Two critical components of professional development
A couple weeks ago, I attended a full day seminar, and was privileged hear the former CEO of Microsoft, Rick Buluzza speak about the kind of professional leader he learned he wanted to be early in his career. The day was very effective for me—I left inspired to share two things with my professional network. Two critical components of professional development: having a positive attitude and being a person of integrity.
Initially, it may seem unlikely that attitude and the character feature, integrity, are part of professional development, but here’s why they are:
Having a positive attitude enables you to be flexible and patient both in your job search & career. No matter where you are in your professional development, or career, or even during a new job search, attitude is important:
- Building & refining a resume (refining multiple times and keeping it updated even when you aren’t actively looking so you can keep track of your own growth and development)
- Dressing & behaving like a professional
- Networking & building relationships (even prior to looking, make sure you don’t let your network get ‘stale’. People like to stay connected with you because of their own network and not only when you ‘need’ them for something)
- Being receptive to constructive criticism
- Keeping skills current (and always looking for opportunities for more professional development)
If you’re in between jobs or embarking on securing a new one, it’s a full-time job getting a full-time job. Regardless of your specialty – programmer, business analyst, instructor, recruiter, student, CEO, you deal with people – patience & flexibility are necessary when dealing with people. I try to follow two rules for dealing well with people:
- Golden Rule (Treat others as you would have them treat you)
- Platinum Rule (Treat others as they want to be treated)
Not everyone will follow these rules, but you (I, professionals, people, etc.) should take the high road because in the long run, you want to build long-term professional relationships with people and these rules will always help you do that. You want to always be identified as a person of integrity. As professionals, we are our own enterprise, and therefore, we have to own our own development—which is an on-going process. Rick Buluzza said to be “hard headed and soft hearted…never burn bridges…be accepting of bad news and stay humble.” Everyone knows about Microsoft’s success; hard not be inspired by a guy who knows a thing or two about professional and personal success.
