Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep220: Top 10 lessons to survive and grow your career in the 9-5 corporate world.

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

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Welcome to the Corporate Survivor Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your career confidence, build your skills and value, increase your salary, and the many lessons we learn in the corporate world. For more career support, click on over to www.mayping.com. This is Mayping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy enjoy like and subscribe today i'm going to share with you the top 10 lessons i learned from more than 10 years of working in the corporate world so welcome or welcome back to the corporate survive podcast with me may ping corporate leader turned career coach as well as founder of the corporate survivor

the ultimate career course for 95 professionals just like you i've spent more than 10 years excelling in the corporate world, climbing the career ladder, starting as a fresh graduate to junior executive, senior executive, manager, director, and working directly with C-suite leadership and management.

So I think there are some corporate world rules and corporate world understanding and perspectives and mindset that you really need to have if you want to have a successful career. And this is what I aim to share with you as well. And as a special bonus,

I've been a career coach and corporate mentor to 9-5 professionals for over five years in my career coaching journey. And I'll also share some of those themes as well as observations that I have also made for many students in my program that I think you can take along as well. So in today's episode, you're going to get both. You're going to get my perspective, my career journey, but as well as some learnings from other 9 to 5 professionals just like you that you can definitely take on board as well. So if you're ready, let's dive in. The first lesson I learned in the corporate world is that you don't have to be the smartest person to get ahead. You don't have to be the smartest

person to become the top performer. You also don't have to be the smartest person to get the next best opportunity. Now, when I first started as a fresh graduate, I thought that, okay, you know, I'm starting at this new company. It's going to be a good opportunity. I'm going to try to prove myself. I'm going to like, say, I know the answers to everything. And even if I don't know the answers, I felt like I was under pressure to give an answer. I mean, I can't tell you where the pressure came from. Probably it's really in my head, but the thing is that coming from an education background of like, okay, you know, I did well in university. I did well in school. And therefore, when I start a new job, I'm supposed to do great, I'm supposed to do really, really good. And therefore, I can't show that, oh, I don't know anything. So I think at the beginning of my career,

particularly in the first three to six months, I felt really stressed out, I felt like I have to be the smart person at work, I feel like I cannot show that I don't know anything. And I think that's not really a good mindset to have. Because really thinking back, I think the moment that I accepted that, okay, you know, I don't need to know everything because the reality is that I really don't know anything. I'm just starting my new job and, you know, this is really my first career as well. So I really don't know. But what is actually really important that I learned is that the person that gets ahead is actually the person who is very open to learning. The person who doesn't judge themselves and the person who doesn't expect to know everything, but having the kind of mindset

and attitude of like, okay, I don't know it, but I'm going to find out. I'm going to find the answers. I'm going to reach out to the right person who can share the perspective with me, who can give me

additional information. And I think that is the mindset that is even more important than trying to act like the smartest person, but not being the curious person, not being the person who is resourceful,

the person who is actually keen to go and look for the answers. Because at the end of the day, to succeed in the corporate world, attitude is so important. And I think curiosity and applying critical thinking and really being able to plan ahead, those are all the qualities that I think you don't have to be like the smartest person on paper to be able to learn all that, right? Work ethic, thinking ahead, right? Planning ahead and having the kind of mindset and attitude of wanting to go and look for the answers. I think that ultimately taught me that,

okay, I don't have to be the smartest person, but I can still get work done. Like I can get work done really well because I'm not expecting to know all the answers, but I can go and look for the answers. I can work with different people,

talk to different people to really get a more conclusive piece of work done. And actually that was something that allowed me to eventually become the top performer as well. And just a final point on this thing is that if you are still feeling that,

okay, I feel like I need to be the smartest person. I feel like this is still on my set block. I can't get over with. Now, I will tell you that after more than 10 years in the corporate world, like when I eventually quit my job and obviously, you know, I went back to be a caregiver to my mom

and she has still passed on. As I I reflected I think back about all those people whom I felt were the smart people at my school were the smart people at my university or maybe when we first started those were like the smart people in the batch and the smart people like in the group I felt that eventually I think my career did a lot better than a lot of the other peers or like competitors per se because I never really went in with a mindset of like I don't know anything and you know I need to prove myself and stuff like that yes in the first few months yes but the moment I get past that I realized that okay this is a journey of figuring out because the corporate world is pretty complicated

so if you don't know the rules and you're starting new you can't expect to fly and the moment I had that kind of mindset I felt that I didn't beat myself up. I didn't have any more negative mindset. I didn't have like those kind of negative emotions of thinking that, you know, I must be able to fly. And I think once those kind of like thoughts get out of my mind, I was actually able to really focus on what I needed to do, which is, you know, how do I structure my work? How do I gain job clarity? How do I focus on updating my bosses? Like all those little details were something that I could focus on because I let go of that kind of like perception that, you know, I need to be the best or I need to appear to be the best, which really, really didn't help me in the long run.

So wrapping up the first point, which is you don't have to be the smartest person, but you must be the most proactive person. You must be the kind of person that, okay, I don't know the answer. That's fine. I'm going to figure it out. And that is the person who will actually have a very, very good career. And it's a career that you feel calm because everything is in your control. Yes, I don't know the thing, but I'm going to find out, right? And be this kind of person because I promise you, you will feel like your work days feel so much more calm, so much more confident, and you'll feel so much more in control. And I think this is really the number one, number one, number one lesson that I can share with you from my many years of working in the corporate world. Okay, moving on to the second

lesson I learned in the corporate world, and that is hard work is not enough. Hard work alone is not enough. Now, again, you know, going back to the education system, I think that, you know, when you are a young graduate or you are a young professional, you know, you have been working for less than three or five years, there is a natural tendency of thinking that like, okay, you know, have been working for less than three or five years there is a natural tendency of thinking that like okay you know i'm just gonna work hard and everything's gonna work out i'm gonna be able to finish my work you know my bosses will be able to see my hard work and stuff like that but what i found is that that kind of like university mindset actually doesn't work in the working world the reason is because if you don't know something right putting additional hours is not gonna make the answer magically come out so what i

have found is that sometimes when you think that hard work is the answer then you will tend to want to invest more time but maybe what you need to think about is skill set and strategy so let me explain so when i talk about skill set is that okay let's say you take 10 hours to try to do this thing but is it really because you don't know a specific skill? So therefore, you're actually taking much longer to complete the work. I'll give you an example. Let's say, let's talk about Microsoft Excel. So if you don't know how to use all this like, you know, magic formula and like all these like advanced formulas in Excel or your Excel skill is very weak, let's just use that example, right? Maybe for you to come up with that

particular report, it takes you 10 hours because you're doing it manually. But what if your gap is a skills gap, which is if you had taken a little bit of time, maybe over your weekends to learn, take like, you know, one or two Excel classes or like, you know, search for the answer a little bit, practice a little bit and upskill, maybe that piece of manual work that took you 10 hours,

you could complete it in two hours. So this is just a very, very high level, simple example of like how it's not just the hours. It's not that, oh, if I work more hours, you could complete it in two hours. So this is just a very, very high level, simple example of like how it's not just the hours. It's not that, oh, if I work more hours, meaning I'm working hard and the answer is going to come, but I want you to really evaluate, is this a skills gap? Now I'm going to give you another example. So when I was working in the corporate world, I was working in the compliance space for some time. So in my role as a compliance advisory, like regulatory advisory, regulatory auditor, one of the work that i needed to do is to review the client's documents this was when i was working in

