Why you shouldn’t treat career development like a guilty secret

Activities that keep you visible and connected benefit your career, such as keeping in touch with your professional network, posting about your work, speaking on panels, and mentoring. Yet in my work as an executive career coach and previously as a headhunter, it is rare I see senior leaders in corporate roles openly conducting these activities during the working day. Instead, they are scheduling them on their own time or keeping them under the radar, opting to plan them a day that their boss is off-site. Leaders I’ve spoken to describe feeling “selfish” for investing time in their development and career management. They experience the dichotomy of being expected to have a professional network when it will help the business, without feeling able to invest work time in developing it. This is especially true in organizations with a more traditional, internally focused culture—with bosses asking, “Where have you been?” if leaders leave the office to meet someone from their network. While it might not be common practice, in my experience these career management activities benefit the business and your team, as well as you. That small proportion of leaders who are visibly investing som…