The art of the hustle
The people who get far in their careers are the ones that are great at hustling. The ones who are thinking about the next connections to make and are constantly thinking ahead. For every person who isn’t hustling there are loads more people who are getting promoted and progressing in their career and a key reason will be that they are great at hustling.
I define my hustle as being smart about how you raise your profile and grow your career, while making it authentic to you.
Make (smart) connections
Most people will tell you that networking is important and key to career growth. However, most people dislike networking as it feels unnatural, cheesy, or inauthentic.
My approach to networking is to make connections and build a network of people who can help, support and guide you. And offer the same in return. This way it feels like an extended part of my work life.
How to make smart connections in the workplace, think about:
Who are the key influencers?
Who should I be speaking with regularly?
Who can be a possible ally and can advocate on my behalf?
Once you have identified people in these buckets, work out the best way to engage with them. Is it a 15min coffee break or a regular one-to-one meeting?
Whatever you decide, make sure you know what outcome you want, and come to the session with an agenda. I often use sessions to ask questions and advice or to sense-check ideas.
To make smart connections outside the workplace, think about:
Attend events and talk to people as a design leader. Be sure to connect with them on Linkedin or social media.
Share your thoughts - leverage your platform to showcase your thinking in a blog or snippets on LinkedIn
Join a panel as an expert
Outside of a work environment, a good way to network is to go to events and just talk to people, as a design leader I like to talk to people about how the tech area is structured and how design fits into a company - this gives me ideas and an understanding of different approaches that I can try.
If you are more of an introvert, my number one tip would be to not overthink it. Prepare some questions that you could ask to stimulate conversation. In general, most people like to talk about themselves so you just need a question to start and then ask follow-up questions. If the conversation dries up, it’s acceptable to make your excuses and move on.
Show you have an opinion
One thing I find is many people have a platform and opportunity but don’t leverage those opportunities to showcase their talents and thinking. For example as a designer how do you think you can show the value of design? What is not working and what ideas do you have to solve it? How does design align with the wider business objectives? How do you think AI will affect the design process?
Having and showcasing your ideas shows that you are thinking wider than your team and helps to show that you have the potential to be a future leader. It is also a great way to create influence, expressing your thoughts to a senior stakeholder helps to shine a light on something they might not be thinking about or the impact of decisions that have been made. For example, how should the team structure evolve as the business scales? What are the key UX opportunities that aren’t being prioritised?
Think also about how you can promote your ideas externally maybe it’s posting on LinkedIn or externally speaking. These activities help to define and refine your thoughts while promoting yourself in the world of design and tech.
Promoting yourself to others
Another hustle to adopt is promoting what you and your team are doing to the rest of the company. Presenting projects and learnings helps to raise your profile around the company, it can also establish you as an expert within the business. Examples include:
Presenting in an All Hands
Setting up a meeting with senior leadership
Creating a recording about your project and sending it around the company
One thing that gets missed especially within a remote world is the power of broadcasting communication to the company. Giving updates on discovery and insights that you’ve found is a great way to promote yourself as an expert. Also ensuring that you mention how it ladders up to the goals of the business is another great way to promote yourself.
Hustling is seen as a negative thing but one thing to remember is the only person that can truly advocate for you is yourself. Although talent is key, the people who have gone far in their careers are not necessarily the most talented at their craft, they are the ones who have worked out, it’s mostly about the hustle and who you know.
Hustling includes being smart about the connections you make and how you leverage those connections. Being a hustler is promoting yourself and your achievements to as many people as you can.
