The careers of today are no longer linear as they used to before - you join a firm and through years of mentoring and learning you rise up the ranks.
Reiterated in this book are examples of people who didn't have a solid plan out but achieved great success.
As with the other book "So good they can't ignore you", this book highlights the importance of amassing career capital. Becoming a local expert (geography industry segment skill). Instead of becoming a world class communicator aim to become a good communicator who is also an engineer. Develop local advantages over peer and collegues in order to get ahead. If you try to be best at everything and better than everyone you'll be the best at nothing
Developing Competitive Advantage (Chapter 2)
Requirement of three things -- assets, aspirations and market value. You need to have a skill or expertise in something, you need to apply it to something you value or passionate about (this is so that you can work in that field for a long time) and the market should be able to pay you for that skill.
If you are interested in that field you will outlast a person dependent solely on hard work and motivation.
Pursue worthy opportunities, using your assets and taking into consideration the market realities.
You should orient yourself in the direction of your aspirations and values - pole star.
Plan To Adapt (Chapter 3)
ABZ framework.
Create a professional identity independent of your employer. This is related to marketting yourself. You can have a running blog, side projects etc.
The important of learning - most people stop learning after college and only educate themselves on stocks, bonds etc. Maximize learning in your career. Read about diverse subjects. Continuously develop skills in things you are less knowledgeable about.
Management consulting is an example of job which maximises the opportunities for the future while also developing skills.
Product/market mattered more than user experience or design. This falls under the product management group. That means work experience in this area tends to lead to more diverse career opportunities.
Catch-22: For jobs that require prior experience, how do you get the experience for the first time? Do the job for free on the side.
Plan A - Current path you are on. By continuing on this path you are working towards skill development, amassing assets.
Plan B - Major shift. Using skill sets to work on something you are passionate about.
When to pivot? (from A to B). A lesson from technology industry is that it's better to be in front of a big change rather than to be behind it. You need not shift to plan B only when something isn't working. If you find the grass greener somewhere else, go there.
It takes a network (Chapter 4)
Relationships matter to your career no matter the organization or level of seniority because every job boils down to interacting with people.
Finally, relationships matter because the people you spend time with shape who you are and who you become. Behavior and beliefs are contagious: you easily “catch” the emotional state of your friends, imitate their actions, and absorb their values as your own. If your friends are the types of people who get stuff done, chances are you’ll be that way, too. The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.
That’s because the best way to engage new people is via the people you already know.
Granovetter accounts for this result by explaining that social cliques, which are groups of people who have something in common, often limit your exposure to wildly new experiences, opportunities, and information. Because people tend to hang out in cliques, your good friends are usually from the same industry, neighborhood, religious group, and the like. The stronger your tie with someone, the more likely they are to mirror you in various ways, and the more likely you are to want to introduce them to your other friends.
From an emotional standpoint, this is great. It’s fun to do things in groups with people with whom you have a lot in common. But from an informational standpoint, Granovetter argues that this interconnectedness is limiting because the same information recycles through your local network of like-minded friends. If a close friend knows about a job opportunity, you probably already know about it. Strong ties usually introduce redundancy in knowledge and activities and friend sets.
In contrast, weak ties usually sit outside of the inner circle. You’re not necessarily going to introduce a looser connection to all of your other friends. Thus, there’s a greater likelihood a weak tie will be exposed to new information or a job opportunity. This is the crux of Granovetter’s argument: Weak ties can uniquely serve as bridges to other worlds and thus can pass on information or opportunities you have not heard about. We would stress that it’s not that weak ties per se find you jobs; it’s that weak ties are likely to be exposed to information or job listings you haven’t seen. Weak ties in and of themselves are not especially valuable; what is valuable is the breadth and reach of your network.
As Herminia Ibarra says in her book Working Identity, sometimes it’s the strong ties who know us best who may wish to be supportive of a transition but instead “tend to reinforce or even desperately try to preserve the old identities we are seeking to shed. Diversity and breadth in your network encourages flexibility to pivot.
It can be awkward to ask a favor of a friend. Indeed, just because you know someone doesn’t mean they have to introduce you to one of their friends. But you do have to ask—directly and specifically—and you need to present a compelling reason why the introduction makes sense. “I’d love to meet Rebecca because she works in the technology industry.” Not good enough. “I’m interested in talking to Rebecca because my company is looking to partner with companies just like hers.” Better, as the introduction appears to benefit both parties. When you reach out to someone, be clear about how you intend to help the person to whom you’re being introduced—or at least how you’ll ensure it’s not a waste of that person’s time.
They found that those that garnered the highest response rates included phrases like “You mention …” or “I noticed that …” or “I’m curious what.…” In other words, phrases that showed that the person had carefully read the other’s profile. People do this in online dating, but when it comes to professional correspondence, for whatever reason, it doesn’t get done. People send out appallingly unresearched and generic requests. If you spend thirty minutes researching a person in your extended network (LinkedIn is a great place to start), and tailor your request for an introduction to something you’ve learned, your request will stand out.
LinkedIn philosophy is "Your network is bigger than you think". This is the reason why on linkedin you can see activity of friends in your profile. The 2nd order connection of your network could potentially include ten thousand or more people.
Pursue breakout opportunities (Chapter 5)
If finding these opportunities were a matter of simply walking into a store, rifling through a dusty bin of opportunities, picking one, and then checking out, the hierarchy of power in the world would look quite a bit different.
Likewise, in order to accomplish something significant in your career, you need to focus on finding and capitalizing on those great career opportunities: the opportunities that will extend your competitive advantage and accelerate your Plan A or Plan B.