Being My Own Advocate

During my company offsite, I asked a good friend and colleague of mine how he was able to progress so quickly in his career. His advice to me was, “be my own advocate”. This means making it explicit to my manager what I want and what my goals are and working with my manager to make those goals happen.

It reminds me of the saying, “you have not, because you ask not.” My manager has multiple direct reports and responsibilities. She can’t read my mind nor does she have the time to. I’ve brought up explicitly what my career goals are with my manager when I first joined the company back in July. But I also can’t expect her to remember that one conversation we had months ago. It my responsibility to bring it up again and again.