review the client's banks processes documents and so forth but in order for me to be able to find out the potential gaps i need to have a very good understanding of the regulations of the guidelines right all the government stuff so this was actually something that allowed me to work very fast because as compared to my other peers, and I think, you know, compliance is not those things that, you know, many people are really interested in, but I could see that for a lot of my peers, what happened is that they would spend many, many, many hours, you know, going through the client's documents and trying to find like a gap or like a, you know, regulatory non-compliance or whatever, but they couldn't find a single thing, even though they worked way longer hours than me. And they were like, okay, maybe, you know, I spent so much time on this, but I still can't find anything. You know, I don't

think there's any issue here. But what I realized is that like, they don't have a very good understanding of like the technical knowledge, meaning like, you know, like I said, in my case, it was like the regulatory, the laws, right, the regulations, the guidelines. So they didn't really have a good understanding of that. So therefore, even if they spent many, many hours, you know, they didn't manage to get the results. Versus for me, it was some, I would say that it was a skill that I perfected because I was consistently able to look for really good gaps. And eventually, you know, that allowed me to become top performer at Ernst & Young because I was really one of the people in the department that every manager wanted to work with because they knew that if I work with Mei Ping on this,

she will be able to find so many gaps in the client's processes and so forth, especially on the regulatory side, which is really what my job was, to be able to see the results beyond just the hours. So I'm not saying that the hours are not important,

but what I'm saying is that you really need to combine it with skill set as well as strategy. So tackling on the strategy portion. So even if you have the hard work, right, you're working smarter, you're working faster, but ultimately, right, like what is the strategy? Because if you're like working long hours, right, then what you want to make sure is that your bosses are aware of your hard work as well. And I've covered this in another lesson, but my point is that make sure that you have a strategy. You need to know where you're working towards. Like ultimately, what does my manager care about?

What's the core deliverable of the work? And then this will tie in with like KPIs and performance goals and stuff like that. So you really want to make sure the hard work that you're putting in is resulting into something, right? So don't just work hard for the sake of working hard, right? If there's something that you need to upskill,

whether it's the understanding of the corporate world, maybe it's a technical skill, maybe it's a soft skill, please upskill that because you realize that you can save so much time and deliver the exact same results and having that peace of mind, which I think is really, really important. Now, the next part is that, yes, even if you work hard, you work smart, you can save a lot of time, great, but are you ultimately achieving the goal? Does it help your career to move forward? Because I want you

to really only focus on having direction. Yes, I'm putting in the hard work, I'm putting in the hours, I'm upskilling myself, but for what, right? It's ultimately to increase your value so that you can find the next opportunity, you can grow your career, grow your income, your next career level, more salary and so forth. So make sure that you have that angle in mind as well. So if you're going to work hard, then make sure that you actively apply career strategy to get visible so you can get recognized for your hard work so i think this is really important because if you cannot get recognized for your hard work there's no there won't be any job promotion you know increment new opportunity new project none of this actually will happen so hard work itself is not enough you need to

really combine it with the right corporate skill set as well as corporate strategy but more importantly you need to know what you're trying to get out of it. If you want recognition, then make sure that everything that you're doing, right, the hard work, the skill set, the strategy is leading towards allowing you to get recognized with promotions, opportunities,

increments and so forth. Make sure that that is extremely clear. Otherwise, hard work is just going to be hard work and then you're going to go back every single day so late, no time with your family and feeling so frustrated

and I don't want that for you. Moving on, the third lesson I learned in the corporate so frustrated. And I don't want that for you. Moving on, the third lesson I learned in the corporate world is that the bosses don't always just promote the person who is most competent, but they would promote

the person who is competent and demonstrate the ability to work with different stakeholders across all career levels. So in simpler words, it means that competency need to be backed up by collaborative effort,

teamwork, to be able to show that you can work with different stakeholders, collaborative effort, teamwork, to be able to show that you can work with different stakeholders, different departments, right, across different levels, be able to talk to anyone and everyone. So this is a lesson that it took me a little while to learn because like I said, you know, when I first started my career, I still had the kind of mindset of like, oh, you know, you're just going to work hard. And then as long as I upskill, I put in the hours, it should be okay. But this mindset was something that gradually came to me because I noticed that around me, how come, right, the people who are working very late,

maybe these are people who are working till like midnight every single day, but those are not always the people who get promoted. Those are not always the people on their boss's good books. Those are not always the people who the bosses think that are doing a really good job. So this kind of like was a realization to me. Like I said, it didn't come immediately, but it's something that I gradually noticed. Because what I realized is that, okay, you know what? Technically, the bosses, right, the company wants to hire competent people. So if you're able to get the job, right, I would say that competency is kind of like the baseline, right?

So that should not always be the basis for promotion. At least, you know, that's like the management's point of view. That's like, you know, the leadership's point of view. But I think the ability to work with different people really matters as well. Because can you imagine like, if you are a manager and you're a director and you hire a person or you have a team member who is very, very, very good at their job, but they can't talk to anyone or maybe, you know, they have a poor relationship with everyone, meaning like, you know, everyone in the office

doesn't want to work with this person. What is the likeness of you thinking that like this person, right, with, you know, as a perceived negative attitude or like a perceived, you know, people issue, like have people skills issue

is going to get promoted, right? It's probably not going to be the case because at the end of the day, when you get promoted and when you get more opportunities the bosses will put you in front of other people and if nobody wants to work with you and you also hate working with everyone that i think that's going to be a significant issue right and if you can't do any of that then obviously you know it points to the fact that you are very poor in collaboration right poor in relationship building poor in rapport building and none of that is going to be something that will allow you to move forward. In fact, it will make you

maybe feel very isolated and very frustrated. And that's not a really, really good feeling to be. So we really need to understand the boss's point of view, the leadership and management point of view. Ultimately, they want people who can work well with one another. Competency is the baseline, but your ability to work well with different people, to communicate with different people, to build rapport, right, to be able to network at the office, that is really, really important as well. Because as I said, you know, we don't want to work with someone who is very miserable. We don't want to work with someone who's very angry all the time. We don't want to work with someone who is very unpleasant. Like, can you imagine your work days in the office if you have that kind of colleague, right? It's not fun. So having that kind of mindset

and that kind of realization and that kind of thought on your mind consistently remind you that like, yes, I need to be competent. Yes, right? I need the master skills and strategy.

