How to Make Better Career Decisions: A Driver's Guide

A practical framework and process for making smarter career decisions, mid-career transitions and MBA choices.

Four years ago, Sakshi reached out with what most Indian parents would call a ‘settled’ life and career.

After completing her Bachelors in Arts (BA) she joined a government job with a stable salary and the societal respect that comes with a sarkari naukri.

Everyone around her thought she was lucky, but she felt trapped in the situation she was in.

The career decision she made looked irrational at the time. Years later, it became obvious it was the smartest career decision she ever made.

We’ll get back to her story in a bit. First a quick question.

What’s the secret of success?

Many would probably say hard work.

If the secret of success was to work harder than everyone else, the most successful people in the world should have been the busiest.

But they aren’t. In fact, from the antics of some billionaires on social media, you might wonder if they work at all.

Over the years, I have worked with thousands of ambitious professionals across the age, role and industry spectrum. They included students & fresh graduates, experienced software engineers, consultants, investment bankers, entrepreneurs and yes, MBA applicants.

Many of them reach out after hitting a wall, and it’s not because they stopped working hard. It was because they continued to use yesterday’s approach to solve today’s problems.

Working hard can influence how fast you move. But making good decisions is the crucial element that defines where you end up.

In my experience, managing a career is a lot like driving a car.

When we start our professional lives, we are aware of only one control: the accelerator. We end up believing that the harder we press (i.e. working longer hours, chasing bigger titles, burning the candle at both ends) the faster we’ll arrive at our destination.

At first, it works. Until, one day it doesn’t.

One behavioural pattern I’ve repeatedly seen among high-achieving professionals is their tendency to overuse the accelerator.

And they wear it as a badge of honour. Because that’s what helped them get ahead in school, crack competitive exams and earn lucrative jobs.

But after the first few years, those careers start rewarding a different set of mindset and behaviours.

Careers don’t usually stall because people stop working hard.

They stall because the strategy that got them here quietly stops working.

Over the years, I’ve found myself drawing parallels with car controls that explain the most important career decisions remarkably well.

Some of this may not be immediately relevant, but it will be at some phase in your career. So make sure you save this somewhere for easy reference and a quick dose of inspiration.

The Steering Wheel: Choosing the Right Career Direction

Driving faster won’t help you if you’re heading in the wrong direction.

Some of the biggest career regrets I’ve seen weren’t from people who failed at what they were doing. They came from over-dedicated and hard-working professionals who did relatively well in the wrong job for too long.

They slogged their posteriors off chasing promotions, only to realize years later that they had spent years climbing a ladder that was leaning against the wrong wall.

Before asking yourself, “How can I grow faster?”, ask 2 important questions:

“Where do I really want to go?”

“Am I currently on the right path to get there?”

Changing direction isn’t indecision. Staying on the wrong road because you’ve already driven 200 kilometers is.

While we’re on the topic, there’s another issue reflected in a question that has become annoyingly mandatory in interviews:

“Where do you see yourself in 10 or 20 years?”

The honest answer is that none of us can see that far. But that’s not an acceptable answer in interviews where honesty often attracts a penalty.

When you drive on a foggy night on a long, lonely road, you’ll see only a few meters of road ahead. Yet that’s enough to complete a journey that may last hundreds of kilometres.

With the changing economy, disruptive technology, evolving job market, new opportunities can appear while old ones disappear without much warning.

Trying to predict every twist and turn in your career is impossible. Though some smart professionals still go overboard to map every possibility. [Read why smart professionals struggle with career decisions. ]

Don’t lose sleep over creating a perfect long-term career roadmap, focus on making your very next thoughtful decision. You will gain the career clarity one turn at a time.

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The Gears: Adapting Your Career Strategy

The first gear is good to take you through the first couple of years. But you can’t move into the fast lane unless you switch gears.

Every gear change briefly feels like you’re losing momentum.

That’s why so many people avoid changing careers.

Sakshi understood this instinctively. She accepted staying in the slower lane before she could move faster. She had a family, and a kid, to think about.

Early in your career, you’re rewarded for execution. Later, you’re rewarded for judgment, leadership and helping others succeed.

Many professionals struggle because they try to reach the next stage using the strategy that worked in the previous one.

Ultimately, your success depends less on what you accomplish on your own, and more on how effectively you enable others to achieve.

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The Pit Stop: When an MBA or Career Break Makes Sense

To an inexperienced observer, a race car entering the pit lane appears to be losing. Your favourite car has stopped, but competitors keep zooming past at breakneck speeds.

However, experienced teams know how important a well-timed pit stop is to not only complete the race, but also increase the odds of winning. If the driver doesn’t hit the brakes, the tired tyres will go up in smoke.

The pit stop in your career may involve learning a new skill, taking a sabbatical, recovering from burnout, pursuing higher education or earning an MBA.

Not everyone needs a pit stop though. So don’t take the decision based on what others you know have done. Only focus on whether your career needs one.

Take the MBA for instance. For the right person at the right stage, an elite degree can be transformational. For someone else, it may simply be an expensive detour that sets them back financially, without transforming their career in any significant manner.

Most MBA applicants I help are in their twenties. When I started my MBA, I was over thirty. Different strokes for different folks.

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Case Study: How Sakshi managed to change careers

She knew she couldn’t continue in her current job at a public sector bank.

Instead of spending a fortune on an international MBA, like many of her friends were doing, she chose a different path.

She pressed the clutch.

At 28, she left her secure bank job and restarted her career as an unpaid intern at a digital marketing startup. It meant less money, less status and plenty of uncertainty.

Over the next 5 years, she steadily changed gears -building new skills, taking online courses, expanding her responsibilities.

When she got on the right lane, she hit the accelerator with a vengeance and continued until she became the Head of Digital Marketing at a publicly listed company.

Only then did she decide that an MBA was the right pit stop for her next stage of growth.

Years later, we had the privilege of helping her secure admission to IIM Ahmedabad. [DM if you’d like to read her full story]

Her success wasn’t built by keeping her foot on the accelerator.

It came from knowing when to steer, when to change gears, when to press the clutch, when to accelerate and when to make a well-timed pit stop.

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Bon voyage!

Before starting a long road trip, it’s common practice to check the route, the weather, the condition of the vehicle and the readiness of the driver.

Yet I’ve seen IITians, FAANG professionals and bulge bracket investment bankers make career decisions worth crores based on social/peer pressure or emotions.

Whether you’re considering an MBA, or changing industries/roles/countries, or simply wondering what your next move should be, here’s one thing to remember.

A career isn’t defined by one spectacular decision. It’s shaped by dozens of small ones.

The better those decisions become, the less often you’ll need expensive course corrections later.

This is the first article in a series exploring practical mental models for making better career decisions.

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And if you’re currently at an important career crossroads, whether that’s evaluating an MBA, considering a career transition or deciding between multiple paths, I’d be happy to help you think through that decision.