Career Lesson From A Financial Planning And Treasury Manager At Big 5 Sporting Goods
Kelvin's most significant career lesson involves understanding "leader's intent," moving beyond simply meeting literal instructions to anticipating a supervisor's needs and delivering a complete, self-reviewed product. This approach, he explains, evolved from focusing on "execution" as an employee to managing projects effectively as a manager, emphasizing proactive communication and collaboration with colleagues to achieve "a complete project on time and on budget."
Communication, Project Management, Leadership, Problem-Solving, Career Development
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Kelvin Sun
Manager of Financial Planning and Treasury
Big 5 Sporting Goods
New York University, 2008
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Business Management & Admin
Apparel, Beauty, Retail & Fashion, Sports & Fitness
Finance
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Understanding the manager's intent beyond explicit instructions is crucial for career advancement. Proactive communication and self-review before submitting work ensures deliverables meet expectations, saving time and improving quality.
2. Effective communication and collaboration with colleagues is key. Asking peers for help with systems and processes can accelerate project completion and prevent unnecessary questions for supervisors.
3. As you progress in your career, the focus shifts from individual task completion to managing complete projects on time and within budget. This requires a higher level of planning and execution.
Transcript
What is one lesson that you have learned that has proven significant in your career?
That's a great question. I had to think about it for a second, and I think I've come up with something useful, especially for people starting their careers.
I think about this from the perspective of someone who's had a couple of years under their belt as a first-time leader, learning to manage upwards and downwards. Let me try to explain.
One thing that can really help your progress is how you work with your supervisor or your first boss. Initially, you're focused on execution: "Let me do the job," or "Let me do exactly what they said."
But sometimes, as the reviewer, I might have had a very different idea of the deliverables than you did. It might have been my failure to communicate, but as the employee, you can't say, "You didn't communicate properly, that's why I didn't do my job."
So, how do you get around that problem? As you move up, you need to think about a concept called "leader's intent" or "manager's intent."
You have to think beyond the exact words that came out of my mouth. As a supervisor, I might be distracted or have done this many times before. I might have a very specific goal in mind.
This takes a little time. I'm not saying you'll master it instantly. It's about taking a half-second to think: What is the intent? What are they doing with my work, and to what level of completion?
It's not just about getting the deliverable done and firing it off. You shouldn't have to be told to review your own work or make sure your boss won't have to check it multiple times.
You want to be responsible for the full deliverable, self-reviewed and complete. If you have questions, don't ask your boss ten questions on Slack, especially now that we're all remote.
Instead, take the time to talk to your coworkers. If there's a system you need to know how to use, ask someone like Gavin how to get a resource or report.
Can you turn over a complete package in a reasonable amount of time? Or can you get 80% of the way there and say, "I have three things left to finish. I've gotten as far as I could, but I need a little guidance to move forward."
It's about meeting what they really want, not just what they said in the email. Then, as you level up, it's about delivering a complete project on time and on budget. That's how it progresses.
I think that's been a valuable lesson I've learned both as an individual contributor and as I've started to become an effective manager.
Advizer Personal Links
no