We already talked about this. But what I also need to show is that I am proactively collaborating with different people. I'm proactively communicating with different people and make sure that I get visible and build

the right network so that it definitely helps me that more people are aware of the good work that I'm doing and that will help my promotion as well. So now that's a little bit of career strategy that I've just shared with you, but I want you to see as a full circle, right? It's competency and collaboration. I would say these are like the two most important thing and then coupled by communication because without communication, you will not be able to achieve both. So I want you to really take a moment and think about how have you been approaching your career in the corporate world? How have you been approaching your work performance? Are you just solely focused on competence or are you also focused on collaboration and demonstrating that you are a good communicator who can work with

different people? I really want you to take a moment and think about this because this has been a really, really important lesson that allowed me and reminded me that maybe you cannot keep quiet, even though you're an introvert, you cannot keep quiet at the workplace because ultimately,

nobody knows what's going on and eventually, you will not get any opportunity. So this was really one of the, I would say the trigger points or one of the maybe encouragement points that reminded me to step out of my comfort zone, even though I'm introvert, yes, but it doesn't mean that you don't need to talk to anyone at

work. So this really, really helped me to get over my boundary and get over my comfort zone. I'm saying that like, okay, you know what, for my career, if I want to grow and get out of my comfort zone, I really, really need to learn how to collaborate with different people and communicate with different people. And I hope that this is a good lesson for you as well. All right, onto the next lesson in the corporate world i learned is that if you want to be successful at your job you really need to understand the priorities of every single person that you are working with now let me explain what i mean now a lot of times when we are working we are very very focused on our own performance goals

our own kpis and i think that's extremely normal and particularly in the early part of my career my first second and third job i was just so focused on like, okay, I need all this information. This, this, this, this, this person, this, this, this department is supposed to help me. But over time, right, as I grew in my career, as I gradually become a manager and director, I realized that it is actually so important to understand the other people's priorities because it's not the pushing energy of like, oh, I need to push you to give me what I want. But hey, how can I discuss with you? How can I align with you to say, hey, you know, if you help me, right, it's going to be easier for the both of us, right? I'll be able to get my work done and you will be able to

avoid potential issues as well. So it's coming from the mindset of like, yes, if I don't understand their priorities, then I'm going to come across as inconsiderate. I'm going to come across very urgent and very pushy all the time. So therefore, when I go to people to ask for information, then people will start thinking, oh, every time Mei Ping comes, she's going to push us for something. She's going to ask for something that are like very urgent and we don't even know what's this for. And therefore we don't want to collaborate with you. So that is the kind of like feeling and perception that you will give other people if you don't take a moment to actually understand what are their priorities. So this one one i actually shared in a lot more detail in my career course so i have a career program it's called the corporate survivor for 95 professionals where

i teach you the three-step framework particularly in step one module one get clear on the corporate world i go through very specifically how the corporate jigsaw puzzle functions so it's kind of a very long story over there i don't think we have time to talk about every single element of understanding the jigsaw puzzle and the priorities across different departments and different career levels. But the point I want to make here is that you really, really need to understand what other people care about because the pushing energy of like, hey, just do it for me, do it for me, do it for me. Yes, maybe you are able to get the thing done the first time, but the next time you come, everyone's going to be like, no, thank you. Please go away. I don't have time. So it's going to be like no thank you please go away i don't have time

so it's going to be a big deterrent for you in the end and it will obviously affect your ability to collaborate and relationship with different people you notice that in the corporate world everything is connected so if you do one thing off then the whole thing right it's like a snowball it will kind of like go downhill it will one thing will just affect the next thing and the next and the next thing so the point i'm trying to make here is that really really make sure that you take a moment not just to focus on your own work, but if you need something from other people, right? Your department is working with different people. You're working with like different stakeholders at your company, at your job. Really take a moment

to understand what are their priorities and how can I make sure that I align my priorities with their priorities so that we can work together better and we can achieve our goals together. And this is really, to me, a lesson that I've definitely learned. And particularly when I was a manager and director running multi-million dollar projects, particularly the time I was at Standard Chartered, I was overseeing 60 work streams. And the thing is that nobody wants to do extra work, right? Yes, even though, you know, the bank has promised the regulators that, you know, we're going to like do all this remediation work and we're going to enhance this and that. But at the ground level, right, the respective departments of the people who are doing the work,

like they don't know all these things and they don't care either. So what they see is that maybe it's coming to me, asking me to do more work. So I really, really had to learn how to strategize my communication and my persuasion

and my influencing skills to sell them to say that, okay, this is the goal, right? We're trying to achieve this goal and like, what do you have? And how can we help each other? And then, you know, working around a timeline

that will work both for me and for them as well. So this is, I'll say, a combination, it's like an art, but at the same time, it's like a science, it's like the art of like persuasion. But I'll say that, you know,

in simpler words, it's just basically understanding that other people have priorities too. So if you really, really want to get support, you need to demonstrate understanding that, okay, I know that you are busy,

but we need to achieve this together. So how can we work together to achieve this outcome with the least amount of time possible, the least amount of effort in your part, but we can still achieve the objective together. So come across as someone that shows empathy, shows that you understand, and don't be that pushy person because nobody wants to work with a pushy person. So I hope this makes sense. These are some of the things like, as I say, in the corporate world, right? It's like a different part of the jigsaw puzzle. So you really need to understand the full picture

and then you'll really be able to see how some of these lessons I'm telling you, they all are connected with each other. All right, moving on to the next lesson I learned in the corporate world is that do not expect your boss to know 100% of all the hard work and the good work and the contributions that you have done

throughout the year. Now, I think one of the things that I notice in a lot of my clients or my community, particularly, you know, we are in the Asian environment, Asian working environment, is that we tend to keep quiet. We work hard, we keep quiet,

then we expect our boss to know of all the work that we've done. Or we very reluctantly participate in the mid-year and year-end performance review and in most times right if you can avoid it you probably want to avoid it which is really really not a good idea so what i have learned is that if you are someone who is actually working hard you really really need to make sure that your bosses and all the other key stakeholders know that you are actively contributing because i can tell you that as an ex-hiring manager and an

ex-head of department who is actually managing departmental budgets and like, you know, looking at that promotion list and so far, a lot of times, the decision to promote someone, the decision to give salary increment is actually decided way in advance, which is really about perception, right? So if you're waiting until that final year-end performance review to then, you know, share all the good work that you've done, half the time, right, the decision on who to promote or whether you deserve to be promoted or not, that decision is already made because the budget needs to close. Now, I'm just giving you some behind the scenes here because not many people have actually been in the position to manage departmental headcount and budgets. So,

I'm just telling you that the reality is that a lot of these decisions have already been decided because your work performance, the perception of the work that you have done is over a period of 12 months. And that's why your performance year is not like the last conversation is actually over a period of 12 months. So over the period of 12 months, you need to actively make your boss aware, whether it's through one-on-one catch-up calls, during team meetings, you know, sending email updates and so forth. You need to make sure that your boss is actively aware of the hard work that you're putting in. Like I said, it doesn't matter whether the medium is a face-to-face, is a Zoom conversation, is an email and so forth, but your boss needs to

know that Mayping has been putting in the effort. So I can tell you that at the beginning part of my career, I was just doing, doing, doing, doing, doing work. And then when I had a conversation with my boss or my manager, then I start getting feedback like, Mayping, you didn't do this, you didn't do that, you didn't do that. But the thing that I was thinking in my mind, I'm like, I did it, then I was a bit unhappy but really looking back after that right i know after i had some time to reflect i realized that okay i can't blame my managers for not knowing i've been doing this thing because i didn't tell them i've been doing this yes but i didn't tell them so sometimes we think that oh it's so basic right if i just do it

like what's the point of like telling my bosses but it is so important because your bosses are busy too so can you imagine your boss is so busy you're probably busy as well and it's really really easy to overlook things so make it a point because i think for you personally in my opinion it's really important as well because sometimes you know i've also worked with clients and whether they are clients my program or you know people i talk to in my social media community sometimes they feel that oh maybe i've been working for like 10 15 or even 10 years i feel so disappointed i, maybe I've been working for like 10, 15 or even 10 years. I feel so disappointed. I've been working so hard, but I didn't get promoted. I didn't, you know, my bosses didn't recognize me. I didn't get the opportunity. But the thing is that the question that's, I think, worthwhile

thinking is that like, okay, but is your boss aware that you're doing all these things? Is your boss aware that you're contributing this much? And then when I ask them this way, then they start saying that like, oh yeah, actually, I don't think my boss is aware you know i don't think i've been actively updating my managers i don't think my my bosses my big bosses are aware i'm like okay then that's a realization that okay you need to make sure that you have a system you have a process on making sure these people are aware of your hard work and i can't go into detail on that but if you're my client in my career program the The Corporate Survivor, you can go through the lessons,

particularly in step three, get visible with personal branding, where I talk about networking on the job, then make sure that you go through the lessons there because I actually teach you specifically how to make sure that the right people are aware of your hard work. And that's really the best way

for you to get promoted salary increments as well as more opportunities as well. So wrapping up this particular point is that if you are invisible at your job, then you're not going to get anything, okay? The invisible person who's working hard at the corner, sitting at your desk without talking to a single person, that is not the person who's going to get promoted.

