A career as challenging mountain tour: entry, break and summit.

"What my boss does, I could do myself as well," says the ambitious candidate in an interview. "What does he do"? I ask curiously. I am always curious hear about employees experiences on their own leadership. Often answers come like: The boss is present at many important meetings, does not always look through all the details and makes decisions that the employee would have made differently if not better. If there are good ideas, the boss takes the credit and acts as if everything had grown in his garden. All too human, after all.

Lately I had the following analogy in mind: Your professional career as a mountain tour! You start with a clear goal in mind and the map in your hand. The start is successful, the path is long, the altitude lost on the route has not been calculated. The summit disappears from your view. At the intermediate station you look back : Proud on what you have achieved so far.

At the intermediate station:

You are inspired by the upcoming rise to the summit. But: the last stage is not a repetition of the ascent. Now it's getting steep, the technical passages are demanding, the paths are narrow, the signposts are missing. You really start to sweat and need breaks.

In my analogy, your boss is already at the summit. There are bosses who pat themselves on the chest there. They pull their arms up because they were faster, fitter and braver. Or they just took off earlier than you. But there are also bosses who are calling their advices now and even throw you the rope. The bosses who see easier access from above, now as they have the perspective. They want you too to enjoy the thrill of the summit too.

At the summit:

And finally: You have reached the summit. You look back on the route and see the map in 3 dimensional picture in front of you. You have aha experiences. This is simply because you now have a different height and therefore a different perspective. You laugh about your exuberance at the intermediate station and are glad that everything went well.

My candidate is at the intermediate station and thinks to himself: "Just a stone's throw from the summit!" Hopefully he will see it differently when he reaches the summit. Until then, be careful! Even if your boss is not the best climber and certainly not a mountain guide. He's already a bit further along and therefore has a different perspective on the route. Try to profit from this!