“A contrarian isn’t one who always objects — that’s a conformist of a different sort. A contrarian reasons independently, from the ground up, and resists pressure to conform.” ~ Naval Ravikant
Over the past few years, I’ve written, and coached folks, on the need to reframe their strengths as strategic assests and to not rely on their commoditized skills when looking to raise the bar in their careers.
I’ve decided to turn the mirror around to me and do the same. So today, I’m introducing my reframe as the Career Contrarian.
The topic of a Career Contrarian has been percolating for some time. In fact, I’ve used the term in a number of blog posts over that last few years.
So what is a Career Contrarian? Here’s some of the elements that encompass that identity. I’ve included links to blog posts that expand on these elements.
What Is A Career Contrarian?
A Career Contratrian emphasizes a strategic, asset-based approach to professional development vs. a commoditized, skills-based approach. (Career Contrarian: Why I Hate Transferrable Skills)
A Career Contrarian coaches leaders (in the Bréne Brown definition*) to frame their uniqueness in stories that convey their strategic value. (Build The Right Narrative)
A Career Contrarian emphasizes standing out, not bowing to SOPs, best practices, and conventional wisdom. (Career Contrarian: The Myth of Best Practices)
A Career Contrarian focuses on “people who matter” (decision-makers, hiring managers, customers, clients) and crafting solutions to their internal problems. (Career Contrarian: Don’t Talk About Your Transferrable Skills…Talk About Your Value Instead). Seeing a pattern here?
A Career Contrarian provides a path forward for embracing the mantra of “what got you here won’t get you there.” (Finding Your Leadership Voice: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There and Reframe)
What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There
If you’ve read some of the posts included above, you’ve noticed the recurring theme of shifting from the subject matter expert with a high-level skills set that you accumulated early in your career, to a more wisdom-based, strategic asset that’s emerged as you’ve assumed higher-level leadership roles. This is the essence of Marshall Goldsmith’s saying that “what got you here, won’t get you there.”
In looking to level up in our careers, we need to let go of those expert-based skill sets upon which we built our careers. This can be scary for a number of folks, especially those who worked hard on accumulating those skills and acquired the appropriate certifications.
So, that’s the essence of a Career Contrarian: helping folks reframe their professional value as strategic assets rather than relying on commoditized skills that no longer fit. It’s the approach I intend to speak, write, and coach about going forward.
Thoughts?
What do you think? Can you see the value in adopting a contrarian approach to your career? Do you see how such an approach can serve you better as you look to level up?
Let me know your thoughts, I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say.
You can email me at scott@scottwoodardcoaching.com.
A version of this post was sent earlier to my email newsletter subscribers. If you’d like to get my best work first, subscribe to the newsletter. I NEVER share your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time if it’s not a good fit.
If you’re struggling with how to achieve your career goals let’s chat about how I can help. You can use this link to my calendar to schedule the best time to talk.
Image copyright: iuphotos