In the classic film “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying”, J. Pierpont Finch dreams of a better life than the one he has as a window cleaner, and buys a How-To guide to shortcut his way to the top of the corporate ladder. The film (and musical on which it is based) are perennial favorites, as people are drawn to the Cinderella-like tale of being plucked from obscurity in the mailroom to become the Chairman of the Board with little to no effort. Then the credits roll, the curtain falls, and we return to reality.
There are no shortcuts like this in the business world. New workers, whether college or vocational graduates, will need to go through “Apprenticeship” years. These are years that are spent shadowing senior people, learning your chosen trade, and performing routine procedures over and over until they become second nature. These days are dull. They are tedious. This time is completely necessary.
Laurence J. Peter wrote in his book “The Peter Principle: Why things Always Go Wrong” that people will tend to be promoted until they reach their position of incompetence. It follows that if you want to continue to be promoted, therefore, you must strive for competence at every level. The only way to achieve that is with the effort that comes with hard work. Skipping steps will only lead to failure.
More and more new college graduates seem to believe that there is some “cheat code” that will take them from their “mailroom” job straight to CEO, – likely because of the lottery-style nature of tech startups. There definitely are some enterprising young people who have formed their own companies right off the bat, but the vast majority of people are not Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, or Sergey Brin.
What can be disheartening is that it may seem that you’ll never advance, as established companies already have hierarchies in place. A young person wanting to make a name for themselves may feel left behind.
To those people, I offer you this simple advice on how to succeed in business:
Try.