We recently asked, what are the toughest challenges you’ve faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?
When we asked business leaders how they overcame the toughest challenges in their careers, the responses were nothing short of inspiring.
From battling self-doubt and navigating career pivots, to embracing new technologies and building inclusive teams, these leaders reveal the strategies that have helped them turn obstacles into opportunities.
Here are some of their experiences, and the lessons they learnt along the way.
Wesley Pearson
Managing Director: Artefact Group
Throughout my career I experienced the downfall of three companies due to poor leadership, which profoundly shaped my approach as managing director at Artefact Group.
One challenge was dealing with unclear and inconsistent leadership. These experiences highlighted the importance of clear communication and a unified vision. At Artefact Group, I focus on setting transparent goals and aligning our strategies with our objectives. This keeps the team motivated and on track.
Witnessing poor decision-making was another significant challenge, often leading to missed opportunities. To combat this, I embraced a data-driven approach and fostered collaborative decision-making. By involving key stakeholders and relying on solid data, we’ve made more informed decisions.
Additionally, these experiences underscored the importance of building an inclusive team. Inclusivity is crucial for harnessing diverse perspectives and fostering innovation. This required mental resilience and a commitment to creating a culture where every team member feels valued and heard. Prioritising inclusivity has ensured effective collaboration, driving the company’s success.
These experiences have reinforced the need for strong, transparent, and inclusive leadership, emphasising the importance of clear vision, informed decisions, and a collaborative team environment.
Also on The Big Smoke
Milad Juma
Partner and Principal lawyer: PRD Legal; Board Member & Public Officer: AACSAN; General Counsel: Bakhtar Community Organisation
The challenges I’ve faced in my career look like a walk in the tulips compared to the challenges my parents overcame to give me the opportunities I have been so lucky to embark on.
With that said, my first challenge was self-doubt. Questions I often faced included whether I was smart enough; were my English language skills up to scratch? My parents aren’t white collar, how would I fit in? My second challenge was gaining experience and exposure. The third challenge was accepting that I would need to wait 10 to 20 years to climb a corporate ladder that expected me to “fit-in” with my peers. My fourth challenge was learning to swim on my own. When most junior lawyers worked in an environment with multiple layers of mentoring, I worked in one with a “get it done” attitude.
How I overcame (and am still overcoming) these challenges is an answer that changes depending on the day. Today, I consider that I overcame these challenges by having a healthy balance of pain, love, and gratitude; a supportive network of friends and family; and a burning desire to find growth within my weaknesses. Ultimately, it’s a day-by-day attitude with an end goal in mind.
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Thena Johnstone
Founder: Arc Of Life
As a 49-year-old modern elder, my career has been weaved in change and adaptation – from corporate to business owner, enterprise NFP and now embarking on a startup.
Recently, I was made redundant from an enterprise role, but I have a side hustle. The future is the creator economy, so look at side hustles and fractional work to increase your revenue streams, and opportunities. Think life experiments, and do not let fear hold you back. All successful people fail, and your mistakes could actually be blessings in disguise to help you arrive at a breakthrough moment to launch your next adventure.
Career pivots are necessary in today’s fast-moving world of technology, as change and disruption in all industries is certain. And change is the pathway to elevate your life learning – getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, pushing through self-doubt to self-understanding. Lean into your strengths, but know where your edges are to what you need to upskill to take you to the next level.
Also on The Big Smoke
Akshay Puri
Senior Account Executive: Alloyfold
The biggest challenge in my career has been not knowing what I truly wanted. After university education, I had a sense of short-sightedness and worked in companies that I stumbled upon. I was after quick success and satisfaction, whereas I later realised that building a fulfilling career is a long and meandering journey. To realise what I truly wanted from my career required me to trial and error several jobs and projects.
I overcame this by changing my attitude towards life, from instant gratification to long term compounding. Looking at my personal goals and relationships with a long-term lens, and understanding that I cannot be two different personalities in my professional and personal life. By changing myself at home, I started changing at work, and my career started evolving upwards. My efforts started bearing fruit and my network and experience grew wider, thus having better outcomes. It was and probably still is an enlightening and simultaneous journey of evolving as human being first, and a working professional second.
Also on The Big Smoke
Martin Kearns
Founder and Enterprise Agility Coach: Consulting with Kearnsey
Throughout our careers, we experience moments of profound transformation. For me, the most pivotal shift occurred when I transitioned from a software developer role to a management role.
My identity was closely tied to my expertise, I knew the code inside out, and was the go-to person for technical solutions. As I moved up in my career, I found myself in uncharted territory, no longer the sole expert.
I tried to maintain my dominance by striving to know more than everyone else. This led to a constant chase for information and a desire to assert my knowledge in every conversation. But I soon realised that this approach was not sustainable or conducive to effective leadership.
I recognised that leadership isn’t about being the smartest person in the room, it’s about asking the right questions, fostering curiosity, and making decisions collectively. I shifted my focus from competing to collective success, embracing the diversity of perspectives in people.
By valuing the contributions of others and creating an environment where everyone’s voice is heard, I discovered the power of collective wisdom in problem solving.
Today, I strive to lead with humility, curiosity, and a genuine interest in differing perspectives, accepting I don’t have all the answers.
The post Expert opinion: How these leaders overcame their career challenges appeared first on The Big Smoke.