To Diversify or To Specialise for Career Progression?

To answer this question I will give you my view built on 20 years of international career in procurement, supply chain and leadership in working with global brands.

Also, I choose to use the example of the phenomenal Netflix documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger's journey. If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend you to get your favourite spot at home, grab a nice drink and go watch the 3 episodes: Athlete, Actor and American.

That's one of the best Netflix documentary I've seen lately that inspired me so much about achieving success in your career.

Q: Why did you choose Arnold?

A: He excelled at both Specialising and Diversifying his career

💎The best body builder in the world - he won Mr. Universe title aged 20

💎 Hollywood action star - Terminator, Total Recall

💎 Politician - Governor of California for 7 years

Hands up, I am biased as I love Arnold from my child hood, and here is why:

🧲 I am a fitness enthusiast and have been practising fitness for more than a decade.

🧲 I am an extrovert like Arnold.

🧲 I've always loved my area of expertise but I had a permanent hunger for learning something totally new all the time.

🧲 Always had a positive mindset that everything is possible when you work hard.

Scientific protocols you can use in Career Progression:

💡 Overcome procrastination and manage perfectionism - see Adam Grant latest podcast with Andrew Huberman on Unlocking Your Potential.

Mindset

'When you visualise something really clearly, you believe that you 100% can get there' - Arnold Schwarzenegger

To build a successful career progression, a high achiever mindset is required.

Regardless you choose to specialise or diversify, mindset is everything

A mindset that size up opportunities even in the worst case scenarios.

A mindset that is about overcoming any obstacles.

Similar to Arnold's childhood and upbringing, I have built my career from a small town in Romania to international cities like: Hamburg, Amsterdam and London.

Arnold's journey started all the way back in the rural Austria and kept evolving to the highest peaks of the American dream.

I was moved when he said that what weakened his brother made him stronger. The tough upbringing with very strict parents where every meal had to be earned. The brothers needed to do push-ups or contests like who picks up the most beautiful flowers.

From childhood Arnold felts he didn't belong to Austria.

He visualised his idol Reg Park and wanted to become like him: a successful and famous bodybuilder.

And he beat his idol and broke all the global records possible in bodybuilding at only 20 years old.

4 Key Leadership Skills and Behaviours

'But I want to do things that everyone calls impossible' - Arnold Schwarzenegger

1️⃣ Be really very good at what you do

Either career route you choose, it requires to be really good at what you do. Be as passionate for the job you do like you could work for free. That's what Arnold would say sarcastically. 😬

Still, we know so many successful business people who made it to the top after overcoming set-backs and failures. Work hard no matter what the obstacles are, have a vision and stick with it. Arnold proved he was the best in the world in bodybuilding. And nobody stopped him: not even the army service, his strict upbringing or the limited financial resource. And he proved it again he could be an action movie Hollywood star in spite of his accent or origins.

2️⃣ Specialism requires strong expertise vs. Diversifying requires dealing with ambiguity

I remember the day when, after having become an expert in procurement transformations for major global brands, I told my boss: 'I've seen this procurement movie over and over again, so I'm getting a little bored. I need to diversify my career'.

So after 16 years in procurement, I was given a diversifying opportunity to spend 4 years in learning and mastering supply chain and DEI. To challenge myself even more, I chose to entering the entrepreneurship arena so, I started my own business last year. I'm not a self made entrepreneur, as Arnold says, as I have too many experts and mentors who have been helping me over the years to diversify my career.

Domain expertise is super important early on in your career. When you need to prove your consistent performance in your domain expertise. For lower-level managers, who mostly engage in operational rather than strategic tasks, it makes more sense to specialise to deepen domain expertise, which helps managers to faster identify better solutions within their area of expertise.

Broadening expertise is critical as you climb the ladder and want to secure a more senior role. So to improve your chances to get into more senior role, work on a career plan to accumulate various work experiences that stimulate the ability to consider and combine multiple perspectives, and improves strategic thinking, a critical competence for senior managers.

3️⃣ Developing permanently your network is critical to your career

When you choose to Specialise you need to dig deeper within your area of expertise and always stay alert with all the people changes in your field who might impact your career positively. I used to literally know all the key procurement people in the corporations I worked for, key procurement head hunters, procurement bodies and procurement influencers, speakers and authors.

When I chose to Diversify my career and learn new supply chain skills, I widened my area of network to Supply chain and DEI internally and externally, outside of my circle. I managed in short time to build my trusted circle of supply chain people I always relied on, I went to for advise and mentorship.

4️⃣ Know your transferable skills

To specialise your career will always involve learning and developing both hard and soft skills. Through feedback, honest self-reflection, understand what are your key skills that make you master your job. Know what is your unique skills set that you bring to the table when you negotiate your career to the next level.

And when you want to take the career to a totally new avenue, to diversify it, know what are your transferable skills that make fit for the job.

After 16 years of specialism, I was offered the opportunity to diversify career in Supply chain and entrepreneurship based on:

☑️ RESULTS: excellent results in procurement transformation

☑️ LEADERSHIP: inclusive & empathetic & strategic leadership skills

☑️ PERSONALITY: engaging personality and good sense of humour

'The only thing that no one can take from you is your mind' - Arnold Schwarzenegger

🟡TIP

Because job complexity increases with hierarchal level 🪜, domain expertise becomes LESS useful at more senior levels, while the need for broader knowledge and more general skills increases.

'I'll be back' - Arnold Schwarzenegger

This article is written by our founder and director Ana-Maria Velica 🍏

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