Member-only story
What Would They Do?
A Framework for Leveling Up in Your Career
This is the story of a young boy named Matthew. Matthew lived with his parents and had a lot to learn from what life had to offer. One day, Matthew’s parents thought it would be a great idea to give their son a fine dining experience as until that point Matthew only ate in the comfort of his home or local outlets. Their idea worked wonders.
Fast forward a few decades, Matthew was now happily married with a lovely daughter named Cara. Matthew discussed with his wife that it would be a great idea for Cara to experience fine dining just like the way he did when he was younger. They agreed and soon made the outing.
Since Matthew himself doesn’t fine dine often, he was feeling a little bit out of place. That with the added pressure of giving Cara an experience that she will hopefully cherish and also learn from left him with a feeling of not knowing what to really do. That’s when he tried to recall his experience as a young kid in a restaurant and how his parents efficiently managed the situation. He asked himself, “What would they do?”
That was the turning point. Matthew now had a blueprint of what was expected of him. Suddenly, he was comfortable being in an unfamiliar place. At the end of the evening, Cara had a good time dining at the restaurant and also learned a lot of new etiquette.
Now, let’s bring this story closer to home. Just like Matthew, haven’t we all been in situations where we didn’t have a frame of reference? Yet, haven’t we all wanted to do our best in these situations? How many of us have asked this question before — what would they do?
So how does this work?
Let me summarize this framework for you.
Step 1) Finding a needle in a haystack
Take your time to find a suitable role model. Ask yourself what traits are you looking for in your role model and what you’d want to learn from them. This is a crucial step so you must take your time with this.
Step 2) Observe, absorb, and learn
Once you’ve found someone you can look up to, try and observe how they work. The differentiator between them and others wouldn’t…
