CARRIERE : de PAILLASSON à LEADER (Team Aldo Sterone)

Hello, my friends. Today, this is a special video. I'm going to introduce you to someone from the Aldoser 1 team. You know I don't work alone. The questions you send me, the videos I make, are often based on preparation with people who are experienced, but who are sometimes from a different generation than mine. This allows us to exchange different perspectives. So today I'd like to introduce you to someone from the Aldosar 1 team. So this person's name is Yasmine. She works for a very large technology company. She has a ton of certifications and has made incredible progress in her career. So the difference between what I bring to you, what she will bring to you, and what she has already brought to you in other videos, perhaps invisibly, is that I bring you how to protect yourself from the corporate world. I'm talking to you about toxicity. I'm talking to you about how to defend your own interests, how to avoid falling into the classic traps of the corporate world. She'll talk to you about how to move forward, how to make the most of the company you're in. And despite her age, don't give in to her. She's someone who has evolved extremely quickly in a very difficult environment. So she's used to being able to navigate the scorched earth. So let me introduce you to Yasmine, who's with me in the car today. Hello, Yasmine. Hello.

Hello. I'm saying my friends. If you say my friends, that's my friends.

They're your friends. They're your friends. They're your friends too. So there you have it. This is your first time on the channel, but it's not your first time participating in the channel. For example, yesterday she was responding to messages that people leave on WhatsApp. That is to say, I turn to her in certain situations when I feel that her contribution can help certain situations move forward, because she is someone who has literally grown up, become an adult within corporate environments, within companies. And if there is someone who knows how to navigate this environment, it is her. So today, Yasmin, since you are here, we are going to talk about. Maybe we will start with something simple. Someone is in a large company, no matter what position in their career, it is someone who has been there for maybe six months or six years. It does not matter. Okay? Okay. What are the three main pieces of advice that you would give them so that they can progress in their career and get the best out of themselves? What is the first piece of advice that comes to mind out of the three? So the first piece of advice is to assert yourself because if you are too soft, if you are, what do you say? Agreeable. Sorry, I speak a lot of English, so. Yes. So just for your information, she speaks four or five languages fluently. She's not French, so please be reasonable in the comments. She lives in the United Kingdom. She uses English a lot in her everyday life, so there will be occasional anglicides. So don't be the person who is nice to others, who always says yes, who is always helpful. Yes, that's it. I'm a volunteer. Right? We like that. Managers like people who are volunteers. They love it. They love it. They love it. They love it. They love it. They love it.

They adore you, they pat you on the back, they say, yes, that's great. We can always count on you.

Exactly. And if you're there, never asking for not knowing what you're really worth and what you bring, well, they're going to say to themselves, we're going to leave this person there at 800, okay? They're doing a great job doing their role. We're not going to push them forward. We're not going to encourage them to do more because they feel very good and they're already doing a good job today. So we're going to leave them exactly at 800.

So that means being someone who's willing, being the helpful person, the person who always says yes. Well, that's the recipe for working too much and getting the minimum from the company.

And I've seen that happen to a lot of people who are very competent, who are really good at what they do. But the problem is that they didn't bring their true personality to the workplace. You have to understand that if you don't push, if you don't ask not what you want, if you don't know how to present yourself well, talk about yourself and really promote yourself, your career, your character and everything, well, they won't take you seriously.

In other words, you're saying that you have to do self promotion. That means that because I had that at the beginning of my career and a lot of people are terrified of it, the mistake is this. The mistake is to say to yourself, okay, I'm going to work for a company. I'm shy, I don't dare ask, okay? I don't ask for anything. On the other hand, what I'm going to do is prove to them who I am. I'm going to give it my all, my all, my all. I'm going to sacrifice my evenings, my health, my weekends, my vacations, I have taken vacations to work because I was taking on so much work. And after. After a while, I was so overwhelmed that I told my manager, yes, next week I would like to take a week's vacation. And what I was doing during that week, I was working in secret without him knowing, just so I could get back to where I was supposed to be. In fact, it didn't lead to anything. So that's what I did at the beginning, at the very beginning of my career, because I had to work harder, I had to train.

Myself, I had to have confidence in myself. So that when I say that I'm good at a certain skill, whatever the competence or what I bring, I have confidence in myself when I say it. So at the beginning, yes, there's also an element where you have to prove that you have it. So your first six months in a company. Yes.

And you're also. You have to say it. You're also in a man's job somewhere. So when you arrive, you're a woman. You need to prove your competence, and you have to make a lot of effort to do it.

So at the beginning, I did what you're saying, but I've never taken a vacation to work.

Work.

Okay, you haven't been to never.

Okay, uh, don't do that, because that's your time. You have to know how to separate work, the professional world, and your life. We don't work and we don't live to work. We work to live.

