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Speaker 1: Hello there, it's Amantha. I'm currently on a Christmas break,

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Speaker 1: so I've handpicked a bunch of my favorite episodes from

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Speaker 1: the last year to share with you. Okay, on with

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Speaker 1: today's best of episode. A great piece of advice can

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Speaker 1: be powerful. It can set you on a whole new trajectory,

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Speaker 1: land you a new job, or even prompt you to

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Speaker 1: make a big career change. So through the many interviews

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Speaker 1: I've conducted for this show, I have asked a lot

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Speaker 1: of the leaders that I have had on for the

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Speaker 1: best career advice they have ever received. And today I

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Speaker 1: want to share with you four pieces of advice that

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Speaker 1: have set them up for success. My name is doctor Amathemba.

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Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science

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Speaker 1: consultancy Inventium, and this is how I work a show

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Speaker 1: about how to help you do your best work. So,

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Speaker 1: for Wendy Stops, who is a non executive director on

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Speaker 1: the board of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the largest bank

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Speaker 1: here in OZ, the most fundamental piece of career advice

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Speaker 1: she gives to people is to do your job well.

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Speaker 1: And interestingly, Wendy says that people's first reaction to this

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Speaker 1: advice is well, that's obvious, to which Wendy replies, it's not.

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Speaker 1: I mean, whatever you're asked to do, do it and

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Speaker 1: do it well. So if you're asked to go and

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Speaker 1: photocopy two hundred pages, show them that you're the best

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Speaker 1: damn photocopier that they have ever seen. And Wendy also

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Speaker 1: recommends not whinging about the boring or tedious parts of

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Speaker 1: your job, because every job has good bits and bad

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Speaker 1: bits and you just have to do them all well. Now,

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Speaker 1: another piece of advice that Wendy had been given is

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Speaker 1: that she has been through plenty of hard times in

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Speaker 1: her career, such as being on the board of Combak

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Speaker 1: during the Royal Commission into Banking in twenty eighteen, and

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Speaker 1: Wendy believes that the bad times are actually the best

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Speaker 1: times for development because of how much we learn. So

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Speaker 1: what Wendy shared with me on the show is she

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Speaker 1: said that bad times make you a better person for

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Speaker 1: the next job. So for her, sure, the Royal Commission

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Speaker 1: was tough, but she learnt a lot as well, and

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Speaker 1: she's a big believer in learning from the bad times

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Speaker 1: and not just bailing, like actually sticking it out because

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Speaker 1: you will learn so much and you will come out

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Speaker 1: the other end much stronger and much tougher and be

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Speaker 1: in a much better position to move your career forward.

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Speaker 1: The next piece of advice I want to share it

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Speaker 1: comes from Kendra Bank, who is the Managing director for

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Speaker 1: Australia and New Zealand at SEKH And if you don't

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Speaker 1: live in Australia, you will not know what seek is

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Speaker 1: and it's essentially the largest online job board in Australia.

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Speaker 1: So Kendra has spent the last two decades rising up

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Speaker 1: the ranks in the digital sector. And advice that Kendra

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Speaker 1: received early on in her career is to be in

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Speaker 1: sectors and businesses that are growing. So she told me

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Speaker 1: that where there is growth in a sector or a business,

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Speaker 1: that creates opportunities and you can grow along with that

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Speaker 1: business or sector. And for Kendra, having been in digital

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Speaker 1: for two decades, that's been a big part of her

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Speaker 1: story in cementing her career and rising right to the top. Now,

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Speaker 1: for Allison Watkins, who when she was on the show

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Speaker 1: was the group Managing director of Coca Cola Amatol, she

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Speaker 1: told me that she started her career as what she

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Speaker 1: described as an insecure overachiever. So Alison had a level

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Speaker 1: of insecurity that she said made her somebody that just

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Speaker 1: wanted to please, and this makes you very vulnerable to

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Speaker 1: the judgments of other people. Alison eventually realized that exposing

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Speaker 1: yourself to the judgments of others puts you in an

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Speaker 1: untenable position because some people who pass judgment may not

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Speaker 1: actually have particularly good judgment. So for Alison, during her career,

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Speaker 1: she has become a lot better at accepting that not

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Speaker 1: everybody is going to agree with the choices that she

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Speaker 1: makes all the things that she does, and she's learnt

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Speaker 1: to value the judgment for those who were well placed

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Speaker 1: to be wise and considered, and for those people, their

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Speaker 1: feedback is really important to Allison, and then she tries

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Speaker 1: not to leave herself vulnerable to the judgments of less

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Speaker 1: inform people. So essentially, remember that not all feedback is

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Speaker 1: created equal. Now finally, some bad advice, and this comes

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Speaker 1: from some advice that Kendra received in the form of

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Speaker 1: parenting and career advice. Someone once said to Kendra, now

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Speaker 1: that you're having your second child, you probably want to

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Speaker 1: come back to a job that's a little less demanding.

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Speaker 1: But fortunately for Kendra, she didn't take that advice, and

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Speaker 1: she finds that there's a lot of assumptions made about

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Speaker 1: how parents want to drive their careers, which can be

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Speaker 1: very detrimental. And for her, it's not that slowing down

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Speaker 1: is the wrong choice, but it's to assume that slowing

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Speaker 1: down is the choice for everybody that is the wrong thing.

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Speaker 1: So equally, to assume that staying in a similar career

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Speaker 1: path is the right decision for everybody is also wrong.

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Speaker 1: So what we need to do is enable people to

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Speaker 1: look at what's really important for them and make choices

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Speaker 1: that work for them and avoid making assumptions about what

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Speaker 1: is best. So those are four pieces of advice and

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Speaker 1: one not so good piece of advice to take on

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Speaker 1: board to help you in your career. Hello there, that

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Speaker 1: is it for today's show. If you enjoyed today's episode,

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Speaker 1: why not share it with someone else that you think

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Speaker 1: would benefit and maybe get some useful tips to improve

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Speaker 1: the way that they work. How I Work is produced

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Speaker 1: by Inventing and with production support from Dead Set Studios.

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Speaker 1: And thank you to Martin Nimba who does the audio

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Speaker 1: mix for every show and makes everything sound so much

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Speaker 1: better than it would have otherwise. See you next time,