By Francis Wade

The young Caribbean professional has every right to complain – the environment in most workplaces in the region is simply not conducive to developing young talent.

I recently included a lengthy excerpt from The Harvard Business Review in my blog that was taken from a quote by Larry Summers, the former President of the university. He described the culture of the university as one that fosters the “authority of ideas,” rather than the “idea of authority.”

Apparently, at Harvard, established and world renowned professors long for the moments when their pet theories can be overturned by newly minted PhD’s in their twenties, and in fact celebrate when it happens.

Here in our region, however, our leaders of academia and business are often accused of acting as if their authority should not be questioned, especially in public. They defend themselves and their decisions, sometimes to the point of absurdity, refusing to relinquish their hold on the title as the one who has the answers.

In their defense, they are merely doing as they have been taught.

But, what is a young professional to do when their contribution is continuously thwarted?

Many simply give up. Some migrate to a First World country. Others give up on work as a source of fulfillment in their lives and instead turn the job into a bill-payment exercise.

However, my experience shows that there are other options that a young professional who is young, smart and quick can exercise without alienating those older than them. They need to know how to Out-Last those who oppose them, Out-Class those around them and Out-Learn other people who might not have their best interests at heart.

Out-Last
Recently I heard that a former colleague of mine was promoted to Vice President of a client company. I was simply astounded, as my memory of him did not match the picture I had kept in mind of him from some 13 years ago.

As I looked around at the pictures of executive teams I realized that only a single person remained from 1994. Every single other person at that level had been replaced, some several times over.

It reminded me that often what happens in corporations is that those who are promoted to the higher ranks are simply those who find a way to stay on the job long enough. To paraphrase Woody Allen, who said that “90% of success comes from just showing up,” a successful career can be built on merely waiting long enough for everyone else to leave.

Young professionals sometimes get impatient much too quickly, and become disillusioned and disenchanted within only a year or two of being in a job. What they can’t see clearly is that even five years is a very short time in a career lifetime that may span several decades.

Becoming frustrated too early in their careers is a mistake that many young professionals make, and it comes from thinking that situations don’t change, that people don’t leave and that their own perceptions don’t mature and transform over time.

If they are able to simply outlast those who might be seeing them as a threat, they can use the passage of time in their favour.

Out-Class
A younger professional who shows that they are smart, and willing to learn can very likely threaten an older professional – even their own boss – with their knowledge, flexibility and ability to learn quickly. They possess a more up to date education and they know how to use the internet, plus a range of PC software. Technology does not scare them one bit.

An older professional who feels threatened might very well react by being defensive, withholding key information, being intransigent and even resorting to petty gossip in an attempt to bring the youngster down a peg or two.

Unfortunately, most “youngsters” will respond to this behaviour in kind.

A young professional is better off taking the high road, and learning how to shake off these negative tactics. If the yare any good, they will face no shortage of them in their career. The young professional who decides that they will never engage in gossip will leave people around them with the impression that they are serious and disciplined.

Steeping to unprofessional behaviour only builds an impression that they are no different from others who are willing to use divisive tactics to express their fears.

Out-Learn
The young professional who decides to focus on building their skills rather than complaining about the people they work with, does themselves a tremendous favor.

They live and work in a very different world than the one that existed only fifteen years ago when the internet was a virtual unknown. Information abounds, and opportunities to learn are numerous. New skills can be gained in a variety of ways online, without ever attending a single classroom.

In fact, by the time a new skill becomes widely offered via classroom training, it is no longer a rare one.

Every young professional should be able to find a single area of expertise that is underserved in their company, and over time learn enough to become the company expert -- the very best source of information on the topic. They can simply decide to make themselves indispensable.

Once their expertise is acknowledged, they will naturally be the ones that the organization uses to get certain kinds of projects completed. Examples include everything from team management, writing, desktop publishing, designing interventions, conflict resolutions, html programming – the list of possibilities is endless. All that is required is an ability to stick to one area of interest long enough to develop what some companies call a “spike” – a unique and valuable ability.

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This is not to say that Out-Lasting, Out-Classing and Out-Learning other employees is easy. However, in the face of the resistance to young talent that often exists in the region, it is one of the many ways to work around it.

To discuss this topic further, visit http://cuturl.com?toosmart to leave a comment or question.

The author is the owner of Framework Consulting, a firm specializing in conducting high stake interventions for Caribbean companies, and the author of FirstCuts monthly e-zine.