Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep229: Find your passion is bad career advice.

Episode Date: October 4, 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, like and subscribe. You need to find your passion. This is probably one of the most common career advice that you see out there. If you are scrolling online, you're looking for some career guidance,

this is probably something that you have definitely come across. But in this episode, I want to share with you some of my thoughts around why I think find your passion is such bad career advice. Some of the key problems if you are busy obsessing and chasing passion in your career. I'll also share with you some client stories and client conversations that I've had with my Corporate Survivor Career Course members

when they initially started out looking for passion in their career and what happened. And ultimately, I'll share with you one approach that I think is actually much better as compared to chasing passion. And this is actually really, really important if you want to have a strategic as well as a sustainable career, you know, with long-term success. So let's get started. Now, I think there are two kind of like big problems I see with people who are chasing passion. The

first thing is that you think that passion is everything, meaning that if your current job is not working out right now, you wouldn't even bother to even fix anything because in your mind, oh, maybe I'm just not passionate about this. Then I just want to move on and move on and move on. So what happens is that

you then go around, right? Jumping around maybe every few months or every year in your career, looking for this passionate role, passionate job, passionate company, passionate career, passionate industry or whatever. Now, I think that's actually really dangerous because the moment that you are externalizing what you're looking for right i think it's kind of like a big distraction and

there's always this hopeful element around oh once i get this right everything's gonna be good now what i've seen from my clients and people in my community for those of you who are searching for passion. First thing is that most of the time, you're probably someone who's a little bit younger in your career. So it's like graduating and not really knowing what to do, which I've also experienced as well. I'll say that my first job, it wasn't really something that I really wanted to do, but I just followed what my peers went into. So really not knowing what I was signing up for, which then

creates the question around, oh, maybe I'm not passionate about this. The second part, I think, is also around not really knowing what else is out there. So not trying enough and therefore assuming that, oh, if this thing doesn't work out, then okay, maybe I should just go and look for something that I'm more passionate about. So I think this kind of like mindset and this kind of like thoughts in your mind, I think actually is really, really normal. But the point I'm trying to make here is not being too obsessed and too fixated on that the next job is going to be my passion job and then going around non-stop and then stressing yourself out, feeling like you need to find that perfect job. What I've actually personally found more useful is to really choose the right

next job, meaning that whether this career at the next step, right, it gives you that progression, it gives you that growth, that exposure, that experience and the skills, the next best step, right, the next best job is much better than finding a passionate job because most of the time, like what is passion? Just because you're interested in something doesn't really make it passion and then the moment that you face challenges you're probably going to give up because in your mind oh a passionate job you write a job i'm passionate about it should be perfect it shouldn't be any issues so therefore in a way you're kind of like training yourself not to deal with challenges if that makes sense and this is something that i've definitely noticed in a lot of people as well.

So the second biggest problem I think that I see in many people who are chasing their passion is that the lack of self-reflection, this lack of self-awareness, and the lack of willingness to really look into their own mindset, their own skill set, and their own career growth strategy. So I'll explain to you what I mean. And this is something that I see in my community,

but I also see in my career program students as well. So the thing is that if you're looking for a passionate job, meaning you think that, oh, as long as I find my passion, I work in an area that I'm very passionate about, then everything is going to work out. Which then means that in a way, you are not as ready to look within and ask yourself, say, hey, do I need to upgrade my mindset? Do I need to level up my mindset? Because challenges will appear at any job, at any career level. And challenges will also appear with people as well. So do I need to upgrade my mindset

to really prepare that I can be successful in this new role or this new industry that I'm starting out? Not just rely on passion and then passion being 100%. But it's like, okay,

that interest, that next step, the perfect next step, that good next step, maybe it's that 10%, 20%. But the moment you made the decision to take on the role right do you have any mindset blocks that is stopping you meaning the point i'm trying to

make is that can you sustain right being in this career when you feel like the passion dips a little bit because i can tell you that passion is a feeling okay some days you feel good some days you don't feel good so can your strong career mindset, your mindset around the corporate world, the mindset of wanting to succeed in the current role, can that sustain beyond the feelings that you feel around whether you feel passionate or not today or tomorrow, motivated or not today or tomorrow, inspired or not today or tomorrow? Then the second thing is that I find that people who are not thinking about their skills gap are also the people who are busy chasing passion.

