My Advice to Graduates

Since it is the season for graduation, I wanted to say a couple words of advice about being a Project Manager and starting a new career.  Graduation marks a new beginning.  This marks not the end to school, but the beginning of a new adventure.  This new adventure may take you places which you never thought you would go and do things that you never thought you would do.

My first piece of advice to new graduates is to take a course of action.  If there is no clear answer to the problem or dilemma, a bias for action is almost always better than inaction.  As a new manager, you might make a mistake or you might fail.  Making a mistake and failing is forgivable, if a lesson is learned, but inaction is not excusable.  These lessons learned will be far more valuable to your life as a manager or person than living a cold and timid life where nothing is ventured and nothing is gained.

I also think that things that come too easy are not appreciated as fully as things that have to be earned. This is an important lesson as life is going to be hard. Leadership and management are hard. I sometimes as know to say that if leadership or your job is too easy, you probably aren't doing it right. Do not shy away from the hard path, take it with gusto and remember those days as the good days.

Do not think that this first job as the only job you will ever have. You need to figure out what you can learn from the job and what the next step in your career will be.  This might mean learning a new skill by going to a course or taking a job that expands your experience.  Never stop learning and never stop growing.

Graduation is an accomplishment.  Take a moment to reflect on this accomplishment and then get to work.  Time is the only resource that you can't make more of, so don't waste it.