That is also not going to be the person who will get recognized for anything. And again, you know, this is also one of the other lessons that, as I said, push me to step out of my comfort zone as an introvert, you know, as someone who is like, okay, I'm just afraid. I'm just going to keep quiet. I realized that it doesn't work anymore. It doesn't work anymore.

And just to share one final example with you, when I remember, right, when I was working at Science Chartered, there was that one year in 2016, we really had to do a regulatory presentation. We needed to fly to all the booking centers. And the first location that we went to was in New York. And I was really one of the main people who were working on all the slides and the presentation on the new policy

and procedures and so forth. I've done all of that work together with like one or two stakeholders. But when it came to the presentation, my boss asked me, Mipin, do you want to present? And I said, I don't want to present. Then he said, no, I think you should present because it's such a waste that you did

all this work, but if you don't present it, then someone else will take credit for your work because you will need to, you need to pass all the hard work that you have done to someone else and that someone else is going to present. And he's, he was very encouraging. And he told me that maybe I think you should really, really make the effort to present. It doesn't doesn't matter that you know whether it's good or bad and anyway you know the thing anyway so it's like you know if you have a fear let's talk about it so i really really appreciate that appreciated the conversation that i had with my boss because if it wasn't for that conversation then i think i would have done what default mapping would do which is like okay you know i'm not going to present let's just pass this to someone else and you know someone else can have the mic someone

else can like have the um have the glory of doing all that. But I think that that was a big mindset shift for me because I realized at that moment of like, oh, I've worked so hard for the past six months, right? Every single thing is like literally built from scratch because it was a complete new team and stuff like that. We were basically, we've refixed all the policy procedures and guidelines with the new regulation. So I'm like, I did everything. And it wouldn't make sense. Or rather, maybe at that time, I logicalized.

I'm like, it doesn't make sense at all that I just pass this on to someone else to take credit. And not because the person wanted to take credit. It's because I was not brave enough to step out of the comfort zone to try and say that, you know, I'm just going to give myself a chance. And maybe that's an area of like something that's fearful for me, but I'm going to do it anyway. And that was really something that pushed me to do that.

And since that first training in New York in January, 2016, since then I've ran so many other trainings in like London, Dubai, Hong Kong, and all the way back in Singapore, Southeast Asia, then eventually wrapping up in London and Europe as well. So I would say that 90 days was like that giant leap of courage for me to showcase the hard work that I've done, to really get visible. And not just for my bosses to know,

but the bosses, bosses, bosses to know, for every single person who is working in that particular portfolio and that particular department across, you know, it's global, right? Because, you know, Standard Chartered is a global business. So it was really, I would say, that that moment, people started realizing,

oh, this is Mei Ping. This is actually the Mei Ping who has been giving us advice on the phone. This is Mei Ping who has been running the conference calls. This is Mei Ping. This is the person that I'm going to reach out to in the future.

Then I would say that my reputation and my name really, really, it really, really blew up to the next level because now everybody working in the portfolio, we delivered the training to about 2,000 people. 2,000 people from the bottom to the top, they're like, this is me, Ping. So that gave me a huge realization of like,

I was the person who really kept myself back. I was the person who helped myself back because I was afraid. Not because other people were not giving me the opportunity. My bosses really, they all wanted to give me the opportunity, but I was the person who's saying no. So it wasn't other people. It wasn't whatever. It was me saying no to myself. And I thought, oh, what a waste, what a waste, what a waste. And from then, that moment, I decided that no, if I'm going to work hard, if I'm contributing, then I need to make sure that I step up to get the recognition for my actual contribution. And I think that huge mindset reset at the beginning of my managerial journey really

helped me to propel to the next level, to be able to confidently talk to C-suite, confidently talk to really, really the big business leaders who actually have access to the essential CEO. Like we were talking about really, really top big business leaders who actually have access to the essential CEO. Like we were talking about really, really top level of that. And I felt that that fear, once it was removed, I never, never, ever felt that again

because I logicalized that if I'm doing everything, if I'm working hard, I'm working smart, I'm strategizing, then why am I stopping myself to get visible, to get recognized for my hard work?

Doesn't make sense. So I hope that if you have any kind of fear like that, right? Think about what you're actually giving up because you are saying no to yourself. And I want you to start saying yes to yourself from today. On to the next important lesson I learned in the corporate world is that age is not a problem, right? You can be successful regardless of your age, but what is potentially stopping you and holding you back is that perception of being very young and immature. Now, let me explain the big difference here. Now, a lot of people tell me that, oh, maybe, you know, I'm too young, I'm too

young for the next position, right? I feel I'm not given the opportunity because my bosses think that I'm too young. Okay, age is one thing, right? But the perception of your age, I think, is the other thing because I want you to actually visualize and I want you to actually think about the people at your office right now. If I don't tell you their age and their position, if you just look around at how people behave, how people talk and how people dress, can you tell who is the junior person and who is the senior person? Really, really take a moment to think about this. And I can tell you that it's actually very, very easy to identify the junior people from the senior people at the workplace because the junior people, the young people at the workplace. Because the junior people,

the young people, the people who are, you know, who are blaming, saying that, you know, maybe I'm not getting the opportunities because I'm too young.

They are the people who usually demonstrate, I would say, I would say immaturity for lack of better word. But I think it's more around like, right, behaving in a very young way. Like, I'll give you an example.

I was working with a client the other day and she said that like oh my boss mentioned to me that you know i need to be more mature i need to like project myself better and she said maybe i don't really know what this means so like can you share a little bit with me so by even just talking to her in my in the one-on-one call and right now in my career program like if you sign up you get a bonus one-on-one call with me just looking at the way that she talked to me like in the first 10 minutes of conversation i told her that you appear very happy-go-lucky and sometimes you don't sound like you're very serious, even though you're talking about a problem,

but you're laughing and you're smiling. So I said that, you know, that is sometimes the perception as well. And that could be perceived as someone who is very young and very immature, not taking the issue seriously or maybe not understanding the issue. So even though you understand it,

but maybe the way that you're coming across doesn't really project that. And I think this is something that's worth thinking about. If you are currently a junior executive and you have been, let's say senior executive, and you're struggling to get promoted to a manager, I want you to ask yourself, do you project yourself as a manager? Are you serious? Are you like always joking around, making a lot of noise at the office? Then, okay, people are probably going to think that you're someone very junior. Or if you're a manager

and you're struggling to get promoted to a director, you really want to ask yourself whether are you still talking about the small, small stuff? Because at the end of the day, the director level, right, there are priorities across different career level. And at the director level, you need to talk about strategy.

