At a chance meeting on way to Canary Wharf I was asked “is it ok to use your gut instinct to make a critical career choice?” I have just turned down a role with an increase of £30,000 additional basic salary as it did not feel right”?

How do I answer that question?

In my experience, it’s about who is in control of your career?

You

Your line manager

Your employer

The truth that no-one wants to admit is that at some point you will be either tapped on the shoulder in your mid-forties or 50’s and said time is up or you take ownership of your career and leave on your terms.

So when you are focussed on delivering in your day job, how do you generate good career ideas from?

Daniel Goleman is a world renowned psychologist and best selling author when asked

” What do you say to those who think that emotions shouldn’t drive your decisions as a leader?

Emotional intelligence means being intelligent about your emotions. Those emotions are important data when it comes to making a decision. If you have five strategies in front of you and you need to decide which one to go with, you may have all the data, but there's something that goes beyond it – your life experience.

What is the role of emotion in leadership today?

Managing emotions has become more important. Leaders are far more likely to face a disruptive technology or competitor as the speed of change has quickened so much.

What we used to think of as crises are now more routine, which means that it’s more important for leaders to manage themselves as well as other people. It’s about taking charge of a situation and not panicking.”

A client of was a loyal employee. He was the number 1 revenue generator in Europe. Whilst he was making positive steps his gut instinct was telling him, this is not right I have major frustrations on a day to day basis. He had not had a pay review since joining the organization and no career path was in place. After further research, he discovered he was significantly underpaid compared to his peers, this was in terms of both basic salary and bonus payment. His instinct proved right.

He then received a call from a head-hunter who thought he would be a very good fit for a role with a direct competitor. Being a loyal employee he normally ignored this approaches. This role however was a potential – 55% increase in salary for him for doing the same job.

He was successful at first interview with the direct competitor and was invited back to give a presentation. He subsequently impressed a number of the senior panel at final interview stage. He received an offer from the direct competitor at 55% more than his current salary.

He felt that his career could grow and thrive there.

He accepted their offer but had to wait to resign as he was due to attend a high flyer trip. He found this time very difficult as he had mentally disengaged from his current business. He resigned after the trip was over with every intention of delivering an effective handover of his customer relationships.

Finally, a senior global director intervened just before he was about to leave.

He apologized for mismanaging his career and remuneration and offered to match the other company’s offer, lower his target to achieve on target earnings and pay him a 30% retention bonus. Stock options were also confirmed as was a commitment to personally manage his career moving forward.

After much contemplation and discussion with his wife he decided to stay at the organization.

He made this decision with a commitment to a key external mentor to measure his company’s progress after 12 months – did they keep their promises? If they did not, he would explore external opportunities…

His actions demonstrate that even with an overachiever being paid what you are worth will not happen by accident it needs a plan, proactivity and follow your hunches.