March 1994 (Revised December 1998)
Background Note
HBS Case Collection

Managing Your Career

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:14

Abstract

Designed to serve as background reading for the "Managing Your Career" module of the second-year MBA elective Power and Influence. Describes the way in which managers learn and develop through on-the-job experience. Outlines a model for launching a "success syndrome" by building power and influence over the course of one's career. Also identifies some of the special challenges of: 1) managing one's early career, 2) developing power as a minority in the organization and the "glass ceiling" phenomenon, and 3) developing ethical judgment. Focusing special attention on the importance of self-assessment and introspection in building a successful career, the note concludes with a list of questions individuals should ask themselves periodically to take stock of their career and personal development.