3 Career Tips from Lisa Su, CEO of AMD

Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD, recently spoke to the New York Times about achieving career success. Three key take-aways:

1. Make your own luck. To advance your career, you need to be smart, capable, AND lucky. She says that “you can make your luck.” How? “[D]o a great job on something that’s really, really hard. Don’t be afraid to take that risk… Look for those hardest problems and volunteer to help solve them.”
2. Think beyond just legal issues. She finds “the people who really stand out as leaders are the ones who try to think about their job much more broadly than it’s defined.” She values these people the most: “In every context, when you think about what truly makes projects successful, it’s the people who can bridge the gaps.” Lawyers, keep the business objective in mind, explain legal issues in plain English, and provide solutions!
3. The Platinum Rule. Lisa used to follow the Golden Rule (“I was treating people the way I expected to be treated, and I don’t expect anybody to ask me how I feel. I just expect to talk about the work.”) But a mentor taught her “to get the best out of your people, different people need to be managed differently.” After this “revelation”, she now tells her team that their jobs as leaders is to get 120% out of the team, and “the way to do that is to treat everyone as an individual, in terms of what they need to be successful and how they need to be coached.” Lawyers, adjust your style depending on the audience for maximum effect!