Compete Only with Yourself

by Caroline Leach | Jul 10, 2023 | Careers, Corporate Communications

Compete only with yourself. 🚴

That’s where the true contest is.

✅ How can you stretch and grow?

✅ What can you do better today than yesterday?

✅ How can you beat your personal best?

Much of what we read, see, and experience is about a competition for what we perceive are limited resources. College admissions. Professional jobs. Pay raises.

Comparing ourselves to others on social media makes this even worse. It looks like everyone is doing better than us. No one has problems. Life is easy.

Except this isn’t true. Deep down, we know it intellectually. But feeling it emotionally is another story.

What if we reframed our perspective? What if we approached our lives and careers as if there were more than enough go around? As if there were plenty of opportunities?

Because there are. We live in an era of multiple global problems that need to be addressed. Pick a way to make a difference, and go do that.

And if you’re competing only against yourself, it’s much easier.

People often ask how I navigated a 30-year career in the Fortune 100. How did I get jobs and promotions?

What I realized is I was usually competing only with myself for jobs. Often I was the only candidate being considered. And that makes it easier to be selected!

After my first career change into corporate communications, I was eager for more responsibility. But it wasn’t happening where I was. The company wasn’t growing. People stayed in the same roles for years. To grow, I needed to change companies.

Professional associations are a source of connection and learning for me, especially IABC and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). This is how I met Wendy Greene and Jeff Torkelson. Jeff and I are also alums of the same MA program at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, a strong connection.

One day I called Jeff by way of Wendy, who gave me his contact info (pre social media!). There was a business reason I wanted to reconnect, unrelated to a job search.

Jeff and I chatted. He mentioned some challenges in hiring a communications manager. The former manager left the job. Interviews were conducted. No one was hired. Would I be interested in talking with his team at DIRECTV about the role? Um, yes!

A series of conversations ensued, including hiring manager Rosemary Heath. I was thrilled to receive an offer and move to a growing company, 5 years into its run as a pay-TV provider.

Unless I missed something, I suspect I was the only candidate. The question may have been, “should we hire Caroline, yes or no?” rather than “which candidate should we choose?”

And it turned out pretty well. I grew from a manager, to senior manager, to director, to senior director, to vice president in 6 years. I went from an individual contributor to the leader of a team of 45 communicators in 9 different states.

How have YOU landed great new jobs?

P.S. Thank you, Wendy, Jeff, and Rosemary!