Silent Ambition

Happy Friday,

The engineering landscape is queuing up for rapid transformation, already creating a cornucopia of opportunity. It's a good time to be ambitious.

INDIVIDUAL ACTION: Your ambitions need your voice. When you communicate your ambitions:

·       You get first consideration for advancement and career-defining projects

·       Your boss becomes an ally in your growth, not just a task manager

·       Resources, training, and mentorship align with your planned trajectory

·       You create shared accountability for your advancement

·       You allow the organization to evolve to accommodate your ambitions.

The most dangerous career move you can make is thinking your work will speak for itself. It won't. Silent ambitions hold you back.

Now is the time. Schedule a meeting with your boss. Come prepared with clear objectives: "I’d like to be a project manager within 18 months," or "I aim to become a principal engineer by 2026."

Ambition kept silent is opportunity missed. Make 2025 the year you clearly define and communicate the future you aspire to.

LEADERSHIP ACTION: Leaders, here’s why you need to hear the career ambitions of every member of your team:

Sharing ambitions boosts retention, engagement, and growth.

Launch 2025 by scheduling one-on-one meetings with every member of your team. Give them your questions in advance: What kind of work do you love doing most? What would you like to learn more about or do more of?  What are your ambitions in the near term (<5 years) and the long term?

Listen intently and take detailed notes. In the weeks that follow, demonstrate your sincerity by connecting each person to an actionable opportunity, like an introduction to a leader/mentor or contemporary in their area of interest, a role on a relevant project, or recommend specialized certifications (PE, SE, LEED AP), technical committees, industry working groups. Leaders exist for this very purpose - to channel resources and support to worthy, ambitious people. Because the better your people, the better your organization.

Keep those notes handy and your memory refreshed.

Just having this discussion fuels a virtuous cycle: Your organization benefits from a more motivated, loyal workforce, and your team benefits from an organization that's more supportive of its ambitions. Everyone wins.

Every organization claims its people are its greatest asset, and the reality is they truly are. I can think of no better way to put meaning behind the words.

Full steam ahead!

Dave

Feedback and blowback are always welcome: dave@goodnewsfriday.com

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