Are You Learning From Those Who Have Succeeded Before You?
Curt Skene’s In2Win! Career Coaching Supplement.
Let’s face it. There are no silver bullets in life and certainly not in your job search. One of the best ways to learn the secrets of any opportunity is to emulate those who have mastered them before you. Before you get too active in your search get into the habit of asking those you admire what lessons worked brilliantly for them.
Listen intently, mix and match advice and build a process that makes the most sense to you. Remember, you don’t have to take all the advice but it’s better to have it and dismiss it than to never have had the insight at all. As you get started into your search make a commitment to host regular “information interviews.” Aside from generating good leads these sessions can be great confidence builders, perfect for gathering much-needed industry insight and an excellent source of executive support.
Most executives like to talk about their experience, so ask and show sincere interest in what they have to share. After you’ve left the meeting take five to ten minutes to document the lessons learned and note specifically how these lessons will help you. It’s always a great idea to send a thank-you card that highlights the top two or three things you took away. While the concept of informational interviews may seem intimidating the rewards are plentiful.
Many executives have been in your shoes so they are happy to pay it forward.
Close the loop with people who help you. Showing their impact strengthens the relationship.
Why I Wrote This Page
Because most people obsessively study their own failures but rarely systematically study what actually worked for someone else. Reverse-engineering another person’s success is a faster, cheaper way to learn than trial and error alone.
This is easy to overlook because failure feels more urgent to analyze, it stings, so it gets attention. Success, especially someone else’s, gets admired instead of studied. But the professionals who land fastest are usually the ones who treated other people’s wins as a source of specific, repeatable lessons, not just inspiration.
Information interviews aren’t really about gathering leads, though they often produce them. They’re about extracting a process someone else already proved works.
Action Steps
- Set a standing goal of one information interview a week with someone whose search or career move you admire.
- Ask specifically what they’d do differently if they started over, not just what worked. The near-misses teach as much as the wins.
- Send a real thank-you afterward naming the specific lesson you’re applying. It closes the loop and keeps the relationship open for next time.
In2Win! Afterthought
Curt’s current observations and updated guidance will be added here.
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