So again, I explain to you what I mean. Now, most of the time, if you are struggling at your meaning that you either don't really understand, right, how to communicate in the corporate world, you don't know how to build relationships with people, meaning you have poor people skills, or maybe you are very disorganized, you lack work structure, and therefore you are unable to meet deadlines,

or maybe the quality of your work is not good. It's a combination of things, right? And obviously, the younger you are, probably the more problems that you have, because, you know, every young professional, it's kind of of things right and obviously the younger you are probably the more problems that you have because you know every young professional is it's kind of like a step-by-step right like the more experience that you gain the better that you'll become but i found that people who are very obsessive like looking for passion in their career most of the time they will actually just ignore that they potentially lack the skill set to be successful

at any job. Now, I'm not talking about the passionate job or not passionate job. I'm talking about any job. Because regardless of whether you're in a passionate, you know, industry role or whatever, right? Every corporate, right, 9 to 5 organization, whether you're in a startup, SME, MNC, or like even NGO, it operates the same way.

Because the corporate world, the corporate jigsaw puzzle actually is the same. And which is why even in my career program, The Corporate Survivor, we have students from over like 50 job functions across like companies of all sizes because the method that I teach around understanding the corporate world jigsaw puzzle, it works the same, right? The mindset, skill set, strategy, to get clear, get confident, get visible, the framework and methods and strategies that I teach are applicable. Which means that if you're fixated on, you know, looking for passion, right, following your passion, most of the time, you just ignore, right, you will not do any self-reflection, you just ignore all these red flags, and the biggest danger then is when you,

when you, you know, start another role, then when you struggle again, right, having this, these two problems in your mind, right, will actually lead you to keep moving on into another company, another role, another role, but you keep telling yourself or rather you will be distracted thinking that, oh, it's because I haven't found my passionate job yet. But no, no, no. Actually, the reason why you are probably not progressing is because you are maybe not too focused on the mindset and skill set for success in the corporate world, which will allow you to make the most of any career that you choose to get into. So I think like to me, these are like two sort of like biggest issues. And as you can see, it's kind of like interrelated. I won't say that like one exists without the other because one of it is external and one of it, the other thing is internal, right?

Now I want to share with you some of the stories that, or rather conversations that I've had with my Corporate Survivor course members. And I think this is actually really common as well. And I see this more common in younger professionals in the program. So I mean, the program is across all career levels, but we do have some fresh graduates and some very, very junior executives

who have been working for less than a year as well. So this is one conversation I had with this one client. And she's been in the program for just a few months. And she's been in this role right after she graduated. So it's her first job. And when she booked her one-on-one call with me, she told me that, Mei Ping, I think that I don't enjoy this job.

I feel I'm not passionate about this job. And I'm thinking, anyway, FYI, she's doing IT. So she said, I'm thinking of going into into digital marketing i think that sounds really interesting and i feel like this is something i'm more passionate about so i said okay so i said okay so tell me more about this digital marketing role that you say that you're passionate about i said what is it about this role that you are very passionate about? Then she said, oh, actually, I actually don't like my job right now. I feel like I'm not performing well. I don't know what's going on. But this digital marketing thing looks very interesting.

I feel like I want to try. Okay, now you see there's a very big difference here from passion. Now I'm so passionate about this. Now it turns into, oh, this is actually kind of interesting. But at the same time, like I hate my my job so I think this is something very different so so when she said that I asked her I said I said oh okay so um so actually what got you interested in this digital marketing space and is this something that you have done before and that's why you want to get into it or this is just something that you found it extremely interesting you saw you know a lot of digital

marketing is kind of popular online like you know what's what's the driver then she said oh yeah you know because um i spent a lot of time on social media i see all these people doing digital marketing it seems really fun then i feel like i want to i want to try it seems fun okay now as you can see here what has happened passionate has downgraded to very interested then has downgraded to very interested, then has downgraded to, eh, this looks really fun. Okay? Then, after that,

I asked her, I said, I said, okay, it sounds to me that, you know, you have not experienced, you know,

you don't have any, like, experience or exposure into, like, the digital marketing space at all, and it sounds like you're only looking into it because it sounds fun.

So, if you were to go and try, right, make a career change or career transition into digital marketing, like what kind of like skills or, you know, transverbal skills or things that maybe you're hoping to get out of this career. Then she paused for quite a while. And in the end, she told me, actually, I don't know. Okay.

So as you can see, right, I just want to bring you through the trajectory of someone who told me that she's very passionate so the passion very passionate downgraded to very interested downgraded to well it seems fun then downgraded to actually i don't know what i want to get out of it okay then i asked her okay then maybe let's talk about your current job right now because you mentioned that you don't enjoy your current job. So maybe let's talk about, you know, why do you feel that you are struggling at your job? And you know, how much of, how much of like struggling at your job is actually getting you thinking about, you know, going to digital marketing. And then she told me, honestly, she said, Oh, actually, um, I don't really feel like I'm performing at my job. And that's why I'm starting to look for my passion.

