Don’t let the title of this article mislead you; I love mentors. I’ve been on the receiving end of several great individuals’ wisdom and support during my career. However, it’s the sponsors in my different organizations that advocated for me and opened doors to opportunities that challenged me to stretch, grow, and succeed in real-time.
I love the “clean power” approach to cultivating influence because it’s how I choose to conduct myself. Many others have adopted their version of it for similar reasoning. However, not everyone plays by rules you deem fair, and not everyone has your interests at heart. Here are four ideas to help you survive and thrive when you find yourself working in a sharp-elbowed environment.
We’ve got two great professional development opportunities launching over the next few days. Our free webinar, Think Differently in a World Where All the Rules Have Changed runs on 9/9 at 11 AM Central. And, our live-online First-Time Managers Academy kicks off on 9/10. Early registration pricing for the Academy ends at 11:59 PM on 9/3.
Most everyone agrees it’s critical to build a leadership pipeline in our firms. Unfortunately, when it comes to new managers at the front of this pipeline, without proper care and support, the failure rate is abysmally high. Here are five areas where new managers flail and fail along with some help to improve the situation.
Cultivating influence in your firm and industry is a long-term process. However, there are a few communication adjustments you can make immediately to ensure you are properly projecting yourself when it counts:
Why is asking for a raise or promotion so difficult and sometimes scary? It is not something you do on a regular basis, and there are many complexities involved. Here are ideas to help you prepare for and succeed with this important ask:
Wally Bock and Art Petty connect to talk about their favorite, unknown books on this latest episode of the Leadership and Management Book Talk podcast. In what is never a surprise, they come at the topic from opposite ends of the spectrum.
Most of us have a few communication moments in our careers that we would like to either do-over or erase our brains’ memories. Here are a few of mine and what I learned that help me grow as a workplace communicator:
Whether you’re looking for a job, asking for a promotion, or focused on reinventing your career, you need to be able to articulate and showcase your Professional Value Proposition (PVP). The same goes for situations where you are asking for more, including angling for a promotion or seeking a raise. It turns out, uncovering and articulating your PVP is a challenging exercise. Here are ideas to help:
Interestingly, the most important advice I ever received from a mentor about leading and succeeding was all about strengthening my communication skills.
