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The Agile Within
Providing agile insights into human values and behaviors through genuine connections.
The Agile Within
Career Stuck? Full Court Press! with Mark Metze
Step into a game-changing perspective on career development in the latest episode! Join me as I dive deep into the philosophy of creating your own opportunities through relentless effort and strategic thinking. Just like a basketball team that employs a full-court press to dominate the game, we can apply this relentless approach to our careers to break free from stagnation.
Using my own defining career moments, I share how a proactive mindset can reshuffle the landscape of your professional journey. From making the leap from desktop to web development in a rapidly changing industry to passionately stepping into managerial leadership, my experiences reveal valuable insights for anyone feeling trapped in their role.
Learn how to motivate yourself to take initiative and embrace change with confidence! Each story is designed to inspire you to dictate the pace of your career rather than letting others control it. Moreover, discover how weaving together personal values and professional strategies can create impactful leadership transformations.
Curious about how to apply these ideas in your own career? Tune in for practical advice and inspiring stories that encourage you to think and act differently! Don't wait for life to give you the perfect opportunity – instead, apply the pressure and make it happen. Subscribe now and let’s take control of our career journeys together!
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmetze/
Watch to create a mental image of your own full court press:
https://youtu.be/w6FTd7SQq_o?si=9NwP7ok_x93qEMWQ
Follow us on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-within
Welcome to the Agile Within. I am your host, mark Metz. My mission for this podcast is to provide Agile insights into human values and behaviors through genuine connections. My guests and I will share real-life stories from our Agile journeys triumphs, blunders and everything in between, as well as the lessons that we have learned. So get pumped, get rocking. The Agile Within starts now. Before we dive into today's episode, I'd like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, impact Agility. Impact Agility specializes in training and coaching through scrumorg and proconbonorg, empowering teams with cutting-edge tools and techniques. Their classes are designed to deliver actionable insights, whether you're a scrum master, agile coach, delivery manager or organizational leader. Whether you're a scrum master, agile coach, delivery manager or organizational leader, at the helm is president and founder Matt Domenici, who has guided over 50 organizations toward professional agility. With his hands-on experience, matt helps teams and organizations take ownership of their processes and outcomes, unlocking their full potential. To explore free learning resources, check out their training schedule or book a free consultation, visit impactagilityco Once again. That's impactagilityco.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of the Agile Within. I hope you're having an absolutely fantastic day today. Usually, I have a guest joining me, but today I'm doing something a little different. In this episode I'll be sharing personal stories of truly defining moments in my career, and I hope they inspire you to do the same. Okay, everybody, stay with me on this. I promise it's all going to connect.
Speaker 1:Picture this in your mind you are sitting in the stands watching a basketball game against two teams, the Storm and the Flyers. A player for the Storm stands on the baseline under the basket gripping the ball, eyes scanning the court ready to pass the ball into play. But before passing the ball in, the Flyers coach leaps from his chair, cups his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and yells commandingly Red, red, red. The sound of sneakers squeaking on the floor is now at a furious pace. The storm player looks to pass the ball to one of his teammates, but the Flyers are already bearing down hard. One defender is mirroring the inbound pass, jumping with hands waving frantically, jumping with hands waving frantically, trying to block the throw. The ball is finally passed to a teammate. Immediately, two Flyers players descend on the ball, closing in like a collapsing wall. The ball handler finds himself trapped, nowhere to go. He jumps high to reach above the defenders to pass the ball to an open teammate. But before reaching the intended player. A third Flyers player comes from seemingly nowhere to intercept the ball. The ball is then instantly passed to the Flyers player who is shadowing the inbounding ball. He banks a short shot off the backboard and through the hoop. The ball then bounces harmlessly to the floor and the storm player nervously picks up the ball. He faces the fact that his team must face that suffocating Flyers defense. Again In this story, the Flyers unleashed a strategy known as the full-court press.
Speaker 1:Myers unleashed a strategy known as the full court press. In most basketball games, defenses settle back, guarding only half the court, but not here. A full court press is exactly that Defense on every inch of the court, suffocating and unrelenting. It's pressure in motion. A relentless surge surge like waves crashing against the shore, never giving the opponent a moment to breathe. So now you're probably asking yourself, mark, why are you describing a basketball game? Well, it's this strategy, the full court press, that has allowed me to make some of the largest leaps and most meaningful changes in my career. Just like the Flyers refuse to sit back and let the storm dictate the pace, I've had moments in my career where I couldn't afford to wait for opportunities to come to me. I had to be aggressive, apply pressure and create my own openings before time ran out. I had to take control of the game. There have been three key times in my career where I've had to go all in hyper-focused, relentless and determined to break through to the next level, just like a full-court press in basketball. Each of these moments required me to push myself out of my comfort zone, take risks and make things happen, rather than waiting for them to happen by chance. Let me set the stage for my first big transition.
Speaker 1:I was an experienced Windows desktop developer. Back in the 90s, the Internet wasn't the powerhouse that it is today. Applications had to be installed on every single workstation. No cloud, no seamless updates, just manual installs and local execution. But as we moved into the 2000s, the web was evolving fast. Static pages were turning into dynamic, interactive applications that could manage state across sessions. It was becoming obvious the future of software was going to be on the web.