You need to talk about the big impact. But if you're only talking about all the process, oh, this process is broken, that process, oh, maybe I don't complain with you all the time. I'm like, you're totally not ready to be a director because you're not demonstrating to me that you have the kind of like mentality, the thought process and the perspective and the strategic mind to be a director. So I'll just give you an example over here because all these things are something that I learned the tough way as well. When I was in Standard Chartered and I got promoted to manager within three months of joining the team.

And within three months after that, I got put on a big strategic project with multi-million dollar investment. And suddenly I'm working with people who are minimum senior managers and I was a junior manager. I'm like, what is going on, right? So obviously, you know,

I still behave in a slightly more junior way in terms of like, I didn't know stuff. I kept asking, okay, what do I do with this? What do I do with that? Until one day one day that you know my boss came to me and said that maybe i need you to be more independent because now you're working very very senior people so you need to demonstrate to me that you can be independent you can make your own decisions and you are going to connect with the right stakeholders that can give you answers to your question because you cannot be asking me all these things even though i know you know it's

your first time manager i mean i totally appreciate that but like my boss basically told me that like mayping i'm very busy right you need to go and solve your own problems because you're a manager now i'm like okay that was a huge wake-up call because i'm like oh okay so i've been operating like an executive but now i'm really a manager but i haven't processed the fact that like mayping you are a manager now like you need to go and solve your own problems you need to go and look at processes you need to connect the right people and go and get your job done i'm like okay i get it now i appreciate it was not a fun conversation but i appreciated it and i think it really really shifted my myself like okay it's not really my age right it's the perception and the way that i'm behaving and once i fixed

that and then it moved really really quickly because i think my boss was also very empathetic he was like okay i you know you go back and think about what I said, but I want to be able to see more proactiveness. I want you to demonstrate to me that, you know, you can be a lot more independent. I want you to forge your own network and forge your own relationships in the bank so you can get work done. So I'm like, okay.

So I sat on it, thought about it for a long time, and then started executing. And within just a few months after that, I was able to build relationships and connect with people that i never felt that i could connect with because i've always had the mindset of like oh maybe this person doesn't want to talk to me because this person thinks i'm very young or this person doesn't respect me this person is not like giving me the information because this person thinks i'm very young apparently it's not true right it's just my perception it's just it's my

mindset that's not correct and the moment that i shifted'm like, okay, I'm a manager right now. I have a job to do. And okay, I'm going to communicate very clearly. Obviously, you know, now the way that I teach how to communicate, how to structure your conversations and meetings is something that I teach in my career program,

The Corporate Survivor. But all those actually came from me not knowing what the heck I was doing. And once I knew how to do that, I realized that, hey, she's no longer the issue. All these people that I thought were not my friends,

you know, not willing to help me, they were having like proper conversations with me we're having like you know catch-up meetings and stuff like that so i was like okay it's a confirmation to me that it was never about the age it's how i behave and i think more importantly me having that kind of like restrictive uh block mindset that like oh it must be because of my age and therefore maybe i'm not thinking outside of the box i'm not willing willing to be proactive. I'm not willing to give myself another chance to try again, just because I asked for something once I asked for a meeting once and the person didn't reply me doesn't mean that, you know, I'm not going to get help, but maybe, you know, what stopped me from trying again and giving it another chance and think about it more

objectively is that I had that perception of like, oh, it must be because of my age. And then this person's ignoring me. Actually, it wasn't really the case. And I can tell you that this also continued on as I became director, because I could, as a junior director, work with senior directors, executive directors, managing directors across multiple levels, and even have communications with some of the regional CEOs as well. And I think that if I had not broken the mindset of like, oh, because you're so young, you know, you can't do it, then I don't think I will have any of those opportunities to have any of those conversations with those senior people.

I don't think I would have been promoted to senior director. I wouldn't have been the person who set up the FinTech committee as the charter and so forth. I don't think I would have been given any of those opportunities because it's not because someone saw me as a kid. Someone saw me as young. It's because I saw myself as someone who is very young and undeserving.

So, if you're someone who is on the younger side, I want you to really, really, you know, think about and absorb what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that it's an easy journey, but what I'm saying is that

you really, really need to look within and really ask yourself whether, hey, you know, am I really, really managing perception over here, right? Am I behaving? Am I upskilling? Am I demonstrating, right? What is expected at that next career level if I really want to get there? And this is really a tough conversation. This is a conversation around your career mindset, career skill set, career strategy,

and actually what you want in your life as well, right? Whether you want to get stuck here or you want to get to the next level and then what it actually takes and the courage and the confidence it takes to take the next step to really move past your own fears the move past your own limitations and move past the the the mindset blockage that maybe for you it feels very real but what i'm saying here is that what i realized that over my career is that it's not it's not a real thing it's something that I told myself is a real thing, but actually it's not a real thing. So something worth thinking about. And I want to encourage you that just because you're young doesn't mean that you can't do it. Okay, you can definitely do it.

But what is really, really worthwhile is to really develop that kind of like workplace maturity to demonstrate that, yeah, I'm ready for the next career level. And I can demonstrate to you right now that I'm definitely ready for the next level. And this is how you're going to gain the trust, you're going to gain the respect, and then you're going to really put yourself out there to be the next person to be promoted to the next level. All right, moving on to the next lesson I learned in the corporate world is all about what hiring managers are looking for. Now, when I first started in my career, I also had the kind of mindset which is, okay, I'm just going to apply for whatever job and whatever comes back, then, you know, I'm just going to try to prepare, the keyword, try to prepare for an interview, even though I

don't know what hiring managers are looking for. And it took me some time until to the point that I became a hiring manager. So when I was a manager at Standard Chartered and director at Standard Chartered, I had staff working for me, I had direct reports, and I was also involved in the hiring process. So as a hiring manager, it gave me some insight as to what exactly hiring managers are looking for because it's not so much about the interview, but it's about team management. It's about the next talent that comes in that can support the team. So if I were to share with you a high level, you know, cover in multiple C's of what hiring managers are looking for is this. Competence, confidence, collaboration, communication skills, and commitment. Now, these are the five that is currently taught in my

Corporate Survivor's Bonus Job Search course, which is the 30-day job search bonus lessons that's included in the main program. So if you want to learn all about seeking your next career opportunity, you can definitely check out the Corporate Survivor at www.maping.com. But going back to my story, I just wanted to make a point of like you if you want to get more opportunities you want to be successful at your job search or your interview you really really need to understand what hiring managers are looking for it's not the number of applications it's not about let me try to memorize every single interview answers and it's going to work out it's not really that you really need to understand the five c's and i'm going to give you a quick overview of the five Cs.

So the first thing is competence. Because if you are not competent at the job, then like, why are you here? At the end of the day, when I hire you, I need you to be able to do the job. So I'll say that competence is probably 70 to 80% of the hiring decision. So you need to demonstrate that you are competent.

The next thing, confidence. Because even if you're the most competent person, you can do the job. But if you're not confident in yourself,'re very fearful you know you are unsure about yourself that that is actually not a very good person to have in the office and it's also the kind of person that like i cannot trust you to work with other people or maybe you're so unsure and you have such low confidence that maybe you're doing the right thing but you need validation all the time so therefore you need a lot of hand-holding which which a manager or a director may not have time to do.

