為什麼「職商」對於職場成功來說那麼重要？

01-27

要想把一件事情做好，首先要充分了解這件事情。聽起來很有道理，是不是？如果你認同我這個觀點，那你現在就應該開始重視自己職商的提高。要知道，你的職商越高，你越了解如何獲得成功，你在職場中做出英明決策的能力越強，你越能出色地完成工作，追求自己的職業目標。

為何你的現狀這麼糟？

現在，你可能覺得花時間提高自己的職商有些不切實際，你覺得，提高職商不是改善自己處境的關鍵。你認為自己需要的是一個直截了當的答案，來幫你解決你的職場問題。如果你這樣想的話，那你就是大錯特錯了。

因為當你想逃離自己不甚滿意的工作時，或者打你希望得到一個答案來解決自己在職場中面臨的問題時，你首先要問問自己，你是如何淪落到這個地步的？為什麼你會進入一個自己不滿意的行業或公司？為什麼你會做這些自己不喜歡的工作？為什麼你會給這麼不靠譜的老闆打工？答案就是，自作自受。

現實是，這些問題的源頭是你的決策失誤。對，就是你想的那樣，這一切的根本原因就是你的職商太低。

想像一下，如果你當初在職場中做了更明智的決定或選擇了不同的職業，你現在會獲得多少成功，會有多幸福。有一些人，他們取得更多成功的原因就是因為他們沒有陷入你遇到的那些困境。他們的職商更高，所以他們有能力避開你面臨的困難；他們的職商更高，所以他們會有更多的時間和精力來獲得成功，而不是把時間浪費在解決各種問題上。

職商將如何影響你的職業發展

對我來說，職商高意味著你可以控制好自己在職場中的決策和每一步行動。下面，我舉了三個在我初入職場時因為職商而從中獲益的三個例子。

我及時避開了職業前景不適合我的工作——其實我一開始打算學法律，而不是進入商學院。那時我已經被法學院錄取，開始摩拳擦掌。在等待課程開始的時候，為了深入地理解這一行業，我去跟一些律師談了談。但是，這些律師似乎不喜歡他們的工作。從事法律行業並不像我們在電視上看到的那樣，風光滿面地站在法庭里與對方律師爭辯，為大家伸張正義。現實是，多數律師都在在翻閱厚厚的法律文件，做詳細的調查，或在為客戶填寫申請表。實在是無聊。

最後，我決定放棄法學院。謝天謝地！跟律師的談話提高了我的職商，讓我了解了真正的律師生活是怎樣的，讓我避免了花費大量的時間和金錢來追求自己不喜歡的事情。

做了改變一生的工作選擇——拿到MBA之後，我在工作方面的選擇可以說是我這一生中最明智的決定了，因為我選擇離開美國，到亞洲去。

當時，有兩家大型消費品公司向我拋出了橄欖枝。我想做市場方面的工作，所以這兩家公司剛好對口。但是，我最後選擇了一家技術公司，也就是王安電腦，雖然這家公司並不以市場銷售聞名。

這個選擇很艱難。他們提出的薪資和職位都不如另外兩家公司誘人，而且我入職後要先參加四個半月的銷售培訓，這一點真的大大地打擊到了我的興趣。但是這份工作是在亞太分部，而另外兩家公司都把重心放在了美國市場上。我當時想儘快到中國去，所以選擇了王安電腦。入職15個月後，我被調到台灣工作。到現在，我已經在中國工作了20多年了。

我經常會想，如果當時我選擇的是另外兩家公司，現在我會怎麼樣？幸運的是，我當時知道我最想要的是什麼，知道哪種環境會幫助我達到我自己的目標。這一切也都要感謝我當時的職商。

想辦法調到亞洲分布工作——完成銷售培訓之後，我被分配到了公司的波士頓總部，負責支持亞洲部門的運營。當時我需要做的就是從公司的30000多名同事中脫穎而出。

於是，我自己製作了一份文件，收錄了關於公司主要產品的常見問題。有些問題是我之前遇到的，大多數都是我自己想出來的。提出問題後，我便諮詢研發、產品發展、技術支持以及銷售部門的各位同事，把問題答案記錄下來。

文件完成後，我發給了我負責支持的亞洲相關人員。出乎我的意料，這份文件在整個公司里被傳閱，最後我成功引起了大老闆的注意。他主動問我的職業興趣在哪兒，我的回答是：「老闆，把我調到亞洲工作吧！」

我並沒有去考慮公司為什麼應該把我調到亞洲，我只是集中精力幫助我負責的那些人把工作完成得更出色。我既沒有感到失望也沒有失去耐心，我選擇去完成一件能夠幫助到我的同事的事情。我的這種價值導向也是基於我的職商和我對自己所處環境的了解。

善於避免問題，而不是解決問題

作為一個在人才服務行業待了20多年的專業人士，在這些年裡，我遇到了很多人，他們自己做的選擇導致他們在工作中遇到了問題，限制了發展。很不幸。如果，他們做了不一樣的選擇，或選擇了更好的事業，一切就都不一樣了。

所以你想要一些實用的職場建議？聽好了。把時間和精力花在能夠助你接近目標的事情上。現在做不到這些？那就請你提高你的職商，這才是關鍵。高的職商能幫你找到更好的工作，找到更理想的工作環境，讓你離成功更近。

