Subscribe to FeedAshworth Financial Statements Instructor Explains How To Climb The Corporate Ladder…
Thanks to Mzelle Biscotte for permission to use this Photo.
Any organization in which you find employment will have a variety of managers who have a variety of responsibilities. A typical business will have sales, operations, financial, and other types of managers, each with a different viewpoint on what it takes for the company to succeed. In smaller enterprises a manager may wear several of these hats. In a large corporation managers tend to be more specialized, either as to their duties or their geographic area or product line.
These managers speak different “languages” and sometimes the result can be a virtual Tower of Babel. For an example of this, you might try sometime asking an accountant, a plant supervisor, and an engineer what it costs the company to make a particular product. Having completed this course you should now be able to communicate effectively with a financial manager, and you should also know how to read and interpret financial statements, determining what they’re telling you and what they aren’t. Armed with these skills you now have the ability to ask the right questions to make better decisions both as a manager and as an investor. And you can appreciate why the accountant, the plant supervisor, and the engineer would look at “cost” differently. You needn’t expect them to all agree, so long as you recognize how you need to view the cost of a product.
Whatever profession you choose, if you’re not already tied to one, you’ll need to master its language and those of professions tied to individual departments, as well. These could include production, purchasing, materials management, human resources, sales and marketing, and even corporate legal disciplines. This is the purpose of a general business education such as the one you are pursuing at Ashworth University.
Upon completion of your education, you may choose to change the direction of your career, and accept an entry-level position with a business. Surprise! You don’t get to be a CEO right out of school. You will need to gain experience. You may already be working in a business where you’re gaining valuable experience. If so, then you are probably very aware of what I am saying here. When you graduate, your education has only begun. Many schools refer to their graduation ceremony as a “commencement.” This word actually means “beginning,” which is precisely what it is.
You may have heard the term “grooming’ with respect to prospective managers or executives in a company. This refers to a program by which a promising employee gets to prove himself or herself in various positions in order to be able to handle a higher-level management or executive position. If you are in such a position already, then consider yourself very fortunate. Take full advantage of where you are by performing each task and handling your responsibilities as well as you can.
However, workers often do not have bosses who fully recognize their talents. If you are in this type of position, then the solution is to groom yourself by seeking new and different opportunities in various areas of your business, or in another business if you are capable of assuming that type of risk. For the best results, you should develop your skills in sales, in managing other people, and in the development and interpretation of financial and operational reports, even if this requires changing jobs within or outside of your present business. The key goal to focus on is that you must be able to perform each of these skills well. If you develop a reputation as a “utility infielder,” if you relate to baseball analogies, or as a “jack of all trades,” someone who corporate executives can count on to fulfill various needs within the business organization, then you may find yourself rising quickly within that organization.
Or you may not. Sadly there are many barriers to advancement of talented managers, including nepotism, discrimination, and other forms of favoritism in an individual organization. Sometimes managers are simply too busy to notice the good job that you are doing. Perhaps you are receiving such notice, but there are no higher positions available for which you are a match. The nature of a pyramid is that it gets narrower toward the top. If any of those barriers limit you after you have proved your value and your mastery of significant skills, then you may have no alternative to looking for another organization that will allow you to rise to your potential.
As you develop your management skills, be honest with yourself and others as to where you are and what you are actually contributing. The ultimate measure of your value to the firm is not what you know, but what you do with it that helps the company grow. Keep a detailed list of your accomplishments, in quantifiable terms. This could prove useful in jogging your boss’ memory, and if it doesn’t, then it could also help you in preparing a resume for a position somewhere else where you might get a higher level of recognition.
Good luck in your career. Most of all enjoy what you do!
Lee Woodward
Instructor
Ashworth Financial Statements Program
