5 relationships we need to build a successful career

Author: Stanko Arsenijević

Source: Harvard Business Review

There is an old African proverb that says, "It takes a whole village to raise one child." Its premise is that in order for young people to develop properly and grow up well-directed, they must interact with different people. This can also be applied in the workplace, particularly for newly hired professionals.

Not so long ago, I myself was an IT beginner with no experience and no formal education, but with great ambitions and desires. At the age of 17, I created the first version of Campster, and today, 6 years later, Campster operates in seven countries and has over 400,000 end users. From a high school student with a desire to learn and grow, I have come to the position of CTO and co-founder of Campster, and co-founder of RoiChamp and I am in a place in my career that can take me in many different directions. There were ups and downs along that route, but there were also many various business relationships and collaborations.

From the above experience, I can testify that success happens as a result of the business relationships we build and nurture. After reading the HRB article on this topic, I decided to share my experience with you and hopefully help you not to repeat my mistakes and waste your precious time :)

I will try to use well-known examples from the world of sports, film, and science and the example of successful individuals to bring you closer to the importance of this topic and motivate you to build relationships that lead you to success.y

1. Mentor

Mentors are like the North Star. They show us the right business path when we feel lost.

They are reliable, wise, and most importantly, honest. Mentoring means having challenging conversations that help us gain confidence and influence our personal and professional growth. However, those conversations don't always have to be pleasant😀

Great mentors are most often proven leaders who have navigated large systems and advanced throughout their careers in an organization or industry that aligns with our long-term goals.

How do I find a mentor?

To find a mentor, think of someone you admire deeply but who is still within your reach. Someone who can actually answer an email or a LinkedIn message. A potential mentor must be open to establishing a professional relationship with you, as mentoring takes time and energy.

Example:

At the beginning of my career, I chose Miloš Jovanović and Ana Ranitović as my mentors. It was with them that I co-founded Campster a few years after. After we started a joint project, I had the opportunity to learn a lot from the sphere of business and management as someone who is oriented toward the IT sector.

These are the fields in which I progressed very quickly because I have the opportunity to watch and learn from very successful people such as Ana and Miloš.

2. The initiator

Although mentors give us advice and perspective, initiators advocate for us, and in some cases directly offer us career advancement opportunities. They play a role in conversations "behind closed doors" that we may not be involved in and can support the boss in advocating for us in front of other members of the management team.

According to research, a junior manager with an initiator is 21% more likely to move up the career ladder than someone in the same position without one.

How do I find the initiator?

To find an initiator, you must first show people in your organization that you are someone worth standing up for. This means you have to be great at what you do and your work has to be visible.

Initiators, like mentors, are in high demand, but if you develop a solid reputation, you could win one over.

3. Partner

A partnership is a mutually beneficial relationship of equals. It is filled with trust, a common desire for success, and a common goal. Your partner is an ally who helps you broaden your perspective, a problem-solver, and a connector who can help you build your personal brand and expand your network.

How to find a partner?

Finding a partner is, plastically explained, similar to finding a co-founder. So, look for someone whose personality and work ethic complement yours. It is important to find a person who will fill the gaps in your work style. For example, if you are more of an introvert who avoids public speaking, look for a partner who enjoys presenting and promoting your joint projects. If you are a strategic person with a big picture, look for a partner who is good at analytics and operations, etc.

Example

I had the good fortune that my mentors were also my partners in starting my first business. We were a great combination of IT, business, and management, which allowed us to be a great team despite the fact that I didn't have that much experience outside of IT in the beginning. It is the same today.

This partnership provided me with invaluable experience and knowledge. Four years later, I'm starting a new company, RoiChamp, and the fact is I'm in a completely different place than when I started Campster.

RoiChamp was also created as a result of the partnership.

4. Rival

The business world is full of rivalry. The most famous rivals are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. We know that this rivalry has resulted in amazing discoveries. Most often this is the case😀

A competitor can be your ally or even a partner. Imagine that you and someone similar to you come up with two great ideas to execute a project. You know that you both have the potential to come up with unique and separate effective solutions. Now imagine what the end result would look like if you cooperated and came up with something much more efficient and valuable.

How to "find" a rival?

When you recognize a potential competitor in your company, schedule a face-to-face meeting. Who knows, you might end up working together after all. :)

Example

Toward the end, we can move away from my personal examples and reflect on one of the most famous rivalries in the world of sports. The best examples of rivalry are individual sports. You can already see where this is going 😀

Our best tennis player, Novak Djoković, talks about his big rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal like this: I have to give them a lot of credit. They are legends. Legends of our sport. They are the two most important players I have faced in my career and the reason I am who I am today. They helped me understand what I need to do to improve physically, mentally, and tactically, to reach the Top 10. I kept losing three or four years from them, then something clicked towards the end of 2010 and into 2011 and the last 10 years have been an amazing journey.

During that incredible journey, Novak wrote tennis history side by side with his rivals. A winning mentality means learning from your rivals!

5. Be a mentor as well

Nobel laureate in physics Richard Feynman said: "If you want to master something, teach it to someone."

Most of us have played the role of a teacher at some point in our lives. No matter if we were instructing our friends on how to play cards, our kids how to ride a bike, or our classmates how to comprehend some more challenging material. The person you are mentoring is your mentee, something like a student.

Whether you're helping an intern or a new colleague with the details of an assigned project, you'll learn more yourself by teaching. Mentoring also helps you hone the soft skills that every leader should have—skills like communication, creativity, and empathy.

Source: Harvard Business Review