Speaker 1:The problem I had a decade of experience in desktop development and no one, not even my own company, was willing to take a chance on me as a web developer. I was stuck watching the industry shift while every door I knocked on seemed to stay closed. Then one day, an email landed in my inbox. The company's only ASP now it's called Classic ASP developer had just quit, leaving the client scrambling for support. This was it, my opening. Without hesitation, I picked up the phone and called the recruiting manager. I didn't ask, I didn't hesitate. I simply said I don't care if you pay me or not. I will commit today to support this client after hours, with zero impact on my current project. How could they say no to that? They did give me a shot and I ran with it.
Speaker 1:It wasn't easy. I really struggled at first, but I fixed every critical issue the client had. I delivered some meaningful enhancements as well and proved to myself and to everybody else that I could handle web development. That was my full court press moment. I didn't wait for the opportunity to come to me. I created it, and just like that I went from a desktop developer to a bona fide web developer. That first experience taught me a valuable lesson when an opportunity doesn't exist, sometimes you have to create it yourself. But that wouldn't be the last time I had to push beyond my comfort zone.
Speaker 1:Years later, I found myself at another critical juncture, one that forced me to ask deeper questions about my career path, questions about my career path, and my father once gave me some wise advice and he said at some point in my career I was going to get the itch to move into management. He told me that I'd need to wrestle with that decision for myself. Was leadership something that I truly wanted? Well, one day, out of the blue, a recruiter called me. She had a remarkable client looking for both an experienced web developer and also for a development manager. She asked if I was interested in the developer role and also if I knew anyone who might fit the management position. I paused for a moment, closed my eyes and gathered my thoughts. Then I told her I could absolutely fit the developer role, but I've got my eyes on that management position. Oh, do you have management experience, she asked. I don't, I admitted, but I've been a developer long enough to observe plenty of engineering managers, some great, some well, let's just say, not so great. I'm positive that I can succeed in this role. Well, she agreed to present my resume, but she called back later with some bad news. Mark, they just don't think you're a good fit for management, but they would love to interview you for the developer role. At first I was disappointed with this news, but I refused to let that be the final answer. If you can just get me in that room with the client, I am confident I can convince them. Otherwise, after some back and forth, she reluctantly agreed. Maybe she just gave in to my persistence. Anyway, I went into that interview with a management mindset, not even thinking about the developer role. I spoke with the company's founders, laid out my vision and made my case. In the end, I got the offer. I accepted and was successful in that role for almost 10 years.
Speaker 1:Looking back, this was another full court moment in my career. I didn't wait for an open lane or an easy path. I applied pressure, I stayed aggressive and I forced the opportunity to happen. Just like in basketball, when the defense steps up and controls the pace, they create scoring opportunities. This time I was the one dictating the game and it led to a whole new chapter in my career. Stepping into management was a bold move, but after nearly a decade in that role, I realized that growth doesn't just stop because you've reached a new level. The next challenge I faced wasn't about moving up. It was about shifting my focus entirely. Once again. I had to step up and make it happen and I became a scrum master, a servant leader dedicated to helping teams grow and improve.
Speaker 1:Servant leadership wasn't a foreign concept to me. My mother was a registered nurse for nearly 30 years before she retired, and she embodied it in the purest form. She wasn't just there to respond to the needs of her patients, she was their advocate. She showed immeasurable empathy and compassion. But she also knew that real care sometimes required tough conversations. If a patient had been in bed too long, she didn't just gently encourage them to move, she made it clear why they had to move. She understood that short-term discomfort often led to long-term healing. I carried that same philosophy into my new role. A scrum master isn't just a cheerleader. They're a coach, a guide, and sometimes the one that has to push the team forward, even if it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:I wanted leadership to see this value, so I spent an entire weekend crafting a presentation on why this role was essential, not just for continuous improvement at the team level, but for the organization as a whole. I meticulously laid out our company's largest pain points and demonstrated how a dedicated servant leader could help address them, and demonstrated how a dedicated servant leader could help address them. Well, when I finally gave my pitch, I had left everything on the court. I pushed hard, anticipating resistance, but I believed in what I was saying and, just like a relentless full-court press, I didn't let up. Senior leadership saw the value and they agreed to create the position for me. And the rest, as they say, is history. So there you have it Three moments when I became the coach of my own career and called for a full-court press.
Speaker 1:Now it's your turn. What challenges are you facing in your career where a passive approach just isn't going to cut it, where jogging back on defense isn't enough? You need to step up, apply pressure and create your own opportunities. If you have a few minutes, check out the video in the show notes. Watch how relentless effort and strategy can turn the tide of a game. Then keep that image in your mind.
Speaker 1:The next time you find yourself at a crossroads. Don't wait for opportunities. Press forward, dictate the pace and take control of your career. Thank you for listening and allow me to share my experiences. It really does mean more than you know. And that brings an end to another episode of the Agile Within. We'll see everybody next time. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Agile Within. If you haven't already, please join our LinkedIn page to stay in touch. Just search for the Agile Within. If you haven't already, please join our LinkedIn page to stay in touch. Just search for the Agile Within and please spread the word with your friends and colleagues Until next time. This has been your host, mark Metz.