Are You a Wall or a Bridge Builder?

Humans can be quite territorial and naturally react with some covert or overt hostilities when their personal boundaries are threatened or crossed whether wittingly or unwittingly. Because those boundaries are invisible, they get threatened or crossed all the time. Some people are more tolerant than others or better at communicating their boundaries. Those who are intolerant or poor at communicating tend to polarize people into those who are "with me" and those who are "against me."

Very few people succeed by building walls around them. The real key is building bridges with people or in simpler terms, relationship building.

As a professional interested in career success, it is important that you recognize the importance of building relationship with your boss, your peers, your subordinate and your customers. It also helps to build a strong and growing network of friends outside of your organization because your social network can open the gates to bigger and better opportunities. By offering to help instead of waiting for one and getting disappointed, you invest in strengthening relationships with others.

Competence + Commitment

A lot of people put their best foot forward trying to land a job. After getting that much coveted job, they lie low and lose a great opportunity to achieve career success. The reason, getting the job means being assured of the salary. And if you don't mess up or  mess things up too much you get to keep getting that salary. If you stay long enough, you might get more due to seniority.

Career success does not end in landing the job, neither does it start there. If you are still studying or just fresh out of college, this is the perfect time to read this article. If you've been in the corporate world a long time and not making any progress, this may be the best time to reflect and move onward to success.

Competence + Commitment are two important elements of career success.