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What’s the Best Professional Advice You’ve Ever Received?

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Kevin Sandlin

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What is the single best piece of professional career advice you have ever received? Here’s mine.

Long long ago in a galaxy far far away (Atlanta, 1994), I was working for a startup now known as A.D.A.M. Health. My boss was Cary Chandler. I was fresh out of MBA school, and knew exactly nothing about anything.

My sister-in-law invited Angel and I to attend a Christian conference down at the old Atlanta Omni.

I mentioned 1994, right? OK.

This conference was 6pm-10pm Monday through Friday and then 10am-6pm on Saturday. We attended with 10,000 of our closest friends. And my sister-in-law.

I did NOT want to go, and I don’t remember much, though I took good notes, but I remember this one piece of advice that Bill Gothard hammered home to those of us who were beginning our careers:

Your only job is to make your boss successful.

That was it. Sounds…not so profound, right? Well, when you consider this 26 y/o idiot MBA whose frontal cortex had only recently come online, it was profound.

See, I thought I was supposed to work to make ME successful.

No. Make your boss successful. Not you, but your boss. Make your boss successful. That’s your job.

Not happy. Not confident. Not flattered. Not proud. Not arrogant.

Successful.

From that point forward, that’s the only thing that drove me. I did everything I could to make Cary successful, and when he left for greener pastures, I worked to make my new boss successful. And when I left for a better opportunity, I had a new boss to make successful.

Why? Because, If your boss is successful…

1. Your boss will get promoted, making opportunity for you.
2. Your boss will trust you with more responsibility and opportunity
3. Your boss will trust you to tell them the truth, even when it’s bad news
4. The company will be successful
5. You will be successful, but you won’t be focused on self

Now, “make your boss successful” does not mean blowing sunshine up their skirt or delivering only the good news. I had to have several very hard conversations with my bosses along the way. Easy? No. Necessary for their success? YES.

“Make your boss successful” doesn’t improve your skills or abilities.

It changes your attitude. Focusing on someone else’s success forces you to focus not on yourself but on them; helping them, encouraging them, telling them the truth, and accepting truths they lay on you.

What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received?

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