Young workers just starting their careers are staring up a long climb to the top of the corporate totem pole. And the best way to ascend is by sticking true to the time-honored advice of going above and beyond, PwC U.S. CEO Paul Griggs advises—and it may even mean putting in extra effort on the weekends.
“What you put into it is what you get out of it,” Griggs said in a recent interview with Business Insider. “To me, that quote is saying ‘yes’ a lot. It’s putting in the time when people are not looking. It’s being curious.”
And that career-defining determination doesn’t have to be bound to the hours of the 9-to-5 workday. In fact, Griggs explains that professionals who stay interested in their work and take the initiative to research things they don’t understand—even in their downtime—will have the upper-hand compared to peers who simply log out and don’t keep learning. He says putting in extra hours on the weekend is an example of staying curious around the clock.
“Now, you have a choice,” Griggs continued. “We get to a Friday night, and you both go home. One of you is curious from the week: they’ve written some notes on their page. And before they go out, or go for a run, or go to the gym, or go out to dinner, or whatever they do, they do a little bit of research…The other person just goes out.”
