Welcome to a subscriber-only edition!
Throughout my corporate career, volunteering played an important role in my career. It makes me become a better person, and a better leader.
Your career is a long-term journey. And in that journey, the only competitor you should have is yourself.
The only true competitor in an infinite game is yourself.
— Simon Sinek (@simonsinek) August 19, 2022
If every day you can become better than yourself yesterday, it is a success.
Therefore, what I tried not to do is comparing myself with others. I found it's the major cause of unhappiness and dissatisfaction.
Success comes when you are kind and generous regardless of which phase of career you are in. Here's why:
1.Volunteering is learning
You are new to any industry and don't have a lot of working experiences in a specific field, volunteering gives you a chance to learn from other people, especially from talented people.
If you have more working experiences, teaching and mentoring people are ways to help you deepen your learnings and take your expertise to the next level.
2. Helping others helps strengthen your network
Your career is not just about your main responsibilities in your current scope. It's also about what you can do beyond it. In any company, it's always to get to know people outside of your team to expand your network, find new connections and ultimately, create a supporting network that helps each other to grow.
A 20% project outside of your main job, a rotation in a new team or even just helping organize a company dinner are all great examples for you to explore.
3. Helping your own team members is helping yourself
If you are a rock star in your team because you are very good at a specific skill (e.g data analysis), it's time to share that skills with your team members.
If you help more people to become a rock star like you, it's also a great evidence to demonstrate that you are ready for a higher position (e.g people manager).
By transferring knowledge and empowering other members in your team, you will create an opportunity to release yourself from being "a specialist" (e.g running SQL queries all the time) and prepare your team to cover your scope when you move to a more strategic and high level role.
4. Understanding about DEI & culture
Volunteering can help you understand better about diversity and inclusion, develop your knowledge and compassion towards different cultures and under-represented groups. It also helps you value your originality and background better by raising awareness and educating people about your own culture.
Understanding about these topics are crucial for you to become a great leader.
5. Find joy in life through your contribution
Volunteering can give you a lot of joy in life.
"When you help others, your life starts to have meaning and purpose. Real joys comes not from material possessions but from people. When we give our hearts in kindness and love, we get the riches of the universe, and the greatest of these is happiness". - Leadership First
That's a wrap for today!
I would like to say thank you for being my subscriber.
Written by
