emerging leaders |

The following is an excerpt from Jim’s latest book, 8 STRATEGIES for ASPIRING LEADERS…

When I listen to leaders and managers today, they tell me that “entitlement mentality” is one of the biggest obstacles for aspiring leaders. Too often candidates freshly minted out of college show up at their first job interview with a pre-determined list of demands or a set idea of what they “deserve.”

You “deserve” nothing––until you prove your actual value––through performance.

One of my friends is a stock trader. When he started, the standard for hiring was a college diploma. His degree was not even in finance or business; he held a degree in English.

Times have changed. His firm now requires an MBA for consideration for entry level stock trading and broker positions. The degree is required just to qualify for the chance to train for those positions.

He asked me if I knew what “MBA” stands for. “Of course,” I said, “Master of Business Administration.”

“No,” he replied, “It means––might be acceptable!”

Aspiring leaders are competing for recognition and opportunities in a crowded market and employers in many domains have plenty of great candidates to choose from. If you really want to excel and exploit opportunities for advancement, it’s important to stop focusing on the rewards. You’re not there yet.

Focus on the experience.

This means taking full advantage of every opportunity to gain experience and on-the-job knowledge, no matter how insignificant or menial it might look at the time. The part-time job you take running the night shift at a burger joint to pay your student loans may be more valuable to you in the long run than taking a paper pushing job that promises higher pay and company expense account.

Office Boss Employee A couple of years ago I was doing a workshop for aspiring entrepreneurs. I asked each of them to give us a quick summary of what kind of business they were starting.

One guy said he was starting a restaurant.

He had a lot of his ducks in a row. He had a good business plan, he had a solid vision and had researched his market and competition.

As far as administrative skills were concerned, he knew what he was doing––he had been a corporate executive for years. He was starting over because he had been aged-out of the position he held for about 30 years. He even had strong financial backing from friends who had encouraged him––which led me to my next question.

“With all your experience in business, why are you going to open a restaurant?”

I already knew the answer––I’ve heard it a hundred times in these workshops: “Well, all my life people have told me what a great cook I am.”

“Have you ever worked in a restaurant?”

Again I knew the answer. For the record, he said no.

I told him the best advice I could give him right now was to go get a job in a restaurant. Not only did I tell him not to apply for a management position, but I told him he should start at the very bottom. “Wash dishes, mop floors, wait on tables––do anything to get you inside the restaurant business and learn it from the bottom up!”

I had to add, “The best thing you’re going to learn is that you either love it––or hate it! Either way, it’s better to find out now before you risk what you have left of your life savings!”

I don’t just pick on the restaurant business. This philosophy works for every business, martial arts included.

Nowhere was this experience gap wider than in the financial markets before the big meltdown of 2008. In his book, The Big Short, Michael Lewis describes an entire generation of eager young “executives” who earned big money, but did nothing but process forms and operate what amounted to a legal gambling scheme.

Few of these people became the business leaders of the future. Most of them were simply glorified high-tech assembly line workers, without the invaluable practical experience working with their hands would have provided.

As soon as the proverbial shit hit the fan, these young financial mercenaries were lost. They had no real skills; many in fact did not even understand the economic basics that made their short, albeit profitable careers possible. They didn’t understand the true functions of the mortgage market. They didn’t really know how the derivative markets worked or how to protect assets with real capital.

They were simply playing a high-stakes video game. Eventually they lost––and so did we.

What became of these people? Watch The Wolf of Wall Street and you’ll get a pretty good idea.

What if more of them had passed on the lucrative bonuses and fast paced lifestyle and instead focused on positions that would give them solid experience in building, growing and managing a business? What if they delayed instant financial gratification for sound leadership training?

What if, instead of ripping us all off, they turned their energies to providing real value?

And you’ll provide much more value and enjoy more substantive and lasting rewards if you focus on doing something with meaning and purpose.