full
Being Good at Your Job Isn't a Career Strategy? — Ep 33, Kim Sawyer Executive Coach
You can be brilliant at your job and still have no real strategy for your career. In this episode of The Business Takeaway Podcast, Ben Payne sits down with executive coach Kim Sawyer to explore why working hard, delivering results and accepting the next promotion isn't necessarily the same as building the career you actually want. This is the true advice any business person needs to hear!
Kim argues that this can become particularly dangerous for successful people because, for a long time, the system works. You perform, opportunities arrive and your career progresses.
Until eventually it doesn't.
Ben and Kim discuss why people become defined by their current job title, why success itself can become a career trap, how to build professional relationships before you need something from them, and why founders can struggle with their identity once they sell the business they've spent years building.
Kim also explains why your career needs time and attention completely separate from your current job.
His ultimate Business Takeaway:
Your job serves your career. Your career serves your life.
In this episode
- Why being good at your job isn't the same as managing your career
- How success and promotions can eventually trap talented people
- Why your employer's career path may not be the right one for you
- How your job title can limit the way you see your own capabilities
- Why conventional networking often feels uncomfortable
- How Kim approaches building genuine social capital
- Why founders sometimes struggle when they finally sell their business
- How to decide whether the next promotion or opportunity is actually right
- Why making dedicated time for your career matters
- Kim's four pillars of Career Mastery
Chapters
01:04 — Meet Kim Sawyer
01:16 — An unconventional career: military, entrepreneurship and coaching
08:09 — Becoming CEO of your own career
10:32 — Why modern careers are increasingly unpredictable
12:28 — Why most people don't have a career strategy
15:04 — How different generations think about careers
18:04 — Why founders can struggle with business exits
20:29 — The two-hour career challenge
21:48 — The four pillars of Career Mastery
25:08 — Why your job description can limit you
26:27 — When success becomes the enemy
28:37 — Networking versus building social capital
31:27 — Why networking often feels uncomfortable
33:55 — The danger of simply relying on hard work
36:04 — Signs you've become stuck
38:04 — Who is responsible for your career?
40:19 — How to judge the next opportunity
42:40 — Why good employers shouldn't fear losing good people
44:38 — What limits careers most
46:05 — Reclaiming control of your time
48:18 — Why Career Mastery isn't traditional job-search coaching
49:58 — Kim's Business Takeaway
55:18 — Kim's special offer for listeners
Guest links
Kim Sawyer on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachkimsawyer/
theWealthSource
Kim's articles and resources
https://thewealthsource.com/author/kim-sawyer/
Kim is currently listed as President of theWealthSource and offers executive, business and career development coaching. His current profiles also verify the Houston-based practice and Career Mastery work.
🎁 Business Takeaway listener offer
Are you a successful executive who aspires to more and wants to have a real say in what your future looks like? Kim is offering his $300 Career Mastery Session to the first three listeners who sign up, so schedule yours today! https://calendly.com/thewealthsource”
Linking episodes:
Erin Teter — Why Employees Stop Telling Leaders The Truth
This is the natural employer-side continuation.
Kim asks how individuals manage their careers; Erin explores what organisations need to do to develop, retain and challenge their people.
Spotify:
