7945_36-39_270809.qxd:36-39 20/08/2009 16:36 Page 38
GETTING AHEAD
‘By the third year in a job, you don’t have three years’ experience,
you have one year’s experience three times’
Culture of curiosity skills. Managing the vision and the future and the direction of
OneofReilly’stoptipsforasuccessfulcareertodayistodevelopa your enterprise is yet another milestone in a career, which
method for lifelong learning. “You really need to be disciplined requiresadifferentsetofskills.
aboutthat.Wehavethisexpression:bythethirdyearinajob,you “That’soneoftheinterestingthingsaboutgraduateschool.We
don’t have three years’ experience, you have one year’s experience teach people broad sets of skills, many of which don’t come into
threetimes.Whenyougettothatyou’rewastingyourtime. playuntilmuchlaterintheircareer.Buttheyneedtobemindful
“Companiesandindividualstalkaboutacultureoflearning,but oftheseandbeabletocallthembackupwhenthetimecomes.”
I think the more operative term is you need to develop a culture Work-life balance is another critical area, Reilly believes.
andapracticeofcuriosity,becausecuriosityiswhatleadstolearn- “Careersarealongraceandyouneedtostaycommittedtothem
ing,andultimatelytoallformsofentrepreneurialendeavour.” foralongtime.AndIthinkyouneedtohavetheproperbalance
Anditmaybethelearningthat’sabitoutsidetheboxthatpre- in your life so that you can do that. Otherwise you end up
pares people for their next career, says Reilly. “Learning about inevitablyburningout.”
your current job is likely to be relatively easy. The curiosity is Self-reinvention is also vital. “When I look at my own career I
what’s going to replace that, what are competitors doing, what’s was fortunate enough to do that. I’d like to say I was smart
happening in the field around it, what are the tangential fields enoughtohaveengineeredthat.Inmanycases,youjuststumble
thatpeopleneedtobeinvolvedin? intoit.Ithinkyoungerpeoplewillhaveagreaterimperativeand
“My guess is that 20 to 25pc of the people reading this article needtodothat,toreinventtheircareersandreinventtheirskills.
willatsomepointintheircareerbeinvolvedinanindustrythat Whole industries will come and go in the time that graduates
doesn’tevenexisttoday.Manywillbeingreen-relatedenergyand todayhavetheircareers.”
ecologically related industries that you can hardly prepare your- As a man who has spent much of his time working in different
selffordirectly.Butyouneedtolearnthescience,ascientificway partsoftheworld,he’salsoafirmbelieveringettingthatinterna-
ofthinkingaboutthings,thefundamentalmarketingapproaches tionalexperience.“Thisisabigsacrificeforyoungpeople,toagree
and the financial engineering that’ll be necessary to get these tomovetoanothercountryandexperienceanotherculture,butit’s
companies off the ground, and then apply all of those skills to a hardtoimaginemorethan20pcor30pcofthecareersthatpeople
wholenewsetofcircumstancesthataregoingtoevolve.” will find rewarding and successful that don’t involve significant
multinationalexperience–particularlyinacountrylikeIreland.It
Reasonable risk extendsyourintuitiveunderstandingoftheworld.”
It’simportantnottobeafraidtotakereasonablerisks,hesays.“If Leadership skills are also key for your career progression, says
you find yourself involved in a company that is risk averse, you Reilly,whohimselfreadsaleadershipbookatleastthreeorfour
should seriously consider whether or not you have a long-term times a year. “Although I am president of the AMA, I think it’s
futurethere.Becauseinherentinthisnewchangingenvironment safe to say that management is an absolutely necessary, but not
isaneedtoconstantlybesteppingintounchartedterritory.” sufficient, skill to be successful. To roughly paraphrase Peter
Not that Reilly advocates taking unreasonable risks. “But you Drucker,youmanageactivitiesandyouleadpeople.”
needtobepreparedtotakesomerisks–youneedtobeprepared Finally,Reillybelievesthatpeopleintheir20sand30sshould
tofailoften,buttofailfast.Takealotofchances,andhaveavery not expect to retire at the age of 65. “I believe a young person
rigid evaluation paradigm so if the steps that you’ve taken don’t today should reasonably expect to be actively involved in mean-
appear to be working, don’t try to cover that up and don’t stay ingfulworkuntilthey’re75or80yearsold.Itdoesn’tnecessarily
with a losing strategy. A good company understands that you mean that you’re going to stay in the same career and you’re
have to tolerate a significant number of failures in order to be goingtostayinthetopjobwithacompany.Ithinkthatyouneed
abletofindtherightformulae.” to prepare yourself for something that is going to be really quite
Peoplealsoneedtounderstandthatalmostalltrulysuccessful meaningful,whetherit’sacombinationofcommercialworkand
careers follow three patterns, he says. “In the early days of your more social work later in your career. I find it compelling and
career, you’re largely engaged in managing yourself and the job verysatisfyingtoberunninganon-profitatthisstageinmylife.
around you. Eventually that gives way to managing others and An active life well lived involves working with other people in
getting things done through others. That’s a substantial change somesortofproductivebehaviour.”
in skillset. You should get clear development and have someone GrainneRothery
helpingyoumanagethroughthatprocess.”
The final step in a highly successful career, he says, is to man- EdwardTReillyisamemberoftheNorthAmericanAdvisory
age the enterprise. “That again becomes a whole different set of BoardoftheUCDMichaelSmurfitGraduateBusinessSchool.
38 UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60