So I'll say the second point is confidence. The third point actually is collaboration because like I said, no matter how good you are at your job, no matter how confident that you say you are, but if you cannot work with other people, then it doesn't matter because even if you're, like I said,

you could be very good at your job, you could be the smartest person, right? You could be very confident to a point of arrogance, but guess what? If you don't have any collaboration skills, you cannot work with anyone, then it's like, as a hiring manager or director, I have a team member that nobody actually wants to interact with. It's a team member that nobody wants to work with and it's creating a lot of like negative vibes at the

workplace. That is actually a big headache for a manager and the head of department. So no hiring manager and no manager actually wants that. So like said you have competence you have confidence you have collaboration now what's the what is the other two now the the next one the next c actually is communication because if you want to be able to connect with different people you want to talk to different people even to a point of like supporting each other on projects supporting each other's workload to be able to just have like a normal networking conversation, then you need strong communication skills. And I don't mean presentation skills.

I don't mean public speaking. I'm really saying that the art of talking to another person without pissing the other person off, like for lack of a better word. So communication is the fourth skill. And the fifth one, the fifth C is commitment. Because, you know, in the era where there may be the next career opportunity every other day, every hiring manager hopes for some kind of like stability at the workplace.

Now, some people say, oh no, I don't have to be loyal to the company. And I totally agree, you don't have to be loyal to the company. But I'm just sharing with you from what hiring managers are looking for, they're looking for someone that can come in, can grow with the team, right, can take on the training and start improving their skills and start contributing to the team. So commitment is the last C that they're looking for because it's, even if you're like

the best candidate, but I can't get the sense that like you actually want to join this company, you really want to grow this company, you see this as a real opportunity. There's no point that,

you know, I hire this person, two months later, this person quits. Like, I can tell you honestly, no hiring manager wants this. Like,

no head of department wants this because it's very disruptive because the process of like getting the, a new head count and like training a new, interviewing, all this like no head of department because it's very disruptive because the process of like getting the a new headcount and like training a new interviewing all this like take time

training the new headcount and then like integrating the team all this like it takes months and months and months to actually do it properly so like I said

no manager hiring manager wants that so if you really really want to be successful at your next career opportunity you really really need to understand the 5 C so to repeat it's competence confidence collaboration communication skills and then commitment then

this is something that i think you really really need to take seriously because otherwise you can be applying for the hundreds and hundreds of jobs and going for multiple multiple interviews but still not really understanding like what the heck happened right how come i still can't get hired and i tell you that it's because you haven't demonstrated these five things okay okay? Moving on to the next lesson I learned in the corporate world is that before you start blaming other people, you really need to look at yourself. Now, this is a bit of a tough love conversation that I'm going to have with you, which is, I think that when you are very young in your career, you're a younger professional, or maybe you're someone who has been kind of like stuck in a job for a very long time. It's very easy to start feeling negative emotions, to start having a negative mindset,

but you may not actually realize it. So let me give you an example. And I think I also noticed that I think for some people in which if someone never actually mentioned to you that, hey, actually you have this negative mindset, maybe the way of your, the way of thinking this way is not quite right or this perspective is not correct. I think it's quite easy to get fixated in that kind of mindset and i want to just say that like it's probably not your fault but i think some additional exposure some additional perspective and insight i think will be very helpful for your career now let me give some examples but what i mean by it's maybe

something that you need to look with it now i have heard from some of my clients they come to me and saying that maybe i don't like that my manager is being a micromanager, is coming to me for updates all the time. You know, it's very annoying. I'm like, okay, I understand how you feel. Then the next question I ask them is that, okay, so right now, how are you giving your updates to your manager on your work? And then this person tells me, oh, I don't do that. I'm like, okay, so how are you going to make sure that your manager knows what you're doing? And if your manager doesn't ask you about the update then like

how's your manager going to know then this person which is my corporate fire student told me oh okay I never thought of it

that way but okay so I said okay if that's the case then would it be fair to say that your manager is a micromanager or your manager

really desperately needs the updates but you have not been giving her any updates then my student told me oh okay

that actually makes sense. So after I suggested to him to actually share weekly updates and like, you know, schedule conversations and so forth, being more proactive, a few months later,

he came back to me and said, maybe actually that problem has resolved. Like my manager is no longer a micromanager. So I told him that, no, it's not because your manager was a micromanager.

That label, that mindset actually was incorrect. It's just because you are not giving updates and therefore your manager is just coming to you for an update. Now, we cannot label micromanager, that label, that mindset actually was incorrect. It's just because you are not giving updates and therefore your manager is just coming to you for an update. Now, we cannot label micromanager.

And I think this example is just one thing. I'm not saying that every situation is not a micromanager situation. I'm just saying that when you label something negative, your mind just shuts down as to what potentially

could be happening. You're not seeing another perspective. You're not really wondering as to what's actually going on? Am I contributing to this or really is that person's problem? And is this a pattern or it's just like happening like a one, two times sort of thing? So I'll give you another example. A few months ago, I ran a people office politics workshop for my corporate survival members. And one of the questions I asked many of the members is that, what do you think about office politics and what are like some of the

negative feelings that you had? So some of them told me that oh maybe i felt that um there's a there's like some favoritism going on and i feel like my manager and my boss is always going to my other colleague for help and not coming to me so i said okay this could be a totally legit thing but let's dig deeper and let's really think a little bit deeper because when we say favoritism there's always an emotional element and there's a bit of a toxic element that actually shuts you down to any other potential possibilities out there so what i suggested was okay first thing you really need to ask yourself how long have you been in the company so then she said oh i've only been there for like six months i'm like okay so do you know everything that's been going on then she said okay i don't know i'm like okay so if you

don't know then how can you expect your manager to come to you? And then I asked, for the other colleague that you say your manager keeps going to, how long has this colleague been there? And she said, oh, she's been there for like four years. I'm like, okay, so do you think that your colleague may know something that you don't know? And then she said, okay, yeah, I think that's true, possibly.

So I said, okay, so that could be one thing in terms of like, maybe your manager went to the colleagues because it's something that could be related to something within the department, you know, some institutional knowledge or some past projects, could it be possible? And she said, oh yeah, actually it could be possible. So I'm like, okay, so now is it fair to say that your manager has favoritism or it's just your manager is going to someone that actually was involved in the past project? And then her mindset totally shifted. And another example as well, if you are someone who is just very slow at your work and then there's some urgent work and then your mindset totally shifted and another example as well if you are someone who is

just very slow at your work and then there's some urgent work and then your manager goes to another colleague for help and then you don't like it then you said oh your manager doesn't come to me you know imagine your sidelines me and stuff like that but you really ask about your own performance have you demonstrated that you could you know complete your work done well or maybe your work is always high quality because if you have some your own skill set problems right you have your own like you know performance problems and then you your own like, you know, performance problems and then you don't like it because your manager

doesn't come to you. I think it's something that's worth thinking about is like, is it my problem? Or is it really, you know, my manager needs help from another person. And right now,

I still need to work on my own skills, my own performance to prove that, you know, I deserve the kind of like trust and the rapport with my boss and manager. Like I said, you know, it deserve the kind of like trust and the rapport with my boss and manager. Like I said, you know, it's something worth thinking about

because all these stories I'm sharing with you, all these lessons also came from my own career as well because all this, at some point in my career, I felt the same. I'm like, I don't like why my director is only going to that person. Why the director doesn't come to me? You know, why the director only gives me like

this kind of like, you know, ridiculous projects and why the other person got the other thing but sometimes we don't really know the full context and until you really really reflect on the real quality of your work right whether your work is accurate is complete is on time right it really meets the context and to be able to advocate for yourself like if you want better things and you know that okay you know i've proven myself now i'm going to ask for the next opportunity i speak up and ask for it. Demonstrate that you are worthy of time, right? Then you're going to be able

to build that kind of relationship that will open more doors for more new opportunities and projects. So my point is that, you know, before we look externally and we blame other people,

then why not, you know, it's worthwhile thinking about, hey, you know, is there something that I could have done better? Is there something I could do differently?

