3 Career Lessons the Most Successful People Cant Teach You

3 Career Lessons the fruchtwein Successful People Cant Teach You3 Career Lessons the Most Successful People Cant Teach YouTheres no shortage of interviews with Steve Jobs discussing Apple, or Jeff Bezos talking about Amazon, or Mark Zuckerberg talking about Facebook. These guys are incredibly successful, so theyre clearly great sources for advice on leadership, innovation, and hard work. But theyre also incredibly successful. Theyre speaking from a place to which fruchtwein professionals cant really relate. (Whens the last time your companys stocks sold for $120 per share?)Enter StartUp, a podcast about what happens when someone who knows nothing about businesses starts one. Unlike Jobs, Bezos, or Zuckerberg, the featured CEO (and host of the show) hasnt yet achieved success. Hes still in the figuring-things-out stage.StartUp is funny, its relatable, and almost incidentally, it has tons of takeaways for everyone- from an entry-level employee to a mid-level manager to, of course, a CE O. Here are a couple of the things Ive learned so far. Bezos? Are you listening?Lesson 1 Perfect Your PitchIn the first episode, theres a squirm-worthy pitch meeting between Alex Blumberg, the CEO, and Chris Sacca, a Silicon Valley billionaire. Its uncomfortable because Blumberg has no clue how to pitch He stutters, uses jargon, rambles, and basically makes investing in his company sound really unattractive. If youre an entrepreneur, you should definitely know how to sell your idea to investors. However, the rest of us need to master pitching, too. Were always selling something, whether thats our services, an idea, a product, or even ourselves (cough, job interview).Not sure youre nailing your elevator speech? Check out 3 Smart Ways to Upgrade Your Elevator Pitch, The Secret to Giving the Perfect Pitch, and Secrets for Nailing the Pitch from 7 Female Founders.Lesson 2 Dont Cover Up Your MistakesEpisode nine welches a little painful to listen to as well, because Blumbergs team really , really screwed up. Long story short, they unintentionally made a mom believe her son was going to be featured on This American Life (a famous radio segment from NPR), but really he was used in a Squarespace ad. The mom was mad, the media was mad, and- I assume- Squarespace was mad.I wouldnt know any of this if Blumberg and his employees hadnt been completely open about what happened. Not only did they reach out to the mom, but they broadcast their mistake to the whole world via podcast. And guess what? That was the best thing they couldve done to get everyone to calm down and move on. Its hard to stay angry when the people youre angry at have acknowledged their mistake humbly and without qualifying it.The takeaway When you mess up, admit it, make a genuine apology, and commit yourself to doing things differently in the future. For some help along the way, check out our ideas for how to turn a setback into a success.Lesson 3 Dont Be Afraid to Open UpFor 13 episodes, Blumberg has le t his audience in on, well, just about everything. We hear his struggle to decide how much equity to give his partner. We hear his employees talk about how theyre at their breaking points. We even hear his plans to eventually take his company from purely content to content and technology.Youd think sharing so much info would harm Blumberg, but its had the opposite effect. During his last round of funding, he actually had too many wannabe investors. Prestigious organizations (like Google Ventures) volunteer to help him so they can be on the podcast. Most importantly, Blumbergs decision to be transparent means he isnt focused on beating his competition- hes just focused on making a great product.Even if youre not a CEO, there are advantages to sharing what youre doing rather than hiding it from your competitors. For example, if your department excels at meeting deadlines, consider sharing your secrets for success with a rival department. Theyll be grateful, your team will want to work even harder to re-establish its edge, and the company as a whole will benefit. Or maybe you turn in reports your boss gushes over. Tell your colleagues what your manager appreciates about your reports- like your so-simple-a-four-year-old-could-get-it writing style- and watch everyones work get better. For more on this, read up Why Supporting Your Competitors Is Good for Business, Thats My Idea How to Deal With Competition as an Entrepreneur, and Why Its Time to Share Your Salary With Your Co-Workers.StartUp is only in its first season, which means there are many, many more lessons and laughs to come. Click here to subscribe on itTunes.Photo of man working courtesy of Shutterstock.