10 key messages from my book The Equation of Professional Success

This article is special to me because it summarizes my first book. A great hope that brings me closer to my purpose of being an agent of positive social change and a business humanist. A work that is the result of 10 years of work and research and many conversations with professional colleagues. Thank you to my family and so many professional colleagues for inspiring me on this journey.

The work has a double objective: to improve one’s professional career and people management based on 100 short articles.

We have made progress in recent years in both aspects but I am a nonconformist. In the world of professional careers, today I see a paradoxical reality: a majority of professionals (young and veterans) have excellent job qualifications and yet, there is a lot of confusion about how to correctly guide their professional career.

In terms of people management, we also have room for improvement and we are all responsible. Each person must act as General Manager of their professional career, managers must reinvent their leadership and People Management professionals also need to reinvent themselves and put more into play their differential transformation and comprehensive people management skills. .

Below I share the 10 key messages from the book.

1. Ingredients of success and professional fulfillment: there are no magical recipes, but there are several keys to help you make progress. Finding your Ikigai, boosting your Grit, cultivating your self-awareness, seeking mentor/coach support, strengthening your network, communicating well your personal brand, understanding the work styles that fit your values, and maintaining a positive and resilient attitude are some elements to play to win in your career.
2. Ikigai and Grit: foundational pillars for your career. Beyond valuable knowledge or robust experience today there are new foundations of success. The Ikigai is your purpose of life (the intersection of your strengths and passions). A “magic” formula that boosts your employability (ability to progress professionally and adapt effectively to continuous transformations).  Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance. An essential and more important factor than talent to grow. Two pillars that coupled with a good mindset, values, attitudes and skills will multiply your value and impact.
3. First person employability: 6 attitudes will improve dramatically your career (self-awareness, self-confidence, self-responsibility, self-development, self-demand and self-compassion). This will enrich the gift of gathering feedback from relevant people that you must cultivate your entire career. Remember that if you don’t have your own dreams, you’ll end up living to do others’, even if you don’t realize it.
4. “Always Day 1” attitude: You need to leverage your learner mindset to continually reinvent yourself. Be “learner,” with curiosity, humility, resilience, while maintaining a focus on our legacy and capturing the opportunities created by the multiple transformations of an environment that will remain disruptive.
5. Let’s regain optimism about the social lift, defined as the ability to progress to a higher social class through work and effort. Although the mantra that it is damaged, there are reasons for hope. Let’s focus on our strengths, cultivate the culture of effort, and go for business-friendly countries that reward talent and sustainable economic growth. More than 60% of today’s successful entrepreneurs come from humble social classes. It is a fact that shows that it´s possible to progress and overcome adversities.
6. Let´s push for a new leadership style: today´s leaders with credibility and positive impact continue to be scarce. We don’t need hyper-leaders but humble, inspiring and sensible people to advance in a complex world. “Everyday Heroes” or relevant professionals are united by the intention of having a positive impact and betting on the triple benefit (people, profitability and sustainability). The most effective leadership is humanistic and technological, empathetic but without “goodism” and with a clear results orientation.  Valuable ingredients that multiply our talent and the competitiveness of our organizations.
7. Our mindset is key to any transformation: Success requires evolving our individual and collective mindset (mindset management).  Beliefs that are naturally too many times immune to change. Complex processes that need to be “wetted” internally, for which there are no magical recipes and which cannot be purchased or delegated. Our future is not inevitable but can be created.
8. Talent is activated with new conversations and different work environments. The best organizations do not think of the human factor as a cost to minimize, but as an asset, investment, potential and the unique greatness of each person. Talent management changes too. It’s no longer about attracting and retaining you, but about consistently delight you, treating you with maturity and transparency and avoiding overprotection. Work environments that combine more trust, growth, autonomy and freedom with the necessary ambition and continuous improvement.
9. We should “democratize” people management, which is now no longer the exclusive heritage of the Management Committees or the People Management Departments. All leaders must be committed to this key aspect, and each professional must also take their own responsibility and act every day as the General Manager of their position and life, enhancing their employability every day.
10. Towards a new people management, as a key area that must evolve to have a growing impact. It’s needed to challenge the status quo, think big, and evolve styles and mindsets. Studies on the state of the art of this role show that we are progressing, but it still requires greater knowledge of the business, closer proximity to teams and playing a more protagonist role in transformation and comprehensive people management, better leveraging the differential skills of their professionals.

The book is now available in physical bookstores and on the main virtual platforms, such as Amazon or Casa del Libro.

The presentation of the book in Barcelona will be on Monday, October 14 at 7 p.m. at Casa del Libro at Rambla de Cataluña 37 (Barcelona). If you want to attend, send me an e-mail to david.reyero@sanofi.com

I will later make more presentations, both in Barcelona and Madrid and in other cities. I will inform you in advance on my social networks.

Hopefully these ideas will help you get closer to your personal and professional fulfillment.

David Reyero Trapiello – Senior HR Business Partner – Sanofi Iberia
e-mail: David.reyero@sanofi.com / Twitter: @davidreyero73 / Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/davidreyerotrapiello/