And that's why I want to go into digital marketing. So I said, okay, so if let's say you do well at your job, would you want to so urgently move into digital marketing? Then she said, oh, maybe not then. Like if I feel like I can do where my job then yeah maybe i'll stay for another year and just like see where i can go from there like huh okay now here's the point now the thing is that we need to really tackle and look into the root cause issue because everything is very exciting right but what is the root cause issue that is kind of like getting you thinking about the passion and right now for the question about this client is that is it a question about passion that she's just not in she's just in

a job she's not passionate about or she's actually lacking some skills to perform at her job now i'm not saying that you cannot follow your passion you can for sure but how much is it is that your ability and your understanding of the corporate world right the mindset skill set and strategy to be able to succeed. Because once you're able to succeed at any role, then sure, just move on. You can go into another area that you're more interested in because you know that you have the ability to do well regardless of another company or another industry

that you have chosen. You can make that career change. But for situations like this, and I want you to be honest with yourself, if you can make that career change but for situations like this and i want you to be honest with yourself like if you can relate as well like how much of the hey i need to look for my passion is coming from genuinely wanting and preparing yourself to make that career transition right be able to focus on the transferable skills and to actually kind of like package all your skills to make that big career transition to an area that you are more interested in, you're more passionate about,

versus how much is more like, oh, I hate what I'm doing right now. So I just need to move. Because I can tell you that if this client actually made the move into digital marketing based on her passion, which is just a feeling that came up because she didn't do well at her job,

what is going to happen is that she will likely fail in the next adventure. That is if she can even sell her value to get hired at the next place. But likely she will fail because the problems that will appear in the

next role, whether it's your passionate industry, I'll tell you it's the same because when you start a new role, you need to be well-prepared. You need to learn how to adapt very quickly and perform. And how you're going to do that is using my three-step framework,

which I teach in the corporate survival, right? Get clear, get confident, get visible. This is something that we need to apply regardless of any 9-to-5 organization that you work in. And if you're struggling at your current job right now, it means that it's already like a red flag and a telltale sign that like, hey, you need to improve this like mindset or skill set gap so that you can be more successful in the next role. So this is something that you need to really, really be honest about. Because when people come to me saying that,

oh, Mayping, can you give me a shortcut, this and that, most of the time I say no. But if you want to work with me, right, it's via my career program via my career program the corporate survivor and we focus on long-term career development because i don't want you to just succeed in your current job i want you to succeed in your next and next job then the next career right for the next 10 20 or even 30 years because career development is long term and the skills that you learn right the mindset skill set that you learn in terms of like understanding the corporate world and everything that's something that you can bring on to your next job and your next job and your next job. So this is something that I've noticed in this particular client and

tying it back to my personal story, you know, I have moved from multiple industries, right, I started in accounting and audit, then I moved into internal controls, some consulting, then risk management, then I moved into like fintech, banking, FI, right, creating frameworks and stuff like that. So I've done, I've done like big transitions and when many people look at my career, they're like, oh, how did you manage to make this transition? Because like some of the roles that you've taken on, it doesn't look like someone of your qualification is able to do that. Now, the reason is because I've actually mastered, right, what it takes to become a top performer in the corporate world. And I said, as I said, how do you do that?

My self-skilled strategy, the three-step framework that I teach currently in Corporate Survivor, get clear, get confident, and get visible. So I've really mastered that. And the final part is that I also learned how to sell my values, particularly the transferable skills that will get me high in the next change. So the last part I promise you in this episode is, what is then a better approach? So it's like maybe if I don't follow my passion

or if I don't find my passion, then what is a better approach? Now, I think that it is actually more difficult to identify what you want to do, but I think it's actually a lot easier to find out and not even find out, like you already know it of what you don't want to do. So what I found very useful is that

for every career move that i make of course you know i want to progress in terms of like career level and salary but the other thing i also always always focus on is i want to eliminate something that i don't like that i don't like doing so it's like it's like even though you're not like chasing your passion in a way but the way that I've approached it is more like, okay, if I can get rid of more of the stuff that I don't like to do, meaning in my next role, I focus on, it's like I focus on things that maybe I'm good at doing. I feel I'm okay at doing, I want to try.