Yes, that's clear.

So I don't believe in it. Taking a vacation to work more, to always do more than others, all the time. Once you have experience, of course, but when you don't have experience, I understand if you have to work a little more, do overtime, all that. All that. I understand that.

But once you reached your cruising altitude, you're not going to continue doing the Concorde. At some point, you have to get things for yourself. You see, And I'm sure there are.

People who are watching this video, they don't know that they've already reached that point because they say to themselves, ah, I'm not sure.

I still need to go further. I still need to show. Actually, they don't know. I like that you brought this up. They don't know that they've reached that point. One of the reasons is that sometimes in some companies, they don't want to show you your true value. What they're going to do is they're always going to take you easy. It's a very. It's a very vicious psychological Game, you know, you see and hear. Look at the difference between us. I'm always talking to you about protection. She's talking to you about how to move forward. It's that sometimes in some companies, they've done it to me. No matter what you do, they're always going to show you that you're inferior to what you should be. The reality is, why do they do that? It's to push you to excel even more, to prove even more. In other words, to create more value for them, to work even harder and still ask for nothing at all. Because the ideal, from the employer's point of view, the ideal employee. This is the employee who works 247 like a cyclops. Right? The word cyclops is not from Karl Marx. So he works like a cyclops. He doesn't sleep, he doesn't ask for anything, he doesn't ask for a raise, he doesn't ask for vacation. That's the perfect employee. Don't be that perfect employee, because otherwise they're going to kill you. Your goal would be to win the award for best employee of the year or whatever. Do whatever you want to have your photo there at the entrance.

But for me, for example, where I worked today, what I did was during the first year, I don't remember if it was the seventh or eighth month, I said that I wanted to advance to management. And for them, she just joined, I don't know what, but I said it so many times. And I asked them, I said, okay, what do you need? What do you need to have? What am I not doing today that I will need to do or learn to get there? And I got there. I did it in less than two years.

So in two years. In two years, you are a manager. Yes. You manage a lot of people. You manage people who are older than you. I'm not talking about startups, where it's sometimes easy to become a manager, because you know, the boss here. I'm talking about a very large company that is part of the Fortune 100. It's one of the 100 largest companies in the world. So it's not easy to get to this stage. But you say that you ask for it or you didn't, you didn't actually work. You worked, you worked. You waited for someone to come and reward you by giving you like that, like a slice of cake, telling you, well, you worked so hard, you become a manager.

I've never done that, by the way, at the beginning of my career, the first. The first three years, I remember one time I wanted to Join a team. And I was told that, well, it wasn't accessible to people who were part of certain programs and that you were still, you were too young to, to join. You see what I did? Yeah. But I wrote to the director, okay. The VP and the director wrote above their heads. Above their heads. And I told them, all I want is an interview.

Give me a chance to have the interview.

To have the interview. And immediately the secretary replied, yes, of course, at this time and everything. And I spoke, I spoke to the director. He brought the managers. I remember. And you know, they didn't like it so much at first. Yeah. I had three managers interview me.

Oh yeah, they all fell for it like that.

Yeah. But since I, well, I was confident. Well, I'm not big headed or anything.

So you got it, you got it, you got it.

You know, I earn respect.

They ended up respecting you.

They ended up. They really respected the fact that. Okay. She said to herself, we told her no, but it's not, it's not a no because it's illegal or HR won't approve or whatever. These were rules that they created. Things that are really invisible. It's not even written in my contract that I'm not supposed to move towards.

This team and listen to what she says. It's really important because she's someone who doesn't follow recipes that come out of a book or another.

It worked for us, it works for her. That's what she does when she wants a position, she gets it. As I said, she. This team is closed to people under a certain age. It's ageism. It could be considered discrimination, all that.

He used his experience and then. Well, I told them that it doesn't mean anything because I've worked on much larger projects in another team. Yes.

So you have to be your own advocate.

You have to always say, this is what I want, and don't hesitate. You were in a company for less than a year. You went to them and said, I'd like to become a manager.

There you go. Well, there are people who have been there for five years there, they're giving themselves a gift. Someone comes and tells them, you know, you've done such a good job, we'd like to reward you. You become a manager. A promotion, my friends, is not a reward that you're given. Like you give a sugar cube to a performance animal because it's performing so well. You say, here, give me a sugar cube. Today the audience applauds a lot. That's not how it works. You have to defend yourself. So because what you see in a career is that you see people evolve, but you don't see what they're doing to evolve. You don't see the contacts they make. You don't see the conflicts they've gotten into in order to get what they want.

