“My friend Martin took a career risk — and he got lucky”

Here’s a true story.

Early in his career, a former colleague of mine, Martin, had just been promoted to head of accounting and was working hard to prove his worth. One day, he had a great idea. (Don’t ask me what this idea was. My understanding of finance is extremely limited, which is why I am writing these columns instead.) The point is not the idea itself, but the fact that his boss, the chief financial officer (CFO), didn’t like it.

Now, normally in these situations, that’s it. Few organizations are adept at letting good ideas make their way up through the hierarchy levels. In this case, however, as Martin was presenting something quite different to the management board, one thing led to another — as they sometimes do in these situations — and Martin found himself presenting to the board the idea that his boss hadn’t liked.

Smart move? Not really, you’d probably have to say. Going behind your boss’s back is not generally considered to be an advisable career shortcut. But quite unknown to Martin, his boss was already under fire and on his way out. Martin — young, dynamic and daring — came around at just the right time to be seen as a man for the future. Two months later, the CFO was out and Martin was hand-picked to take over his role.

When asked to explain how he got to where he is today, Martin will point to his expertise and his way with people as the main career drivers. He will also be the first to point out, however, that he knows he took a career risk and that the reason it paid off had a lot to do with events that were quite outside his control. In other words, he got lucky.

Career shortcuts do exist. But the best way to plan for them is to act as if they didn’t. Work hard, be smart, get people to support you and know what you want. And accept that this will not always be enough. When shortcut doors open, you need something more. In the immortal words of Clint Eastwood in the film Dirty Harry (slightly adapted for family friendliness): “You got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ … Well, do ya?”