“I wonder if things might have worked out differently…if instead of building friendships I had just networked and never got to know anyone.”
Saw this statement from someone that recently experienced a layoff due to a corporate merger, after nearly 30 years with the organization.
They questioned whether they should have "remained loyal" to one company.
They wondered if they should have just looked out for themselves rather than their team, employer, and customers.
I could tell that they were hurting. They felt betrayed.
Here are some hard, not so shiny truths…
Yes, things probably would have worked out differently.
Yes, they probably should have looked out for themselves.
Yes, the situation sucks.
Your career is a journey. If you want to have the final say over what that journey looks like, you need to be the one with hands on the wheel. You cannot allow others to decide where you go, the route you take, or when the journey ends. You cannot be a passenger.
You can care about your team, your company, and your customers while also putting yourself first. No one else is going to. They can’t, and they shouldn’t. If you want to take care of others, you absolutely must take care of yourself first.
Part of that means building a professional network, inside AND outside of your organization. Trust me, you can build real relationships through networking (looking at you George Kamide, Peter Schawacker, Kyle Meyer, Maria-Kristina H., Mark Licke, Ally Petitt, Erik Boemanns, Michael Santarcangelo, Dr. Tammie Hollis, Krupal Swami, Orlando Gonzales, PMP, Ray Morris, Kate Hiykel, Indu Muthunarayanan, Katherine (Jerina) Palmer, Nick O., Mikhael Robbins, Nim Nadarajah, PMP, MBA, SSGB, CSM, Dave Tuckman - CISM, CISSP, CCISO, CvCISO, CDPSE, etc., Brandon Gilbert), and those relationships will make you MORE of an asset for your organization, not less.
You can have your cake and eat it too. And it isn’t something to feel guilty about.
#networking #business #professionaldevelopment
