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Key points
- Advice that does not result from a thorough evaluation of your context should not be treated as advice.
- What works for CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, gurus, and coaches may not work for you in your context.
- Good artists borrow; great artists steal. Creatively applying relevant insights to your context is the "why."
Look, I get it. Taking advice from the most successful leaders among us is a very appealing and seemingly smart thing to do. But “seemingly” is exactly the problem.
Exhibit A: Anyone who has ever logged onto LinkedIn has seen countless posts and articles about the crucial importance of saying "No." Why? Because, when interviewed, most CEOs talk about the crucial importance, for them, of knowing when to say "No." When conveyed so consistently by so many impressive people, it’s pretty hard to argue. It becomes generally accepted wisdom.
And, in fact, knowing when to say "No" is a crucially important skill. For maybe 3 percent of the working population.
For the other 97 percent, those not in the C-Suite, prioritizing "No" is about the worst career advice you could ever get. Rather, saying "Yes" to everything that won’t hurt your current job is usually a far better course. You have no idea what doors will open or what talents will surface. And if nothing cool happens, you back out and wait for the next opportunity.
It’s hard to fathom how much damage would be done to a young career of someone who believed saying "No" was somehow an accomplishment rather than possibly missing their destiny.
In their defense, the CEOs weren’t asked, “What should the majority of your employees be prioritizing?” when talking about the importance of saying "No." They were asked, “What’s most important for you, the CEO?” In their context, it makes a lot of sense.
But CEOs are not the only inadvertent providers of truly terrible advice. So are well-meaning people with well-designed software.
Exhibit B: My team was using an app dispensing advice based on the results of a personality assessment. One day, a colleague came into work irrationally angry and supercharged over a perceived slight. That morning, via the app, they received a coaching email stating, “Your perceptions are your greatest asset, but you tend to keep these thoughts to yourself. It is crucial that you share what you are seeing and make yourself known.”
And, yes, what started that morning eventually got them fired. Thanks for the advice, pal.
Noncontextualized Advice
CEOs, authors, speakers, gurus, and software typically dispense advice without any consideration of what is actually happening in your world. It is wholly noncontextualized.
Noncontextualized business and career advice can be worse than useless because sometimes it encourages people to ignore what is happening right in front of them.
Audiences can easily forget that most of them do not have the same skills, talents, and contexts as the people to whom they are listening. Translation: What you are about to hear won’t necessarily work for you.
It’s not a knock on the audience. The converse is true as well—it has skills and talents that the “expert” does not. But only one side is doing the talking.
We shouldn’t stop reading CEO interviews or business books, but we should read into them very differently. They are exclusively sources of insight to be considered, and never advice to be followed. It’s a nuanced but crucial point usually missed in a world in which scrolling headlines counts as research.
The value of listening to the CEO or entrepreneur is in considering whether what they shared relates to your situation and in using your creativity to figure out how to apply it to your context. It is not a blueprint telling you what to do, because they don’t know.
Thinking Like an Artist
It’s said that good artists borrow, but great artists steal.
When good artists borrow, they use someone else’s idea in their work. Musically speaking, sometimes we can spot the influence of one band on another.
When great artists steal, they take someone else’s idea and create something entirely new, so much so that it becomes unmistakably identifiable with them. You don’t know by listening who influenced Prince, but you definitely know it’s Prince.
The only way in which noncontextual business advice can offer value is if you think like an artist. It may be wise to borrow or, even better, steal. But following noncontextual advice without evaluating your context is like wearing a blindfold on a mountain climb because you got the directions “up.”
Then, what to make of the “importance of saying 'No'” articles? Be intentional with focus and clear with goals, which for 97 percent of us include career development. Careers are developed by saying "Yes"; please do not actively avoid things that might broaden your horizons.
As for the boilerplate “make yourself known” coaching? The value lies in applying that to relevant aspects of yourself, not every aspect of yourself. (Turns out being thoughtful is wise regardless of your personality.)
If a CEO, author, or coach is unfamiliar with your situation, they’re not providing advice, so don’t follow it. Consider it, incorporate whatever is useful for your context, and disregard the rest. And remember, the farther up the organizational hierarchy you go, the more noncontextualized the advice becomes.
And, finally, perhaps the advice-givers of the world can develop the habit of adding, “At least, that’s what worked for me in my situation. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you in yours. But hopefully considering it is helpful to you.”
Asking for Advice
Now, let’s close with a curveball. You shouldn’t follow noncontextualized advice, but you should ask for it. All the time.
Research by Robert Cialdini revealed that when we ask people for “advice” instead of for an “opinion,” they become much more inclined to help us. Why? “Advice” signals a respect that “opinion” does not.
So, be sure always to ask for advice. But, also be sure never to follow it. Consider it, instead. It’s a much faster path to your best self.
At least, that’s what worked for me in my situation. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you in yours. But hopefully considering it is helpful to you.