And really objectively look at the situation. I think it's going to be so, so, so important. It's going to give you some peace of mind and calm knowing that it's not that, you know, other people have something against you, right? It's nothing personal. It's just the workplace. Like nothing is personal.

And I think the moment that you can get out of the mindset of like, oh, this person is against me. Like it's a personal attack sort of thing. Like just get out of that kind of mindset. You'll notice that your work days will feel so much more peaceful. You'll feel so much more calm and confident oh, this person is against me, like it's a personal attack sort of thing. Like just get out of that kind of mindset. You'll notice that your work days will feel so much more peaceful. You'll feel so much more calm and confident because you feel that like,

okay, you know what? It's very objective. I'm just going to focus on this thing and then when it's done, I'm going to report to my manager and then it's going to be fine. So I think that kind of like mindset reset is helpful.

But I also think that having that additional perspective of like, hey, there could be other things that's going on. It's not always the case that someone's like you know trying to attack me i think this will actually give you a much better career and much better life because i don't think it's very fun having that kind of negative mindset feeling so fearful and afraid that you know someone's gonna try to like do something negative to you i mean i don't think that's like a good way of living life and you know maybe in my younger days you know know, I did feel that way. But as I mature,

as I kind of like rise the career ladder and nowadays as a career coach and career mentor to my community of 95 professionals, I'm totally over it. As you reflect back on your career, whether you've been working 5 years, 10 years, 15 or 20 years, that you realize that this kind of mindset

is not helpful at all. All right, moving on to the next corporate world career lesson that I learned is that your career is a long game. Reputation is a long game. Reputation is a long game. And the more that you focus on having a good, solid, positive reputation of someone who can be trusted, works hard, works smart, right, can be trusted to deliver work that's high quality, then opportunities will really, really open up for you. Now, when I was younger, I thought that

I need to get recognized as soon as possible. Oh, I'm really working you. Now, when I was younger, I thought that I need to get recognized as soon as possible. Oh, I'm really working hard. Like how come my boss is not recognizing me? Oh, I need to make sure that I get all these like recognition and stuff like that. But the thing is that I realized over time that that is actually the short game. Because when you start around your career, like it's like before you invest time to improve your corporate world mindset, you know, your knowledge, your skillset, you know your knowledge your skill set you're already busy trying to get applause you're trying to get like recognition but you're not really working on yourself what will happen i think on a dangerous point is that you are standing on

a shaky foundation so even though you're trying to like motivate yourself you're trying to like give yourself you know confidence like pep talk and stuff like that but i think deep down you do know that like oh if someone finds out that i don't know how to do this or if someone says that I'm really lousy at this, like it will affect you because you know that, you know, you haven't really put in the time and effort

to really build a solid foundation and to really understand, like I said, the corporate world rules, I have the strong career mindset, skill set and strategy. So I think it's so, so, so important that yes, obviously, you know, we want a promotion,

we want salary increment, we want career growth, we want salary increment, we want career growth, we want new opportunities. But I think not to the expense of something that could potentially destroy your reputation. Because the thing is that like people talk, not just at your workplace, but within the industry and, you know, within the community as well.

And particularly if you're someone who is like, you know, specializing in like a certain job function, whether it's like marketing product, like operations or whatever, and you are applying for roles more or less in the same industry or same company type, like, guess what?

Other people at your company, which may have a negative view of you, are also moving along and you may actually meet them in the future as well. And you never know where these people end up. Like they could be your manager

in the future. They could be your director's friend. So it's really, really important to think about reputation in the long game. Now, I've just given some examples that sounds a little bit more negative, but I just want to share an example of like a positive reputation as well.

Now, I worked at Visa from 2013 to 2015. So it was like almost two years. And during that time, I was mainly focused on Asia Pacific, Middle East, Central Europe, and Africa. So AP senior portfolio. But we also had some projects and some engagements with the US team. So I went to the US a couple of times and I worked with this vice president.

And she had a very, very good impression of me. So although it was only a couple of projects when I was working visa, and eventually she moved to Google to head one of the departments over there. And since then, I didn't really have like a way of like really keeping in touch with her, but we were on LinkedIn together. So in 2016, when I was on my career break, you know, that was like my first career break where I actually went back home to take care of my mom who was ill. I actually got a message from one of her newly promoted directors in Singapore so this director

reached out to me on LinkedIn and sent me a message saying that like um you know I got your contact or I got you know I I wanted to reach out to you because my boss which is basically that lady recommended for me to reach out to you because she said that when you were working with her at Visa she thinks that you are very good good. She thinks that you have like the right qualities for this position that we're hiring for at Google. So then he asked me, you know, would you be keen to come to the Google office and let's kind of have a conversation about your career goals and whether this opportunity works out for you. So I was like, oh, okay. So this is really the first time I felt that like, whoa, okay. It makes sense in terms of like, if I focus on

doing a good job, right, not engage in all the drama and the gossip and just like focus on doing a good job, building a strong relationship, a good relationship with people, seen as someone that could deliver work, right, who is hardworking, who focuses on my own career development, doing a good job, then these are some positive things that can come maybe it's not immediately and this conversation i had with about this opportunity was i would say about one and a half years since i left visa so it wasn't something that you know happened immediately but what i'm saying is that like if you have a good reputation this is something that can go on and on and on and i also want to talk about some of the experiences that i had at standard charter

as well so as standard charter i started as a senior executive that I got promoted to a manager and then associate director. And I was like leading my teams and then gradually, you know, rising up like, you know, junior director, senior director and so forth. And I can tell you that

over the, you know, four to five years I spent at Standard Chartered, there were many, many senior stakeholders that I've worked with when I told them that, you know, I'm going to take a career break

and due to family and, you know, I hope that we keep in touch. There were many of them who came to me offering me different options. They were like, hey, Mipin, like, would you, what about we offer you a role in like KL Malaysia? Would it be something that you want?

And like, we have all these positions available. Like, is this something you're willing to consider? Like, what's your situation right now? And even when I was on a career break, I still get messages from them saying that, hey, you know, we're hiring for like a director of this, you know, we're hiring for executive director for this department. Like, hey, do you think you're ready to come back? Like, you know, what's your plan?

So what I'm saying is that good reputation, good work quality, good work performance goes a really, really long way. And you might not be able to see it now when you're so busy working at your job. But I want you to really, really remember

to make sure that you have a good career strategy. Particularly, you want to get visible to the right people. And we won't be able to go into detail in today's episode. It's already very long.

