A tale of two Voyagers

(This post by Sridhar Krishnan was originally published in 2013 on the Transcend Talent Transformation Blog.)

Nearly 19 billion kilometres and counting.

That’s how far NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled from Earth. Launched within a few weeks of each other in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have long since travelled past the planets in the solar system. Along the way both spacecraft have sent back groundbreaking pictures and data.
In addition to the wonderful science they have revealed there’s another inspiration offered by just how these spacecraft have undertaken their journey, one that offers valuable food for thought to anyone in any walk of life who’s ever desired to get the maximum impact and achievement from the trajectory of his own career. Before further exploring this parallel, we must first take a look at how the Voyagers accomplished their journey.

The Voyagers’ main mission was to study the four giant planets in the solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft were spectacularly successful in doing this. But they also achieved this with great efficiency. Take Voyager 2 for example. As it flew past each of the four planets, Voyager 2 not only took pictures of the planet, it also got a friendly “shot in the arm” from the planet helping the spacecraft travel to its next destination faster.

How? By cleverly exploiting the planet’s own high-speed rotation and tremendous velocity as it barrels along its orbit around the sun. So, in a sort of an astronomical slingshot, Voyager 2, already travelling fast when it approached a planet, allowed itself to be dragged along and whirled around by the planet’s gravity. This gave the spacecraft a massive increase in its speed. And then, when it left the planet’s gravitational field after taking its pictures, the spacecraft was catapulted along its trajectory to its next destination at a much greater velocity than it had coming in. That meant it could journey to the next planet faster. And repeat the process when it got there. And so on.

Thanks to this sling-shotting at every stage of its trajectory Voyager 2 reached Neptune, the end of the planetary line, within 12 years of leaving Earth. As opposed to the 30 years it would have required otherwise. And that incredible gain was achieved without having to burn extra fuel.

And therein lies a valuable learning for career professionals.

As we travel along our career trajectories, trysting with various assignments, projects, roles, teams and all manner of opportunities that come our way, what momentum and impact might we not achieve if we chose to actively exploit every opportunity as our own personal slingshot?

There are different ways to progress through an assignment. One way is to take the low risk approach: work heads down, oblivious to the adventurous possibilities offered by the work, deliver what’s expected of us, and move on to the next assignment or role. Nothing wrong with this approach. It still allows one to deliver a good outcome and pick up incremental experience. But it also could mean missed opportunities to achieve greater impact.

The Voyager spacecraft could have taken this option. They could have flown by the planets, taking great pictures, getting the job done but without taking advantage of the slingshot opportunities. But the whole mission would have taken much longer and may not have been as impactful.

The other way to engage in a work assignment is to deliver what’s expected of us while also being tuned in to slingshot opportunities that the assignment may have to offer. Opportunities that, if capitalised, may amplify the impact of one’s work and accelerate one’s career growth.

This sling-shotting can result in two types of outcomes. One consequence is to provide boosts of momentum that accelerate us along the path we’re already on. For example, by using the opportunity to pick up a valuable new skill.

The other possible consequence, if one’s bold and willing, is to use an assignment to not only gain momentum but also to exploit it as a pivot around which to shift one’s career direction towards other exciting possibilities.

The Voyager spacecraft represent examples of both possibilities. They used the same slingshot opportunities but in different ways on their way to greater adventures. After studying Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 sling-shotted past them on a mostly unchanged course and headed out of the solar system at increased speed. On the other hand, Voyager 2 studied the same two planets and then used them as pivots to veer off in a different trajectory towards Uranus and Neptune.

There are stories of many companies that have successfully pivoted their way to growth and fame. Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker, is one such. Started in 1889 as a manufacturer of playing cards, the company found itself struggling to stay afloat in the 1960s with revenues from its jaded core business dwindling fast. Their first successful pivot came in the late 1960s when the company president, walking around its factory, spotted a simple mechanical toy that a maintenance engineer had assembled for his own amusement. The president immediately spotted its market potential and had the company manufacture it as a proper product in time for the next holiday rush. It went on to sell more than a million units thus launching the company in to a lucrative mechanical toys business. A few years and another pivot later Nintendo found itself in the electronic toys and video game business. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the context of personal careers, how does one spot slingshot opportunities in one’s work environment? Curiosity, alertness and awareness are all it takes. Here are some questions worth asking:

• Is there an opportunity in this assignment to pick up a new skill that will be valuable to my career?
• Does this environment offer an opportunity to examine an alternate career path? What are the risks?
• What new networking opportunities are available?
• Does this assignment put me in contact with a person who could be a mentor or a role model?
• If an offbeat assignment comes up that offers potential for niche experience, can I put my hand up for it?

Above all, successful career sling-shotting requires a desire to explore new avenues and create more personal impact. And the willingness to take considered risk in return for new adventures and the potential for greater career fulfilment.

In other words, choose to be a career Voyager.