With the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens this week, the team at Adzuna did a survey of important tips for our careers that can be found in the first two trilogies of the series, in the hope of finding “the force” in their day job, and maybe (who knows) even becoming Jedi masters in our own areas of expertise.
Check out the 5 most important career lessons you can learn from Luke, Leia, Han, and even Darth Vader:
1. A good mentor can change the course of your career
Mentors were important for both Anakin Skywalker and for Luke himself in his growth as a Jedi. In particular the training that Luke received from Yoda, which yielded one of the best movies of the phrases: “Do. Or do not. There is no try.“, acts as motivation for many, many challenges we face throughout our careers. Finding a good mentor can not only be a great advantage for your skills development at work, but could be a true turning point in your professional and personal story.
2. Wisdom, kindness and patience vs. fear, arrogance and anger
Both the Jedi as the Sith has the potential for great things through their natural abilities, lias do each and everyone of us. The big difference between the two rests on the values that serve as the foundation of their philosophy: While the Jedi are based on wisdom, kindness and patience to its growth, the Sith have a culture based on fear, arrogance and anger. And in our experience, the same can often be said of some corporate cultures. Pay attention to the kind of leadership and interaction between professionals in your workplace and consider whether there is any potential for positive change in 2016.
3. Allies come in all shapes and sizes
Chewbacca, C3PO, R2D2, Yoda, Ewoks – many of the main characters of these epic films have personalities, quirks and appearances that are somewhat different to the norm. In the professional environment, this is also important to remember – help and much-needed expertise may show up in unexpected guises. Respect the differences of your peers, and learn to recognise and value potential when you see it.
4. Teamwork is critical to your success
Although many of the films deal with personal growth, it was only through teamwork that the great achievements of the Rebel Alliance became possible. Luke could not have defeated the empire without Han, Leia R2D2, Chewbacca and many others on his side. Learning to work in teams with a diverse mix of people and personalities, and to trust each other is not an easy task, and sometimes means overcoming our own personal barriers and defenses to learn to trust and work as a team with others – but the rewards of rising to the challenge are beyond question.
5. You need to be an apprentice before becoming a teacher
Looking at the lessons we can learn from Star Wars, one great concept shines clearly through in the film: for our professional and personal growth is necessary to recognize that we need to be constantly learning: even though Jedi like Luke Skywalker and Leia were born with strong natural abilities, it was only through hard training they have reached their potential and learned techniques to use their skills as effectively as possible. You need to learn to walk the best you can, before starting to run.
[Note: This is a guest post contributed by Becky Barr of Adzuna networks to OfficeChai]