Meredith Whipple Callahan - Indispensable: How to Succeed at Your First Job and Beyond

INDISPENSABLE

HOW TO SUCCEED AT YOUR FIRST JOB AND BEYOND

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MEREDITH WHIPPLE CALLAHAN

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright 2018 Meredith Whipple Callahan

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Inkshares, Inc., Oakland, California

www.inkshares.com

Cover design by Alban Fischer

Interior design by Kevin G. Summers

ISBN: 9781947848962

e-ISBN: 9781947848450

LCCN: 2018937932

First edition

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

PREFACE

The idea for Indispensable came when I left my job at Bain & Company and prepared to attend Stanford Graduate School of Business. Taking my first break from work as a professional adult, I had time and space to reflect on the early years of my career. While I was proud of my strong performance and stellar reviews, I also knew that my success was not the result of my hard work alone. I had learned so much through both Bains formal and informal training. I was also the lucky beneficiary of exceptional mentorship over the years. This got me thinking: what advice would I pass along to someone starting on the path I had just gone down? What had I learned that was universal and transferable?

I clawed back through the journals I kept during my early professional years and reflected upon what made me successful. I dug for insight from not only my own experiences but those of others. I conducted dozens of interviews with successful junior employees, managers of junior employees, and leaders in the talent space. I ran an online survey of over 175 employees to understand what made them and others successful in the workplace. Beyond thisand perhaps most importantlyI sat down with innumerable friends and colleagues who had been star performers in high-profile entry-level jobs, hashing out what advice they received and what they learned along the way. Finally, as the insights began to emerge, I collaborated with half a dozen talented MBAs and PhDs to check that the key points applied broadly, across industries. From my own experience and that of others, I started to pull together the essential puzzle pieces that would help employees to perform exceptionally.

The result was Indispensable. As you will see, this is not an academic tract on what makes employees successful. It is not the result of quantitative analysis or statistical proofs, nor is it a redaction of other workplace advice. Instead, Indispensable is a synthesis of real-life experiences in some of the most prestigious and challenging entry-level jobs out there.

I wish you the best in your work life, and I hope you find Indispensable useful. For those of you starting your careers, the advice here is meant to accelerate you along your path. For those of you later in your careers, I hope this prompts you to reflect on what made you successful along the waywhether it was by these strategies or othersand to emerge better equipped to mentor the next generation of employees.

For more information or to engage further in the Indispensable conversation, visit my website, www.indispensablebook.com. I appreciate your input and know that it will help make the next edition of this book even broader and richer.

Meredith Whipple Callahan

Norwalk, CT

refers to all managers as female and all other employees as male. While this stark gender divide is obviously unrealistic, the alternating approach helps avoid gender bias around roles so as to be more consciously inclusive.

INTRODUCTION

You are not the typical employee. You are not satisfied by merely eking out an existence. You refuse to execute your tasks mindlessly. You cannot get excited about hurrying through the week as you wait for the weekend.

No, you have higher ambitions and better prospects. You want to be challenged and engaged. You want to excel at your job. In addition to promotions, raises, and the corner office (or whatever indicates success in your chosen field), you want respect, autonomy, and satisfaction. In short, you want to prove that you are so talented, so effective, and so helpful that you are considered indispensable by your organization. But how to begin? Work long hours? Cross all your ts and dot all your is? Buy the boss a muffin basket?

Indispensable: How to Succeed at Your First Job and Beyond provides direction for becoming the best employee you can be. Whether youre starting a new job, meeting a new manager, or taking on a new assignment, Indispensable gives you the strategies you need to excel. Over twelve chapters, this book outlines the characteristics of indispensable employees and gives practical solutions for developing each skill.

Why You Should Care

What is meaningful about becoming indispensable? Why is it worth the effort? The benefits of indispensability include more security in your current role, greater satisfaction and fulfillment in the workplace, and better professional opportunities in the future.

The most basic benefit of becoming indispensable is exactly that: indispensability. When the economy takes a dive, pink slips materialize and long-term job security disappears. In tough times, distinguishing yourself from the pack helps preserve your paycheck. Becoming indispensable also helps prevent underemployment, a state in which you may settle for a job that demands less than you are able to contribute. As an indispensable employee, you are more likely to have and keep the job that fits your skills and ambitions.

That said, the intangible benefits of indispensability are even more rewarding; not only do indispensable employees have jobs, but they are also more likely to enjoy their jobs. Smart organizations know that employees seek engagement at the highest level; workers want a sense of purpose, the opportunity to contribute, inclusion in a community, and the support to learn and develop. Indispensable employees are more likely to realize all these aspirations. You are given more interesting and important work. You are entrusted to tackle that work autonomously, minimizing the need for close management. Ultimately, as an indispensable employee, you are more likely to be not just satisfied with your job but delighted by it.

It is shortsighted to count the benefits of indispensability to your current situation alone. Ultimately, indispensability pays off with the opportunity to learn and grow in both this role and the next. Becoming indispensable allows you to accelerate your career path and, more importantly, to accelerate your professional growth. Positive performance assessments give indispensable employees leverage to secure plum new projects, and satisfied managers are more likely to suggest indispensable employees for promotions. And, while they may not be able to imagine life without them, managers are also more likely to provide positive references for indispensable employees when they move on to another organization. Thus, though Indispensable may appear to be about becoming indispensable to one manager, the book helps you become indispensable along your entire career path, reaping the tangible and intangible benefits along the way.

How This Book Is Organized

Despite the great variety of jobs out there, the qualifications many companies tend to look for in their junior employees are remarkably similar. Most professional jobs require a similar set of essential skills focused around organization, problem solving, communication, and teamwork. Thus, whether you are designing furniture or balancing the books, a common set of strategies will help you become excellent.