Hop onto a rocket ship firm if you want a life of meaning in business

 

Ambitious people take opportunities to be part of something truly big and generally have the ride of their lives — messy, chaotic, not always the best-paid, but they grow. FILE 

“Eric responded with perhaps the best piece of career advice that I have ever heard. He covered my spread sheet with his hand and told me not to be an idiot (also a great piece of advice). 

Then he explained that only one criterion mattered when picking a job—fast growth. When companies grow quickly, there are more things to do than there are people to do them.

When companies grow more slowly or stop growing, there is less to do and too many people to not be doing them. Politics and stagnation set in, and everyone falters.

He told me, “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, you don’t ask what seat. You just get on.”

SHERYL SANDBERG ‘Lean In’ (2013)

Lean In is the book every woman in corporate employment is discussing right now. It is a powerful polemic from Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, urging women to come to the table and participate in leadership to their fullest.

However, one of the best paragraphs in the book has little to do with women or men: it’s a universal lesson in personal advancement. I have excerpted it above.

The “I” in the paragraph shown is Ms Sandberg; the “Eric” offering the advice is Eric Schmidt, then CEO of the relatively unknown Google.

Ms Sandberg was considering many job offers at the time and had set up a spread sheet, like good MBA-types do, to analyse the various opportunities. She listed the companies in the rows and her various selection criteria in the columns.

The young Google was one of those opportunities. The problem was — it was small and amorphous, with few structures or even business units. The other opportunities were in established corporations, with pre-set responsibilities, security and probably much better pay.

Eric Schmidt responded with the advice in the paragraph shown. Ms Sandberg took the job that instant. I would have, too.

In business life, there are few opportunities to be part of something truly big, good and fast. When those opportunities come, people of true ambition take them, no questions asked. They don’t haggle or quibble; they get on board.

After that, they generally have the ride of their lives — messy, chaotic, not always the best-paid, but they grow.

Early in my own career, I left a large, renowned, established consulting firm in London to join a small, unknown, new one. Its offices were less prestigious and its pay and perks were good enough rather than great. I took the job without much hesitation.

Why? Because the partners told me that in this firm I would take charge of assignments, lead teams and use my own judgement. And I saw that this tiny boutique firm was doing strategy work for huge clients.