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Connect2015
Connect2015
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Positioning y<strong>our</strong>self for<br />
career success<br />
By Grace Karanja<br />
Success means different things to<br />
different people; for some, success<br />
is monetary reward, while for<br />
others success is career, health,<br />
spiritual, and emotional stability.<br />
To find y<strong>our</strong> own definition of success<br />
you need to dig deep within y<strong>our</strong>self and<br />
question y<strong>our</strong> beliefs and values in life.<br />
Some useful questions you might want<br />
to consider when defining y<strong>our</strong> success<br />
include: What are y<strong>our</strong> strengths and<br />
weakness? What is important to you? What<br />
are y<strong>our</strong> priorities?<br />
In defining y<strong>our</strong> success, remember<br />
success is a j<strong>our</strong>ney with multiple peaks<br />
and not one ultimate pinnacle. Success is<br />
progressive. Setbacks and mistakes will also<br />
help you build success. At different periods<br />
of y<strong>our</strong> life, success is defined differently. In<br />
career growth and development, success<br />
can be defined by exceeding y<strong>our</strong> key<br />
performance indicators at work, or getting<br />
a promotion. Success can also be defined<br />
as y<strong>our</strong> relationship with y<strong>our</strong> supervisors,<br />
colleagues, interdepartmental liaisons and<br />
networks or y<strong>our</strong> learning curve. As you<br />
experience growth, you realize that the<br />
definition of success is fluid and dynamic.<br />
If one, therefore, is serious about<br />
creating lasting and significant change in<br />
their career as opposed to merely talking<br />
about it, then there are a few things one can<br />
do in order to make that intention a reality.<br />
Firstly, it is important to know what<br />
career success means to an individual.<br />
The society in which we have been raised<br />
summarizes career success as a result<br />
of intelligence, hard work and good luck.<br />
Intelligence is a key predictor of success. At<br />
the job entry level, prospective employees<br />
are assessed on technical competency and<br />
aptitude where their ability to connect dots<br />
in the work environment is put to test. Love<br />
for learning and thirst for knowledge is not<br />
just necessary at the job entry level but it<br />
serves as a basis for future career growth<br />
and development. However one may have<br />
a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) but not<br />
perform as well as others with less.<br />
Emotional intelligence, as a term<br />
applicable to career success, on the<br />
other hand, became popular in the 1990s<br />
through the writings of Daniel Goleman. He<br />
stipulates that emotional intelligence is far<br />
much at a higher level in predicting career<br />
success than intelligence quotient. A lot<br />
more has been written on this topic with an<br />
38 • DaystarConnect 2015
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