Lessons from a certain CEO on your career

Be a Busybody:

In a big company, your role is often very specialized and the things you do will naturally be of a narrow scope. Achieving mastery in what you do is desirable, but it is also important to know a bit of what is happening around you, on a macro scale. This is to say that it is good to be a busybody, in a smart way, and talk to people from other departments. From your conversations, understand the different processes in different areas as well as their perspectives.
The advantage of being a busybody is not only some knowledge of the various operations of the company, but unwittingly you gain visibility in the organization. Senior management will come to take note of your curious antics and when the opportunity arise for a project which often needs cross-department knowledge, you will have a high chance of being considered for the role.

Balance.. Life is a marathon

.... and so is your career. Remember, your working life can span up to 40 years... or more. In the current generation, I believe many hold the dream of retiring at 40 or even earlier. Mr CEO has seen many people burnout after working day and night for the first few years of their career. In the long run, the winner goes to the one still running the race.
It is thus important to have a work-life balance. Mr CEO takes joy in spending time with his family, especially his wife whom he holds dearly.

Take care of your people

Your success depends a lot on how you treat your people.
For your staff, if they clear their KPI (key performance indicator), make sure they get their well-justified reward.
A question comes up from the audience on how does he monitor so many people. The answer to that is that he has sub-managers to monitor their respective groups. This answer is obvious in my opinion, but to really do that well is a challenge which requires both leadership and charisma
Lastly, your people also include your customers. Make sure that they are happy using your products.

Get a Mentor

Lastly, having a mentor can add to your value. It is important to get a good mentor. Good mentors hear you before saying its a stupid idea. The choice of a mentor seems to be a great discussion point. I would try to blog about this in my next posts.