Inflection Point: Thoughts On Our Career

Last week I read a book called “only the paranoid survive” by former Intel Chairman Andy Grove. In this book, Mr. Grove articulates the concept of inflection point and explains how to navigate through one so that a company can come out of it stronger and better on the other side. 

Mathematically speaking, inflection point is a point where slope of the curve changes sign, meaning it’s a point at which a curve stops curving one way and starts curving the other way. As shown to the left, inflection point, in a business context, is a point where profound and massive changes occur, where balance of forces shift from the old ways of doing business and the old ways of competing to the new ways of doing business and competing.

Actions a leader takes in and around that inflection point determines whether the business takes off and reaches new heights or whether the business declines and fades from our memory. Inflection point comes in many forms, be it a competition, a change in regulation, a change in technology, or even a change in a culture. 

An example of such inflection point for Intel was in early 1980s, when Japanese semiconductor companies started bringing in high-quality, low-price memories. Margins kept declining and declining, and Intel was at a crossroads of having to choose between continuing with memory business or focusing on Microprocessors. Through painful introspection and difficult decisions, Intel chose the latter and brilliance of that decision is evident still to this day when we think about how successful of a company Intel is today.

I think you would agree with me when I say that each person, every one of us, is like an individual business, that our career is literally our business, and that we are CEOs of our respective businesses. Just like the CEO of a big company, we will be faced with many inflection points throughout the course of our careers and whether our career path bounces upward or downward through such inflection points will depend on our actions in and around those critical inflection points. My hope in writing this post is that you become aware of what   career inflection points are, become sensitive enough to recognize one when you are confronted with one, and take proper actions to exploit inflection points to your advantage and ultimately have many successive upward bounces in your career inflection curve.

So how do you develop the ability to sense your career inflection point? First and foremost, be alert to changes in your environment and constantly ask questions about their implications. Be alert to changes in your organization. Let’s say there are rumors about reorganization. What does that mean for your career? Should you try to join a team that's newly being formed? Let’s say new employee with same skill set as yours just joined the company. Does your boss need two people with same skill sets? Can that new employee do the job better than you do? Let’s say your direct supervisor is not presenting any vision for your team. Should you jump the ship and join another team or leader with clear vision? These are valid questions to ask when such changes occur in your organizations or in your company.

Also be alert to changes going on in the world at large that are relevant to the business you work for. You must open up your mind to outside views. Read the newspapers. Attend industry conference. Network with people in other companies. You may hear about impending changes that may be relevant to your career. Listen to chatters from colleagues and friends. Let’s say that you read in the newspaper that there’s new super robot capable of writing software on its own or capable of doing your job. What would you do to prepare for the arrival of that robot? Let’s say there is a new wave of internet innovations and new technologies. How would those innovations and technologies change the way you and your team work?

Maybe you are in the right industry but you are in the company that’s in decline. Should you change the company to advance your career? Again, asking these questions about your career in the context of larger world is important to do. 

Lastly, Imagine and Experiment. Picture yourself in different roles, Read about these roles. Talk to people who are in them. Experiment your speaking skills and leadership skills in a variety of settings. Maybe you find out you have a real talent for managerial or PR positions and that could lead you to a different career trajectory. Maybe you can ask your boss to give you different assignment, which can lead you to a different career path. Through imagining and experimenting, you might find your true passion and a whole new career.

So in conclusion, my action points for you are three-fold: 
1) Be aware of career inflection points b/c they are sure to come in your career. 
2) Be alert to changes in your environment, in your industry, in the world at large. 
3) Imagine and Experiment in new roles and skills. 
I urge you to get in front of these career inflection points and change with them and I wish you much success on your career journey. 

Jim Morris, Pacific Life

One of the perks of attending business school is chances to meet and listen to business leaders in person and the very first business leader I met in business school was Jim Morris, a 

current Chairman and CEO of Pacific Life, an US insurance company.

Jim Morris, Pacific Life

He was soft-spoken and calm throughout the presentation and there was a reassuring presence about him; his qualities seemed to reflect the industry he was working in and he seemed the right type of leader for insurance industry, which tends to be conservative. He first explained his company and landscape of insurance industry and how he got to his current position. It was interesting to listen to how he never thought of or sought higher positions in his company but several key promotions came his way as he became successful in each of his positions. Then he shared his business philosophies and leadership philosophies.

*Business philosophies

When he was sharing his business philosophies, I felt that he really valued having competitive advantage and sustaining that edge because I heard him mentioning competitive advantage and sustainability a lot.  Do you know what Warren Buffet’s favorite question is when Buffet considers investing in some company? It’s “what happens to your business if you have to increase your price 10%?” Jim explained that, when Buffet sees business owner stammering to answer the question, it’s a business that doesn't have much of a sustainable (competitive) advantage. How can companies achieve that competitive advantage? Competitive advantage can come from any of the following differentiating factors: 1. Price leadership; 2. Product Innovation; 3. Customer Intimacy(Service). He gave Apple as a company that has competitive advantage through Product Innovation and Nordstrom as a company that has competitive advantage through Customer Intimacy. He explained that his company can’t really achieve price leadership because a lot of insurance pricing comes from yields/interest/Wall Street and can’t look to Product Innovation because insurance products can’t be patented and has a very short lead time before other companies come out with similar products. So he focuses on Customer Intimacy or Service as source of his company’s competitive advantage. I thought it was an interesting framework to define how businesses seek to find competitive advantage in the market. Jim also talked about his approach in looking at the business opportunities and called it “flow” and how he has ideas and liking for certain business opportunities but waits for perfect opportunity and time to capitalize on that opportunity to the maximum. So it’s always good to have a range of ideas that are to your liking and look for that “flow” or opportunities to form perfectly and take advantage of such opportunities to the maximum.

*Leadership philosophies

A) Balancing work between Wheelhouse, Stretch, and Totally Uncomfortable.

Jim explained how his day-to-day tasks fall into one of these 3 categories. He said that doing totally uncomfortable  tasks are engaging and can be fun when you learn something new from it. As professionals, I think we all have our own wheelhouse skills and we should definitely keep those skills sharp. But I think doing something stretchy or challenging ourselves to do totally uncomfortable tasks at times are absolutely necessary because doing so will make us grow. Some of things I am experiencing and learning at business school now are stretch tasks and some are totally uncomfortable tasks but going through these and learning from them will make me grow, stronger and wiser.

B) Surround yourself with people with complementary skills to yours.

Jim said he is a big believer in surrounding himself with people that are very complementary to his skills. He is a big believer in knowing one’s strengths/weaknesses and surrounding oneself with people with complementary skills.

C) You can’t over-communicate as a leader

Sometimes we hope problems at work will somehow work themselves out and hope problems will go away. But hope is never a good strategy. Jim talked about Pacific Life’s relationship with one of the old clients and how that relationship almost ended. Jim said that any long term relationships that have been successful, at some point, needs re-investment. At some point, you have to re-invest in it like a new relationship. Jim joked at this point about how his wife of over 30 years said “that’s pretty good advice for marriage too” when Jim previewed his speech to his wife before coming.

Towards the end, during the Q&A session, one classmate asked Jim how he was able to stay at the same company over 30 years and here’s how he responded. He said that he had the respect for the people he worked for and felt values are the same. If values were different and if he had felt his leaders were not looking after him, he said he might have left.  Something every company interested in keeping top talent should think about.