The working world has changed. No longer can today's college graduates, middle-level managers or even senior executives expect to work for the same employer their entire career.
Most experts will tell you that virtually anyone starting out in any field today can expect to change jobs ten times during their working years. "Forces are reshaping the way humans live and work together," writes Morris Shechtman in Working Without a Net: How to Survive & Thrive in Today's High-Risk Business World (Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster). "The rapid rate of social, cultural, political and economic change in the world today has created what I call the 'high-risk culture,'" says Shechtman.
With that in mind, here are the ten most important traits for the 21st century worker:
1. Be flexible, adaptable, willing to change. Forget the old adage, "You can't teach old dogs new tricks." Believe in yourself. Go boldly with the flow. "We need to change our attitudes toward change," says Shechtman. But that doesn't mean we must blindly accept any change. "We must become perpetual evaluators. Building self-esteem is also part of this construct," he says. "With high self-esteem, you possess the necessary confidence to try something new and different."
"People fail in their careers when they are set in their ways," says Martin Yate, author of Beat the Odds: Career Buoyancy Tactics for Today's Turbulent Job Market (Ballantine Books). "Such people have poorly developed buoyancy skills for the new world, they don't have a coherent game plan for their work lives, and they find it difficult to accept the reality of change."
2. Be your own manager. "Start thinking of yourself as a self-employed consultant, regardless of where you work or want to work. Take the responsibility of managing your career," says The Five O'Clock News.
Assess your own skills and determine what you need to advance in your current company or another. "Without goal orientation, you aren't going anywhere," says Yate. "It starts with knowing where you want to go with your career."
3. Keep learning. "The people who succeed in today's corporate world are constantly renewing their skills, as if they were planning for a new career," says Bill Morin, chairman of New York's Drake Beam Morin, an outplacement and change- management consulting firm. "People who acquire skills that transfer easily between functions and keep abreast of what they're worth are the ones who succeed."
Read trade and financial journals, the business sections of your local newspapers, anything written about your company or industry, and books on these subjects, and take continuing-education classes in skills you may need to acquire or renew.
And realize we are in an information technology revolution. According to Fred DiSalvo, executive vice president of The Cambridge Group, an executive recruitment firm based in Connecticut, "The best credentials you can have today if you're looking for a job is to understand the current information technology and software in whatever your area of expertise is." For most of us, that means knowing your way around a personal computer.
4. Network. "Network both inside and outside the company relentlessly," urges Morin. "Wide contacts throughout a company's management structure, with multiple mentors or a progression of superiors who know and respect you, are far more likely to pay off in a rapidly changing business environment than the old strategy of finding a rising star and sticking with him or her.
"This kind of networking also keeps you aware of what is going on elsewhere in the company and the industry, and allows you to either anticipate or capitalize on coming changes."
5. Care for other people. When you teach your colleagues, you learn at the same time. When you treat them with respect, you will be rewarded with respect. "Caring for people is not synonymous with taking care of people," notes Shechtman. "Caretaking means that (1) you do things for people that they're perfectly capable of doing for themselves; and (2) the things you do persuade people that they are unable to solve their own problems.
Caring for people, on the other hand, means that (1) you challenge people to be the best they can be; and (2) you tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear."
6. Make smart moves. Do your homework. Be prepared. Take informed risks; make informed decisions.
"Informed risk means you have considered the options, know your stuff, and stand ready to alter your direction as the situation changes," explains Shechtman, who believes smart decisions combine practical know-how with confidence in your ability and judgment - even if you can't wait for all the answers. All modern professionals must be decisive.
7. Think like your boss. Think about profits, responsibilities, challenges, people and respect. "Manage your boss as assiduously as your subordinates," suggests Morin. "This does not mean manipulating how the boss manages you. This means carefully analyzing what the company expects from your boss and doing whatever is in your power to allow him or her to succeed. It means making sure your boss knows what your priorities and goals are." And it means making your boss your ally. "Share any credit you receive; eventually it comes back to you," preaches Shechtman. "Be a reliable platoon member in thought, word and action. Make your boss look good to others by your words and deeds."
8. Blend your personal and professional lives. "Who we are personally is inextricably connected to who we are professionally; the goal is to lead blended, not balanced, lives," says Shechtman. Peak performance is sought in all areas of our lives, or each area will suffer accordingly.
Understand what your responsibilities are to yourself and your loved ones, and act on those responsibilities as deliberately as your professional ones.
9. Do the right thing. Act ethically, morally, and with a sense of what's right, what's wrong and what's valuable.
"In this culture, numerous growth opportunities exist for everyone," according to Shechtman. "People can achieve far more than they've ever achieved before, and they shouldn't sell themselves short. Ethical behavior enhances people's capacities and literally opens the world to them."
10. Dream. You probably have a dream job, and you can probably get there if you chart your own course with wisdom, flexibility and caring. You have the power to make your dream come true.