I'm always on the radar of what I want, the radar of the person who's going to help me. I'm always there. I'm always there to ask, even if it's not going to happen tomorrow or next week. But I stay in their heads mentally. You stay mentally, I'm always there. I'm always present. When there's an opportunity, they're going to think of me. They're going to say to themselves, she's probably going to apply whether we tell her or not.

So let's say if a role interests you, let's imagine you've been in a partner for a year, a role interests you. You say, I'd like to be there. So you're going to tell them straight away, all cards on the table, I want to be in this role.

If they tell you, yeah, you're not ready yet, what are you going to say? You're going to tell them, what's the path to get there?

Yes, that's it. And then you say, help me get there. What do I have to do?

Yes, what do I have to do? That's their role. Managers, by the way, are. Yeah, the role is to help the.

Team, by the way. I'll say things about managers, but when she's not in the car, I have things to say. The role is to help the team. The success of the team makes the success of the manager. Leaders. Make leaders.

Yeah. And in fact, the idea, the idea that she makes the strategy of saying, I want to get there. And if they tell you, yeah, we think you're not ready yet, you say, okay, I'd like to be ready. What should I do?

I need your help. Help me and show them that you believe in them, that they're going to help you. Give them the opportunity to shine as.

If they're part of your success in your path. Yes, yes, I know. And in fact, this way of approaching psychologically is powerful. Why? Because it removes the prince's decision. It removes the arbitrary. Because if they tell you this position, no, you're not ready yet. Why am I not ready yet? What do I need? You see, you're removing the arbitrary. Otherwise it becomes, well, yes, you don't want to start with a good click, all that. They can't do that. They have to give you objective criteria, they have to objectify the decision to tell you. Here's the criteria on which they're deciding. So the day you meet these criteria, they become enforceable. You can tell them, yes. By the way, last year we had this conversation. You were saying that I had to participate in this, that I had to get this, and that I have them good news. Can we talk now? And now they can't.

By the way, did you know that for each role there are. Of course, it depends on the role. But in my world there are criteria and there are grades. How do you say grades? Levels, levels. Levels of the same role. You can be a beginner, a senior, or something like that. And they have well defined criteria for what you're going to do to reach each stage, each level. Ask for it. It's your right to see this document. I had it.

Yes. So it's your right. So you're going to tell them. Because I want to advance in my career. That's important. Because my career is what allows me to achieve my goals in life. It's what allows me to get the most out of my studies. It's what allows me to improve my family's quality of life. So you have to ask. You shouldn't be there working and saying yes. But why has he progressed? Why did they give him this role? He came here 18 months ago. He moved up ahead of me. I've been here for years. I haven't moved. Why? Because you don't have access to information. And this information not only exists, it should exist, but it's also available. You have to ask for it. What other advice can we give? What?

In your social relationships, you have to be humble. You have to give others space. You shouldn't put yourself forward and crush others. All that, huh? You see? I'll just give you a little example. You know, I studied aviation. I said a lot of airline pilots and so on and so forth. I was once on a cruise. I met a guy with his family. We got on well, we started chatting. He had a private pilot's book. You're preparing to become a private pilot with his book. What I'm not going to do, because I find it really bad socially, is to always outbid others.

This is a girl. The guy is very proud to be preparing for his first exam in his life. And I just show up. Oh, you know, I have an adpl. No, no, don't do that. Let him savor it. Let him talk to himself, and after a while he'll let you know. Maybe he'll see that you have the vocabulary. He'll see that you know what you're talking about. Maybe he'll want to know more and all that. You can continue the conversation, but let him shine, Let him do something. You know, there are people who know I broke my finger, it hurts, I have a cast, I take medication, it's terrible. You know, I have a cousin who had a skiing accident that tore his leg off. You know, let people go. Not people like that.

I know people who always outdo each other in terms of what I don't like. And I think that makes me lack humility. Now, coming out of everyday life and going into the corporate world, I'm a humble person. Right. Is it good to be humble? Congratulations. You won't get very far already. Okay. So you won't get very far. Okay.

Ah, because once again, it brings us back to what we were saying earlier. Those who are humble, who never ask for anything, and they think that if they ever dare to say something or, or we're going to, we're going to, we're going to. People aren't going to be nice to them and everything else. They're going to get nowhere. Why I'm telling you, I'm not telling you. Don't listen to others or. Well, I'm telling you somewhere that. Yes, my attitude, for example, I am better than you. I've worked, I've worked hard, I've sacrificed a lot. I know what I can do and what I bring.

So you know your level.

Yes.

But you have to make it known. It's not about being good in your corner.

Yes. So if you're humble, you don't want to talk about yourself by promoting yourself in the best light, by marketing yourself. But once you understand that it has nothing to do with good manners or, I don't know, education, you're afraid of being judged. Once you forget that and you remember that it's a professional world or it's business, and you go, that's something else. Because I can follow the codes.

