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New Job? New Company? Here’s How to Make the Leap

By Erika Andersen, Forbes.com
Special to Online Career Tips

I recently had the pleasure of working with Joann Lublin at the Wall Street Journal for an article in her column, Your Executive Career. It started as a conversation about folks Joann came to call “extreme switchers” – people who make big changes in their careers, especially at a senior level.  She ended up profiling 3 of our clients: Tom Newman, who went from being a business strategist at to running Interactive One, the digital arm of Radio One; Maryam Banikarim, who moved from TV (NBCUniversal) to print (), at the same time becoming Gannett’s first-ever CMO; and Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, an Olympic gold medalist who left the U.S. Olympic Committee to run WICT, a cable industry women’s association.

Joann’s article points out some of the difficulties and pitfalls of this kind of major change, and notes steps these three took to be successful.

I see this kind of movement – changing industry, role, level – more and more often lately.  I think it’s a result of the merging and morphing so many industries are going through; the lines are less clearly drawn.  I also think some boards and senior executives have come to the conclusion that wild times require fresh thinking, and are therefore willing to take chances on less traditional candidates.

In any case, when you’re starting as an outsider – when you’re from an unexpected company or industry, or when others question the applicability of your previous experience or your area of expertise  — your first 60-90 days are even more important than in a “normal” new job.

Adding to Ms. Lublin’s excellent insights, here are some ways to smooth the transition, and make it more likely that you’ll succeed:

Get really curious. Listen deeply, and ask lots of questions.  As an outsider, you by definition have tons to find out.  And listening is a great way (perhaps the best way ) to get the information you need while demonstrating your openness to, interest in, and respect for the knowledge and culture of your new company and colleagues. Don’t assume that anything is similar to your old job – find out what’s actually true here before you jump to any conclusions. And don’t worry about looking dumb; most people will respect you for acknowledging you’re in a learning mode…and will be much more likely to support your success.

Build bridges to what you bring. When you see areas where you believe your expertise translates, offer the possibility rather than trying to cram it into people’s heads. For instance, rather than saying “Oh yeah, that’s just like our marketing situation at company X. What you need to do is….” say, “We had a situation at company X where the consumer marketing was out of sync with the new product development cycle.  Is that similar to what you’re describing?” Nobody likes a know-it-all…especially when they’re not sure, yet, that you know anything at all.

Look for early wins with others. Lublin talks about this in her article, referencing some quick steps that Maryam took at Gannett to make a difference. I agree this is important: as soon as people see you making a positive difference, the questions about your fitness for the job will start to fade.  As you’re getting curious and starting to see how your experience applies, keep an eye out for things that aren’t working well within the scope of your job that you can address quickly – especially fixes you can make by teaming with others. When you pull a group together and improve something substantive, you’re showing people what they most need to see from you in order to stop wondering why on earth you got hired.

Check out Erika Andersen’s latest book, Leading So People Will Followand discover how to be a followable leader. Booklist called it “a book to read more than once and to consult many times.”

Want to know what Erika and her colleagues at Proteus do? Find out here.

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