Managing Your Cybersecurity Career Is Your First Priority

"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity," says the writer of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. He continues: "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?"

No one else can answer your career questions for you. You can get input and advice and well-wishes, and I promise your momma still loves you whatever happens, and you should do all that. And then you decide.

Deciding means that you understand that you will lose something, even if you want to advance or do something different. But that's your choice.

People will find you...pushy, ambitious, impatient. In fact people both admire and loathe others who are ambitious. You will "lose" their comfort with you. Once you accept that and you become uncomfortable with comfort -- when you own it -- you will have grown as a professional and as a person.

And only when you have done this will you have gained your leadership "why." As we have written before: "Your leadership 'why' is your passion. If you have no passion, you have no mission. If you know why, you can work through 'how' to be successful." Why needs how. 

I thought of this upon reading a recent piece on career management in the New York Times (behind paywall). The subject is a 28-year-old who has worked for 6 years and wants to advance, but seems to need permission/affirmation. The reply is very good (quoting at length):

It’s also not clear if you are actually chafing at the limitations of your current gig or are worried, looking ahead, that the pace of externally-validated growth — compensation increases, title changes — will slow down. And I imagine that what you have achieved in your six years in the work force may be central to your identity. The idea of it slowing down, even if you actually like what you are doing, is daunting.

But the key to figuring out your next move is to focus inward. Try spending one week — or even one day — breaking your work life into its component parts.

What moments of the day feel most energizing? When do you still feel nervous? Are there roles or tasks or areas of focus — or even ways of working — that seem most appealing?  You don’t want to climb just any arbitrary ladder. You want to be ascending to a view you actually want to see. So now is a time to specialize a bit more.

Maybe this describes you also. You want more money (of course) and you want more challenge, a nicer title, perks. 

But maybe what you need is validation.

It may feel vain. That's OK; you have our permission to be vain. If vanity is fueling the growth of your skillcycle, and your growth leads to greater contribution, then you have found the right level of comfort for your career.

Ask us how you can manage find your 'why,' manage your career, and gain from all your toil under the sun.