Issue #82

Career Power = Choice

I get asked for career advice a lot. I can answer most of the questions by sharing this story with you. It's about Alex, a guy I mentored for a few years, and it covers the basics of maintaining a successful career.

Alex was sharp. Capable. The kind of guy who could figure out any problem thrown at him.

But when he came to me, he wasn’t going anywhere.

His manager was using him. Piling on the work. Taking credit for his ideas. Keeping him in line with a steady stream of “you’re not ready yet” comments.

Alex had started to believe it.

This is learned helplessness in action. You get shut down so many times you stop trying.

This is how they train elephants to stay with circuses. When the animal is young, it is always chained to a post.

By the time it is big enough to just walk off (if it wanted to), it never even tries. It assumes the post is always there.

It happens to us all in corporate world.

If a company can make you feel like you have no power, you won’t ask for more.

Breaking out of it isn’t about waiting for things to get better. It’s about building the kind of power that makes you untouchable.

Step 1: See the Game for What It Is

First, I asked Alex to write it all down.

• Every time his manager dumped work on him.
• Every time his ideas were stolen.
• Every time he felt like he couldn’t push back.

When he saw it in front of him, it became obvious. This wasn’t about his ability.

His boss needed him to feel powerless. It was not a series of one-off events, it was a narrative of control.

Step 2: Becoming a Scarce Resource

Alex’s skills were with spreadsheets, but plenty of people can make an Excel sheet look nice.

So we turned him into the best.

1. He mastered advanced formulas, automation, and data visualisation.
2. He built dashboards that made managers look smart in meetings.
3. He became the guy people relied on, not just in his team, but across the company.

Now, when someone needed real answers from their data, they didn’t go to his boss. They came straight to him.

Step 3: Making His Work Visible

His manager had been taking credit for his insights. That needed to change.

• He sent summaries of his work to the right people before his boss could.
• He started presenting his own findings whenever he could.
• He made sure his name was attached to every major analysis that came out of his team.

People started to see where the value was actually coming from.

Step 4: Expanding His Network

The real turning point came when he started going on sales calls. I will say this to anyone who will listen: learning to sell is a core skill for everyone in business.

Up until then, he had only seen the numbers side of the business. But by sitting in on client meetings, he learned:

• How deals were structured.
• What executives actually cared about.
• How his work fitted into the bigger picture.

Most importantly, he started meeting people who weren’t under his boss’s control.

Step 5: Having the Power to Walk Away

With his new reputation and network, Alex got on the radar of the company “movers and shakers”.

He got the chance to join a prestige project team. They didn’t just take him for his technical skills. They took him because of his independence of thought and confidence.

That’s what real leverage looks like. Within six months he was being headhunted by outside companies, including a big five consultancy.

I advised him to take their offer.

The Lesson

Most people in corporate jobs don’t lack talent. They lack the chance to show it and grow it.

They lack choice.

They stay stuck because they believe they have no choices. They still feel the chain, like the elephant, even though it is an illusion.

The moment you stop believing in it, you free yourself up to change.

1. Become a scarce resource - develop your skills.
2. Make yourself impossible to ignore - speak up.
3. Expand your network - ask for advice.
4. Learn sales skills - listening, leading and value.

No one is going to give you power. Power comes from choice and you create that yourself.

If your boss is a nightmare then here are some great strategies to deal with them.

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If you are ready to take a step up in your sales career I can help - you can get my foundations course here or drop me a line to discuss personal or team based projects to increase your revenue.