporting to my successor, she has been struggling. She feels my successor does not engage much and expects things from Julie that do not make sense to her. Worse, she feels that doing those things would lead to bad business outcomes. As she wrapped up her concerns about her new manager with me, Julie concluded that she needed to follow the career tips her mother gave her and just, “put a smile on her face” and “do what she is told.”

I had a strong reaction to “do what she is told.” It didn’t sit well with me, and I doubt I would give that advice to someone else. On one hand, you don’t want to create conflict with your manager; you may recall, that is a Career Killer. However, there are other options besides “putting a smile on your face” and “doing what you are told.”

The purpose of this post is to share the bad career tips I’ve heard over the years, and what to do instead.

Career Tips You Need to Ignore

1. “Put a smile on your face and do what you are told”

Of course, I had to start with this one!

Why this is a bad career tip: First of all, this is a problem if you have ethical concerns about what your boss asks you to do. I have a colleague who refused to do something that a manager asked her to, and she ended up being grateful when her manager was the target of an internal investigation into violating policies. So, to me, this is a clear example of when to ignore this career tip.

What if it’s not this clear cut?

Most situations aren’t, unfortunately. If you think you’re being asked to do something that may have an undesirable business impact, then it’s time to Speak Up. See here for tips on Speaking Up. If you’re too busy to read that entire post (I understand!), I think the place to start is to ask, “How Might We?” Questions.

What is a “How Might We?” Question?

An example would be….let’s say you’re being asked to launch a new customer program that you think may be duplicative of another customer program. Instead of “putting a smile on your face” and “doing what you are told,” consider saying, “How might we ensure we aren’t conflicting with the current programs as we move this initiative forward?”

In essence, How Might We? questions help you raise your concern without threatening anyone.

2. Get into the Office Before Your Boss (and Leave After Him/Her)

This is one of the trickiest career tips! I believe there is merit in demonstrating that you are a hard worker and will dedicate yourself to your job. However, getting in early and staying late is not realistic for many employees, especially those with children and fur babies.

Furthermore, working too many hours could signal to your boss that you’re overwhelmed and cannot handle your workload. Lastly, if you’re interested in a management position, I guarantee you that superiors will question your ability to prioritize and establish reasonable expectations for your direct reports if your over-work yourself.

What should I do instead?

If you are meeting your deadlines, and treating urgent things accordingly, then I think you’re free to leave after a 6-8 hour day. In the end, what most bosses care about is that you get your stuff done and that you will put in some extra work if the situation requires it.

That said, if your workload is really light, you don’t want to be seen as lazy. In this situation, I suggest you proactively propose a new project you think would be beneficial for the company or ask your manager if there are projects you could take on.

3. Hide your mistakes

To be honest, this never goes well. And you’ll probably spend a lot of time worrying about being caught. If you make a mistake, the best thing to do is to just come clean. Tell your boss what happened, what you learned from it, and how you would do things differently next time. He or she will respect you for your honesty, and — in the future — they will likely always trust you if someone else accuses you of something.

If you want more information on preparing for this discussion, check out the tips in this post: How to handle a bad review.

4. Always show confidence

This is one of the most controversial career tips. I do advocate that it’s important to project confidence in yourself and your work, even if you have Imposter Syndrome. What I would advocate you avoid is over-confidence. You should be self-aware and know what you are most competent and experienced at, and what you are not. And, once you identify those gaps, you take some proactive steps to ensure you are on the right track.

These proactive steps can include getting a mentor, participating in training, or partnering with someone more experienced. I think these a far better career tips that “show confidence.” I’ve only seen blind confidence result in failure since you don’t pay attention to how you need to grow and change. On top of that, your attitude may alienate colleagues. It’s really a bad place to be.

5. Do what you love

So, this one is tricky. I would certainly not advocate that anyone take a job they know they will not like or be good at. What I am saying is that, if you just think you won’t like a job or another area of the business, that you be open-minded. You may not love it, but you also do not yet know enough about it, so don’t dismiss it.

Years ago, I was a product manager and my company decided to stop selling my product. I needed to find a new role pretty quickly. There was a similar role available on a different product. From a distance, that one seemed fraught with politics, difficult personalities, and complicated market issues. I hated dealing with those dynamics and thought I would dislike (and be unsuccessful at) the job.

I ended up taking that job because mine was going away and I didn’t have a lot of time to be picky. And, it was one of the best roles I’ve had in my career! Yes, it had all those undesirable things I described above. But, I learned how to navigate those dynamics in that job. As a result, I was able to have a lasting impact on that product. Learning how to navigate the landmines helped me grow my communication and partnership skills. I’m still grateful for what I learned in that job, and I have leaned heavily on that experience in my career. I simply could not imagine where I would be without having done that job.

So, those are my Career Tips Your Need to Ignore. If you want additional advice on Career Tips to Ignore, check out this Economic Times article.