Guest Blog - Eric Hogan

“There is no growth in comfort.” Marillyn Hewson.

Marillyn Hewson is the former CEO of Lockheed Martin. She was an awesome CEO, cultivating leadership and ethics. And the stock price did very well with her hand on the tiller. Marillyn wrote a LinkedIn bit on how to choose your next assignment, and this quote paraphrases what she wrote.

I had some pretty cool jobs at Lockheed Martin, so folks tended to seek my career advice and mentoring. Some of these sessions centered on the next job, a career choice. Over time, I learned to ask several questions when coaching a person about the choice between career options, or offers. Marillyn’s quote is in the third question.

1. What do you dream about? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? It can take some coaxing to get some people to open up about this, or even to allow themselves to dream. It is important to keep this question completely open ended, and not “lead the witness.” Answers to this question could be categorized in several areas: Ownership or accountability of something. Desire to be part of a specific team. Wanting to grow as a leader of people. Wanting to grow as a manager. Where to get the next promotion. Being inspired by a specific mission or technology. Or it could be personal, relating to family or geographic location. Whatever the answer, the next question is, “what job is on the path to fulfilling that dream?”
2. Where will you create the most value in the organization? The “dream” job on a dying program may not be the right choice. Where can you make the most change? Where can you have the most influence on the stock price? If the answer to these questions is not your “dream” job, consider this job a stepping stone. You will learn vital skills and improve your value to the company. And, once you prove your worth here, you can pretty much name your next job.
3. Which job makes you uncomfortable? This is where Marillyn’s quote comes into play. Technical, leadership, and managerial skills will be honed when a person is pushed to their limits. You don’t get to be a better athlete by competing against those who are less skilled than you, you improve by playing up a level. At this point in the conversation, I often get the anxious reply, “I know I can do my existing job, what if I fail in the new job?” To which I reply, “Of course you are going to fail, and you are going to learn from the failure, and that is a very effective way to grow. Take ownership and learn from failure. The only bad mistake is the one you fail to learn from,” This part of the conversation often requires a lot of “blessing”, in which I have to tell folks what an incredible person they are. We tend to be blind to our weaknesses, but in an equal measure we tend to be blind to our superpowers. Observe the person’s strengths, build them up. “Did you know calculus (relevant example goes here) when you were born? Do you know it now? Did you fail as you learned calculus? If you learned calculus, what makes you think you can’t learn this new job?” Not only can you do the job that makes you uncomfortable, that is precisely where you belong because that is where you will grow. There is no growth in comfort.

If all three of these questions line up to the same answer, that is awesome, the choice is easy. Often they do not, so the choice becomes difficult.

Observe the words and body language the mentee uses for each job. Uplifting or downer words? Words of light or darkness? Are the arms folded or gesticulating like an Italian? Feed your observations back to the person. Leave the choice theirs.

Be selfish. Our products are so complex that no one person understands it all. That makes teamwork vital to success. There is no room for selfishness when working on a mission together, especially ones where human life is at stake. However, when facing a career choice, it is a time to make an exception and be selfish. Yes, it is great to be loyal to a boss or a program or a company, but when facing a career decision your utmost loyalty is to yourself. I encourage mentees to make all decisions for the good of the mentee, and then communicate the decision in a way that does not burn bridges.

After many mentoring sessions, I found Marillyn’s advice extremely valuable. I am proud of my career accomplishments, but there is at least equal satisfaction in seeing someone you advised take on an uncomfortable challenge and succeed.