I teach the people I mentor that leadership means accepting responsibility for things that aren’t your fault.

The individual contributor that stays in that role for an entire career does what is asked, but no more.

If something goes wrong, she says, “I didn’t make a mistake. You can’t blame me for that one. That’s not my job.” 

The aspiring leader realizes a problem may not be her fault, but will often make it her responsibility to fix it. 

She figures out why the problem happened, figures out how to solve it, and gathers the appropriate people and resources needed to prevent the problem from occurring again. 

To be a rising star in industry, make the problems around you disappear. When you develop a track record and reputation for doing this, the powers that be have a powerful incentive to give you their biggest headaches.

(This approach works best when you tackle the problems nobody else wants to touch or is too busy to deal with. Nobody feels threatened when you solve the problems they need solved, but don’t want to or can’t solve themselves.)

The difference between creating a stellar versus a mediocre career is often small. Small but profound differences in thinking, mindset, and skills.

If you’re determined to develop a rising star career in industry, I would invite you to learn more about my Inner Circle mentorship program.

My Inner Circle is open for enrollment just twice per year, for a few days. The next and only opportunity to join in 2018 will be next month. To be notified when Inner Circle enrollment is open, just submit the form below.

Please Notify Me When Victor Cheng’s Inner Circle Mentorship Program is Available

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