你需要的是更好的方法，而不是答案

不要再問你需要做什麼。當你忙著尋求問題的答案時，你很有可能會遇到另一個問題。要想獲得成功和找到一份讓你滿意的職業，你要學會避免問題，而不是想著去解決問題。不要在最開始的時候就讓自己陷入一個不滿意的環境。要更快地明確自己所處的環境並且給自己創造機會，達到加快學習速度和發展速度的目的。職商高的人更擅長做這些事情。這就是為什麼職商是成功道路上不可或缺的一部分，這也是為什麼從現在就要開始，你要提高自己的職商。

在下一篇關於職商（共三篇）的文章中，我將解釋到底什麼是職商？

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Why Career Sense Is So Essential To Your Success

Before you can do something well you need to understand it well first. That concept makes perfect sense, right? If you think so, then you should care a lot about improving your career sense. Because here』s the bottom line. The better your career sense, or understanding of how to achieve your career success, the better you』ll be able to make good career decisions, perform in your job well, and pursue your career objectives.

How you end up in bad situations in the first place

Now, you』re probably thinking that spending time to improve your career sense isn』t very practical. It isn』t the most critical thing you need to do right now to improve your situation. What you need instead are straightforward answers to solve your career problems. But you couldn』t be more wrong.

Because when you find yourself in a bad job or career situation that you need answers to fix or escape from, you have to ask yourself, how did you end up there in the first place? Why are you in an industry or company you don』t like, in a job function you aren』t interested in, or working for a crap boss? These were your choices and decisions.

The fact is, the reason you have to deal with many of these unhappy situations is because of bad decisions you』re making. And the root cause to most of your career problems is, you guessed it, your poor career sense.

Just imagine how much more successful and happier you』d be if you made better job decisions and different career choices. A big reason why some people are more successful is because they』re able to avoid the type of bad situations you face. Their career sense is better. So they spend more of their time and effort building their career success instead of solving their career problems.

How career sense impacts your career success

For me, career sense has had a huge impact on my own career moves and decisions. Here are just three times when it helped me early in my career.

The time I avoided a career track that didn』t fit me - Before going to business school, I actually planned to go to law school. I got in and was all set to go!

While waiting for the program to start though, I decided to talk to some lawyers to better understand what they did. They all said the same thing. They loved law school and studying law. But nobody seemed to like their job. Practicing law wasn』t like what we see on TV, where you battle other lawyers in a courtroom and stand up for the rights of others. Instead, most lawyers review thick legal documents, do detailed research, and file applications for clients. It sounded mind-numbing.

Ultimately, I decided not to go. Thank god! These conversations raised my career sense and understanding of what a law career really looked like and helped me avoid wasting a huge amount of time and money pursuing something I wouldn』t like.

The time I made a job decision that changed my life – I call my job decision after getting my MBA as the best career decision I ever made, because it got me to Asia from the U.S.

At the time, I had offers from two leading consumer product companies. I wanted to do marketing, so these were just the companies to work for. But instead, I took an offer from a technology company, Wang Computers, in an industry that』s not known for its marketing.

Accepting their offer wasn』t an easy decision. They offered me much less money and a lower title. I also had to do 4 ? months of sales training when I started. That was a big turn off. But their position was in their Asia Pacific Division, while the other two opportunities focused on the U.S. market. Since I wanted to come to China as soon as possible, I chose Wang Computers. 15 months later, I got transferred to Taipei. That was over 20 years ago. I』ve been here ever since.

I often wonder how long it would have taken me to get here if I took one of the other offers. Fortunately, I was very clear about what was most important to me then and what kind of situation would best allow me to achieve my career goal. This was also due to my career sense back then.

The time I did something that got me transferred to Asia – After my sales training, I was assigned to Wang Computers』 Boston headquarters to support its Asia operations. Now, I just needed to stand out among the company』s 30,000 other employees.

What I did was create a document of answers to most often asked questions about the company』s key product then. Some questions I had heard before, but most I came up with myself. I then talked to R&D, product development, technical support, and sales & marketing people in the company and documented their answers.

When I finished the document, I passed it to the people I supported in Asia. Beyond my expectations, it started getting circulated around the entire company. This caught the attention of my boss, who then approached me to ask what my career interest was. My response was, 「Send me to Asia, dude!」

Rather than think so much about why the company should send me to Asia, I just focused on helping those I supported be more successful. Rather than feel frustrated or impatient, I identified and did something that had a high impact to others. This value-oriented approach was also based on my career sense and understanding of my situation then.

Become good at avoiding problems, not solving them

As a talent industry professional for over 20 years, I』ve met many people who have placed themselves in a situation that』s causing their career problems or limiting their success. It』s too bad. If only they had made a different career choice or better job decision.

So want some very practical career advice? Here it is. Spend your time and energy in situations that help you get closer to what you want instead of situations that don』t. Unable to do this nearly enough right now? Then improve your career sense. That』s the key. Better career sense will help you put yourself into better job and career situations, and then pursue your success more effectively once you』re there.

What you need is a better approach, not more answers

So stop always asking others what you should do. While you may get answers to fix your problem, it』s likely that you』re just going to run into different problems later on. Many of your career bottlenecks, bad job decisions, and job frustrations don』t have to happen though. To have a more successful, happier career, you want to become good at avoiding problems, not always solving them. Stop putting yourself in undesirable situations in the first place. Become stronger at identifying situations and creating opportunities by yourself that can speed up your learning and development. People with stronger career sense are better at doing these things. That』s why career sense is so essential to your career success, and why you want to improve yours right away.

In my next article in this series of three articles about career sense, I』ll talk about What Exactly Is Career Sense?