If you're listening to this point, congratulations, you're probably the top 10% of people who reached to this point. So if you want more of that, you can definitely check out

the three-step framework that I teach. So Get Visible Personal Branding is taught in step three of my career program, The Corporate Survivor, which is all about making sure that you build

strong network and connections so that you can attract future career opportunities without feeling stuck and without actively looking for it. So to me, like I said, right, being able to have a good reputation and making sure that that is the ultimate thing that you think about, regardless of like what tasks you're doing, what activities and what role you're taking, you know, how kind of, what kind of like hard work and the people that you connect with and the things that you say and the way that you behave, always, always, always remember it really comes down to reputation, right?

The corporate world is not like social media. It's not some influencer game. It's not, right? It's purely reputation. It's all about competence. It's all about being a person that people want to work with,

people can trust and then ultimately a good boss and a good manager, if you'll notice that they will always bring their best people, even when they move on to the next company. And what you want to do is to be that A star. You want to be that person that your boss, your manager or director be like,

hey, I really, really like working with Mei Ping. She's very good. And even if I move on to the next company or I take on the next role, I'm going to try to figure out if Mei Ping wants to join me. That is actually the kind of like positive impact that having a good reputation can really give you.

And I think I'm definitely the proof of that because even until now, I have been a career coach and corporate mentor, you know, running my own career programs for five years. And I can tell you that

even up to today, today, there are still my ex-colleagues and people reaching out to me saying, hey, Mayping, what are you doing right now? You know, do you think you want to come back? And, and you know there's this role open

that role but i do still get these messages from time to time so like i said reputation goes a long way you might not be in the same company anymore you might not be in the same industry anymore but your reputation the the way that you work with different people the perception that other people have of you that goes a long way because you are that person, that your boss, your big boss, the head of department, maybe the country CEO have interacted with and found the experience of working with you extremely positive. And when you are strategic and you keep in touch with them, and LinkedIn is what I recommend, right, you are able to be found. And when they move on to bigger and better things, you get the chance to potentially join them as well. And like I said,

it goes a long way. So if you're listening to this, I want you to honestly think about what kind of professional reputation do you think you have? And how do you think other people would describe you at the workplace? Be honest with that.

Because if the answer to yourself is not very positive, then that's going to affect you. During interviews and when seeking out the next opportunity, when even connecting and wanting to stay in touch, that is all going to affect you during interviews and when seeking on the next opportunity when even connecting and wanting to

stay in touch that is all going to come crashing down right crashing down if it's negative but you know amplifying

if it's positive depending on your answer so if you don't like the answers that you are seeing based on this little exercise that we talked about here then I think this is your chance

to definitely reset that alright onto the last lesson I learned from more than 10 years of working in the corporate world is that it is so, so, so, so, so important to understand how the corporate world works. And I don't mean this lightly.

If I can say this every single day, I'm going to shout from the rooftops. You really, really need to understand how the corporate world works because it's not like school. It's not like university. It's not that you need to be the smartest. You need to be the most hardworking and so forth. But knowing how the corporate world

works, meaning that the corporate jigsaw puzzle, like your company's corporate structure, culture and people, how different stakeholders interact, how many stakeholders you need to actually focus on, what are the priorities of all these key stakeholders, how do you communicate with them, how do you move forward, how do you attend meetings, how do you get visible, how do you network, how do you connect, all these are corporate world rules. It's actually understanding how the corporate jigsaw puzzle works, how everything is connected so that you can really, really leverage that and be able to focus on the right thing at the right time. I think more importantly, knowing that whatever that decision that you make is always based on the best knowledge of your understanding of the

corporate world. Like I said, the corporate structure, culture, and people, and knowing how to navigate that will really depend on how much you know the rules. So if you're going to play a game, you don't know the rules, then how can you win, right? How can you clear a level if you don't know what the rules are? You don't know what the path is, right?

Then you always wonder whether are you doing the right thing. So once you understand how the corporate world works, like I said, right, the culture, structure, and people, right, also be able to honestly look at yourself and knowing that if you have any skills gap and be willing to improve on that and to be able to improve your mindset, to think about possibilities, courage and confidence, all this will allow you to take that next step forward. And one of the

things that I always think about whenever I decide if I want to quit a job or want to stay on is the next opportunity in the role. And I think more importantly, knowing that I have done everything that I needed to do to deliver a job well done, to make sure my boss knows that I'm doing the hard work, right work, to be able to report on progress, to ask for the right promotions and cyber increment and so forth. So knowing that I have done everything that I needed to do based on the rules of the game, then the ball is now in my boss's court. So if my boss decides that maybe, you know, we're not going to promote you and we don't have money or they give you some other nonsense, then I think you know it in yourself that like, nope, then if I've given more than 100% and, you know, I've done everything right

and I've communicated it early and, you know know you're giving me a last minute message that I can't get promoted or whatever story then it's like I knew within myself that it's then the right decision for me to just move on because I've done everything that I could and should. So all this also helped me to decide like when is the best time to leave as well because there is like no sort of like perfect time to quit your job but you really really need to understand like what is the driver because if you're saying that oh i'm quitting because i have like toxic boss or i don't like the nature of the work but is it because you are not skillful at your job then even if you move on to the next job it's going to be the same problem right or you don't you have like a negative mindset and you hate everyone at work so you don't know how to work with anyone

and how's it going to get better at your next job, right? This is also going to be a problem, right? So what I'm saying is that like, you really want to master, right, the entire like the corporate career mindset, skillset and strategy to make sure that you are really setting yourself up for success. So even though in my multiple roles, right, when I quit, it's always very considered. It's never an issue around my mindset. It's never an issue around my skillset. never an issue around my skill set it's always about okay here's my strategy i want to uh climb a career ladder i want to grow my career i want more income more salary more promotions so forth but to a point that like i feel that i can't get those anymore then i think i could make a more considered decision to say i've done everything

and i'm not sure staying on for another year is going to make a difference then i really start planning my own career forward. But you're only able to make that decision and make a good decision for yourself and knowing that, okay, I think I made the right decision for myself is that you know that there are no more gaps in the boat. Meaning that once you have mastered, like I said, full understanding of the corporate world,

you have done all the right things, then when the company cannot give you the, they can't deliver their side of the bargain, then you feel so clear. You'll be like, know what i've done it i've done everything that you wanted me to do but you know for some reason last minute you're telling me that you can't give me this and that then okay you know it's time for me to go so you'll find that it's so much easier and your decision making around the next step in your career career growth strategy is going to be so much clearer so all in all my view is that yes is going to be so much clearer. So all in all,

my view is that, yes, you know, these are the top 10 lessons I learned in the corporate world. There is no means that this is only the top 10. I think, you know, if you want to go on and on and on,

we're going to be here for like five or six hours because I'm very passionate about the corporate world, as you can tell. And this is why if you feel like you enjoy today's episode,

make sure that you drop a comment or drop a like whether you're watching on youtube or only podcasting platforms if you feel that this episode can help you or help a friend to have a better career please forward to him or her because i my mission is really to help you guys to survive navigate and grow a career in the 95 corporate world and if you feel that hey mei ping i am ready to go all in and to improve my career mindset skill set and strategy and i really really want to grow my career in the corporate world. And if you feel that, hey, Mipin, I am ready to go all in and to improve my career mindset, skillset and strategy. And I really, really want to grow my career in the corporate world, then check out my career program, The Corporate Survivor at www.mipin.com. So with that, I hope that you are able to have a good career, a happy, peaceful and calm, confident, happy work

days in your career in the corporate world, because you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it too. So with that, good luck and I'll see you in the next episode.