But at the same time, I also eliminate things that I don't enjoy doing. So gradually, I will be able to find a role and continue to get into a role that actually fits my interests, fits my expertise, and fits my competence. So I'm going to give you a very simple example here. Now, my first job,

I was an external auditor. For external auditor, there's a lot of numbers involved because, you know, accountancy qualification, there are a lot of numbers involved because, you know, accountancy qualification, there are a lot of numbers involved and there's a lot of nitty-gritty detailed work,

which honestly, I do not enjoy. So, that was the first role and normally what I do is that I like to identify, you know, what I like to do,

what I'm good at and then the things that really, really frustrates me because like I said, it's probably a little bit more difficult to identify what you like and what you're good at

but what you don't like is very clear. What you're not good at is very clear. So I feel like I wasn't really good at numbers or I'm also not that interested. I'm not good at it. And it's the area where I make a lot of mistakes, right? I don't feel like I'm such a detailed person as well. So these two things, right? Numbers and detail-oriented, I know that these two things, I'm not very good at. So in the next role that I found, right, that I moved on to, I actually joined Visa as an internal controls and like kind of like audit specialist. So in that role, right, it still required a lot of attention to detail,

but I managed to eliminate one element, which is the numbers. So in this role, I probably had maybe about 40% of the work was numbers, but in the previous role, it was almost 100%. So I was like, okay. So the next role at Visa felt a lot better because I'm like, oh, okay. I got rid of like a big portion of the thing I didn't like, which is like looking at numbers all the time. So I felt better at the job and I got better at the job too because without the headache of like doing something that I didn't enjoy and I wasn't good at, now I can focus on actually improving my skills

and also being able to focus on what I was very, very good at, which is like, you know, process reviews and stuff like that. So gradually I realized that, oh, actually I'm pretty good at this. Now, the next part, when I moved to Standard Chartered, right, again, right, what was the thing that I actually wasn't good at? It was attention to detail, particularly, you know, a lot of numbers and stuff like that. So when I took on the next role at Standard Chartered,

which is the head of governance, now it quickly moved into a lot of the stuff that I'm actually really good at, which is like building frameworks, step-by-step process, talking to multiple stakeholders, right? You know, strategy, a lot of the stuff like that, you know, presentations and stuff like that, you know, presentations and stuff like that. So it gradually also removed

the numbers part to maybe about, I would say 10 or 15%, which is a lot less than what I had to deal with in the previous roles, right? So I have found that this approach very, very helpful.

And as I said, when I got rid of the things that I wasn't really good at, right? The frustration at work also reduced a lot because I'm like, oh, I'm no longer dealing with numbers and I don't need to be like too nitty gritty. And I felt better. So therefore, again, as I said, I could then focus on actually doing better. And over time, I realized that, oh, I'm actually really, really good at building frameworks, building step-by-step process, a lot of the

strategic stuff, like tying the jigsaw puzzle together, right, seeing the big picture. That was actually something I was good at and eventually, I was able to leverage this to continue to climb the ladder at Standard Chartered. So from joining as a senior executive,

then I moved into a manager, associate director, junior director, and then senior director. I was able to move so quickly because it's like I eliminated the baggage. But the point is that,

the point I'm trying to make is that it didn't start from, you know, maybe wanting to find passion in my career. I didn't start like that. It was more around, okay, how can I get good at becoming successful at every job? So like I said,

my success strategy is the clarity, confidence, competence, and opportunities, right? Then to be able to sell myself, to make sure that I can easily change careers, even though, you know, I don't have like, you know, for lack of a better word, like qualification education of someone who is like normally should have.

So I was able to make those transitions really, really easily. Then the reason is because I have basically set myself up for that. So this probably is an approach that i would highly recommend that you try because usually when i teach in my career program and if you join a corporate survivor you also get access to the 30-day job search bonus course so this is a bonus course that actually starts with like helping you to change careers as well to identify opportunities career direction

options and to be able to kind of like package your value in your resume, interviews, as well as your LinkedIn profile. So this is something that's also taught, but the point I want to make in today's episode is that, you know, just finding your passion will probably lead you astray. It'll probably get you distracted. But if you focus on the core fundamentals of what it actually takes to be successful in the corporate world, mindset, skillset, visibility, strategy. Always making sure that you're focused on clarity, confidence, competence, and opportunities. Then this is really something that will allow you to have a much smooth,

much more like calm, you know, confident work days, feeling in control, and probably a smoother career along the way because you're not hunting for something that you don't actually know what that is. But you are kind of like leveraging of your strengths and eliminating weaknesses if possible but otherwise you know bringing yourself to a fundamental level that you are actually able to kind of like leverage all your skills together if that makes sense so i'll leave you to think about or whether how much you are fixated on having passion in your career because i can tell you that of the many people that i speak to the most successful people

they are very very very good at what they do and they are also interested in what they do because they are doing what they are good at so it's a it's a symbiosis right it's a, it's a symbiosis, right? It's a cycle. It's a cycle. So, if you're only fixated on passion and you ignore everything else,

then probably everything else is going to blow up at some point. So, I hope this is some food for thought and I'll see you

in the next episode.