Apple's Ahrendts offers tips on transitioning to a new job in LinkedIn post
Apple's newly hired SVP of Retail Angela Ahrendts posted an article to LinkedIn on Monday, offering advice to those transitioning to new jobs, just as she did recently in joining Apple.
As a LinkedIn "Influencer," a list of big-name business figures who offer insight into the business world through regularly authored posts, Ahrendts publishes a story about once every month. The latest installment -- the first since Ahrendts officially moved to Cupertino -- is titled "Starting Anew" and fittingly deals with transitions.
Her first piece of advice when entering a new company is to "stay in your lane."
"Try to resist putting additional or undue pressure on yourself trying to learn it all from day one," Ahrendts writes. "It's human nature to feel insecure about everything you 'don't know'. By staying focused on your core competencies you will be able to contribute much sooner, add greater value long term, and enjoy and have more peace especially in the early days."
Next, she advises readers to ask questions. By doing so, you gain deeper insight into the company and your coworkers, while sharing personal details can build relationships that lead to trust. This leads to unity and group collaboration on a higher level.
Ahrendts says to trust instincts and emotions, especially during the first days of a transition period.
"Never will your objectivity be as clear or your instincts sharper than in the first 30-90 days," she writes. "Cherish this time and fight the urge to overthink. Real human dialogue and interaction where you can feel and be felt will be invaluable as your vision, enabled by your instincts, becomes clearer.:
Finally, first impressions are key to developing a strong leadership position. Ahrednts believes in keeping tabs on how other workers perceive a manager as well as their leadership skills.
"Are they quickly lining up to follow you? This could single-handedly determine the speed of your assimilation and the company's success," she says.
As a LinkedIn "Influencer," a list of big-name business figures who offer insight into the business world through regularly authored posts, Ahrendts publishes a story about once every month. The latest installment -- the first since Ahrendts officially moved to Cupertino -- is titled "Starting Anew" and fittingly deals with transitions.
Her first piece of advice when entering a new company is to "stay in your lane."
"Try to resist putting additional or undue pressure on yourself trying to learn it all from day one," Ahrendts writes. "It's human nature to feel insecure about everything you 'don't know'. By staying focused on your core competencies you will be able to contribute much sooner, add greater value long term, and enjoy and have more peace especially in the early days."
Next, she advises readers to ask questions. By doing so, you gain deeper insight into the company and your coworkers, while sharing personal details can build relationships that lead to trust. This leads to unity and group collaboration on a higher level.
Ahrendts says to trust instincts and emotions, especially during the first days of a transition period.
"Never will your objectivity be as clear or your instincts sharper than in the first 30-90 days," she writes. "Cherish this time and fight the urge to overthink. Real human dialogue and interaction where you can feel and be felt will be invaluable as your vision, enabled by your instincts, becomes clearer.:
Finally, first impressions are key to developing a strong leadership position. Ahrednts believes in keeping tabs on how other workers perceive a manager as well as their leadership skills.
"Are they quickly lining up to follow you? This could single-handedly determine the speed of your assimilation and the company's success," she says.
Comments
Ouch!
But then again, Steve was a Zen Buddhist.
Steve seemed kind and great to me.
Did you work directly with him?
I dropped off LinkedIn due to their terrible privacy policy. The man-in-the-middle email attack they were promoting as a "service", and their cluelessness that it was a really bad idea, sealed the decision for me.
- Jasen.
Any and every time an exec at Apple makes news it should be to promote Apple, even if done in a subtle way. This message seems to promote her "brand" and LinkedIn.
Steve seemed kind and great to me.
Did you work directly with him?
Sadly no, though I would have loved to have done so.
Stop with the advice and get to work and earn what you were so lavishly paid. You've done nothing yet to improve the bottom line. Nothing.
Managers are almost always redundant.
Bad news for Apple.
I never did either, but a friend who did says it was anything but pleasant. Sure, the guy was a genius, but also impossible to work with. Such are so many geniuses (Steve J., Frank Lloyd Wright, Miles Davis, . . . Gregory House)
And produced impossibly great products.