Of course. Go ahead, go ahead. The codes are not the same as in your family. It's.

No. It's like having a product that's the best in the world and everyone. There's Elon Musk who participated in developing it, and no one knows. No one knows. And if we don't know that this product exists, if we don't talk about it, if we don't do good marketing, people won't buy it. And what's the point of having the best product?

Yes, that's it? I was talking to someone who made a product. I'll stay vague. He's a friend who makes products and all that. He showed me his product and then he told me later that you see these things that you see. And he started giving me their characteristics. And they were extraordinary characteristics that would have made me pay more for the product, knowing what he had just told me. Except that you couldn't see them, you see? Oh, yeah. Okay, you tell me. Here you have this bracelet. You see, these are diamonds and so on. Yes, but I didn't know they were diamonds. You didn't tell me. You just said it now. In fact, it's the same in the business world. It's marketing. The keyword you used was marketing. If you don't have marketing, you have nothing at all. Because you have to advertise yourself all the time. You have to let people know who you are. There's a video on this channel that talks about people who work very efficiently but discreetly. Efficient. And discreet means that you never hear their name, but they are efficient. They do a lot of work in silence. What does that inspire in you? Someone who does a lot of work in silence.

They will do it for a very, very long time without anyone even knowing that it's them. You know that sometimes there are people who take other people's work and they will say that it's theirs and that they put in the most work. However, it's someone else that we don't even know because they don't dare say, yes, it's my work, or yes, I participated. Nothing. They say nothing. They just sit there in their corner and say nothing. And there are other people who do less, who will make much more progress. Much more to begin with. And secondly, they can sometimes even take their ideas.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen that.

Yeah, I can.

Yeah, I've seen that. You have to stand up for yourself. You have to make sure that you always talk about yourself, talk about what you do, talk about the difficulties. And sometimes, sometimes they'll try to intimidate you if you're like that. For example, at the beginning he thought that by telling me, how would you say, don't mess with her. Yeah, just don't go looking for trouble with her. Don't go.

Because I didn't put people back in their place so aggressively, politely, kindly and respectfully. But I put a lot of people in their place when it was necessary. So I got this reputation of not messing with her. And you know what? He thought that was okay. Intimidate me. That I would say to myself, yes, that's great. That's great to mess with me. Sure. It's a protection.

Yeah, it's a protection. Very important. Yeah. You have to develop your protection. You can't be afraid to assert yourself. Again, we come back to the first piece of advice. You have to assert yourself. You can't be a gray bunch. You can't stay in your corner and forget about your existence. Yeah, but I'm delivering a lot of work and everything. But nobody cares about the work you deliver. The important thing is how.

Who do you know in the physical world? It's who you know who knows you. Sometimes you go for a coffee in the office cafeteria. I don't know. You'll meet someone. That person can change your career. If you know how to talk about yourself, if you have a good pitch. This is who I am. I'm good at what I do. I'm not good at what I do.

I know that maybe another video will cover how to talk about it. How to impress yourself in 30 seconds. Yes.

Yeah, but it's really about who you know. And when you know the right people, you have to know how to make a good impression. That's very, very important.

Yeah, that's what I'm looking for again. Because the majority of career failures that happen in this issue are people who always say, I give it my all. I give it my all. I give it my all. I'm exhausted. I've had five burnouts. I can't take it anymore. This isn't the first job where this has happened to me. Right. Because people, unfortunately, tend to repeat mistakes because when they get tired in one place, what do they do? They leave somewhere else. The problem is they leave somewhere else. What are they going to do? They will reproduce exactly the same personality. And then what will happen? Well, they will encounter the same problems.

Well, you have to accept that this is another world, the corporate world. Everything that is a professional company and all the rules that apply there, they are not the same rules that apply in everyday life.

It's not your family, it's not your friends. It's not an environment with these codes. When you come in, you have to know the rules of the game. Otherwise, it's like you're playing a game of, I don't know, chess. But you don't know the rules of chess. You don't know how the pieces move. You have no idea how to win. And you say, okay, I'm going to come in. I'm going to be nice to everyone, and I'm going to win at chess. It doesn't work like that.

And it's not just a game. It's really a game. They say it like it's a game. It really is a game.

Yeah.

There are rules and it's a game when you understand that it's going to unblock you, it's going to help you move forward. Because then you're going to forget about.

Political correctness, stuff like that. Yes. You're going to let yourself go more and become more yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Go for it. Yeah. Great. Great. Well, thank you very much for this. Thank you very much for this advice. It's really nice of you to come. She won't be here all the time. I'll try to bring her back as much as possible in the videos. But there you have it. There's an extremely rich corporate life. Thank you, my friends. Thank you, Yasmin, for being here and see you very soon.