Making the case for continuing your education as you continue up the corporate ladder.
When you reach a certain level in your executive career, you start to ... well, coast a bit sometimes. Be honest, now. Have you decided - actively or not - that you already know enough, and don't need to continue improving your skill set?
Call it a feeling of invincibility. It has its advantages in the business world, but it can have its drawbacks, too. Particularly when you start thinking about changing careers, and especially when you start thinking about moving into a different industry. And particularly when it comes to making an unexpected job transition, as is happening more frequently these days.
Look at the people already doing the work you want to do. The ones who aren't there yet, but want to be. Not all of them are pursuing continuing education to make themselves better candidates for the management positions they're after. But a lot of them are. And that's an extra point or two they'll have on you when you start sending out your resume to recruiters and headhunters and the like.
Don't sit on your laurels. It's one of the most dangerous things you can do these days.
Need a little present-moment way to look at it? Think of the people working around you. How much could they benefit from your increased knowledge? How much could your company improve? And then (to make it all about you again), how much better would your resume look when you've helped your team and your company make great strides?
Education isn't just a lark. If you have a company that helps pay for continuing education (most do), you know they don't think it's a lark. They know it'll only help their bottom line by keeping their people sharp. It'll help your bottom line, too.
And as we're all learning in the world of work (or, as we may need to learn over and over again), if you're not moving forward, keeping up, getting ahead - or whatever phrase you choose to use - you're not just standing still as a result.
Fact is, you're falling behind, or the rest of the world is moving ahead of you. Either way you look at it, the glass is half-empty for you, and getting emptier.
So enough mixing of metaphors. If you haven't gone through that course catalog yet, now's as good a time as any to start. Go for it!
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