You'd think that in my role as chief human resources and citizenship officer for a major corporation that I'd not be a fan of March Madness. By one estimate, it's costing U.S. employers $1.2 billion an hour in productivity because people are distracted checking on their brackets or quietly commiserating with the person in the next cubicle who saw his chances of winning Warren's billion burst. The truth is that I believe the NCAA tourney offers some good career lessons for anyone looking to advance to the next bracket.
Whether in sports, in life or in the office, none of us wants to be defined solely by our background or current status. We all want a chance to shine -- an equal shot at standing out, of showing what we can do, given the opportunity. Sometimes this seems hard to achieve at work, but don't despair. Even if you feel as if you've been pegged as the office underdog with long odds of advancing to the Big Dance, there's no reason you can't pull off an upset. Here are some pointers on how to shatter expectations and become a bracket buster in your career.
- Get your head in the game. Not to mix my sports analogies, but the always quotable Yogi Berra said, "Ninety percent of baseball is mental, the other half is physical." The sentiment, if not the math, is right. All too often, I've seen people who never live up to their promise, because they've mentally sold themselves short. Don't count yourself out before the clock starts. It's not always necessary to know exactly what you want your next role to be, but it is important to understand your natural talents and strengths and be able to articulate them.