Giveaway: Joel Garfinkle's Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level

Giveaway:  When you leave a comment here or tweet (cc @johnsonwhitney so I can track), you'll be entered to win an autographed copy of Getting Ahead:  Three Steps to Take your Career to the Next Level.  The contest will close on Tuesday, November 15 at midnight (EDT); I'll announce the winner on November 16.

A month ago, Joel Garfinkle (@workcoach4you) sent me a copy of his book Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level.  Garfinkle, one of the top 50 executive coaches in the U.S., explains that most successful leaders have gotten to where they are by leveraging and applying perception, visibility, and influence better than anyone else.  In short, we need to:

• Improve perception
• Increase visibility
• Exert influence

Have there been times when you've done the work, but you didn't get the credit?  If you don't get the credit (remember, I'm talking about at work), there's no increase in perception or visibility, and therefore no influence. 

With that in mind, here are some ideas to consider:

Perception:  Your professional success has very little to do with your perception of others; rather, it has everything to do with the perception others have of you.  Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer noted, "Doing great work won't guarantee a promotion or a raise, and it may not even be important for keeping your job.  What matters is your ability to get noticed."

I still remember one painful year as an equity analyst.  I'd had extremely strong client reviews and the quantifiable metrics were equally robust, but my internal colleagues' perception of me was quite unfavorable (e.g. too aggressive).  Garfinkle's Four-Step Perception Management Process, including his online assessment, would have been helpful.

Visibility:
The one thing human beings fear most—even more than death, in some cases—is public speaking. Why? Because they are afraid of being visible. When you speak in front of a group, you make yourself completely visible to your audience. You can't hide.

We fear being visible, but when you are invisible, no one knows what "without you, might have never been."  This is especially true for women who tend to be worker bees and frequently experience the double bind of tooting our own horn.  Garfinkle's book provides some useful suggestions on overcoming fear of the spotlight.  One I especially like is, "If you feel a sense of resistance to engaging in self-promotion, the best context for you to do so is simply by responding to a question."

Influence:
If people believe in you, they will follow you.  If they follow you, you have influence. If you have influence you are a leader —influence without power (think Ghandi) has achieved some of the greatest accomplishments in history. 

I find myself frequently without formal power, except with my children (which is possibly why sometimes that power gets abused...), but to underscore that the game really is about influence, not authority, Garfinkle suggests writing down five ways in which you have observed others exerting influence without relying on their authority, power or title.  I also like his tips on influencing down, sideways and up. Research has shown that men can neglect managing sideways and down, but women cannot.  We have to do all three well. 

Finally, I know this all seems a bit self-aggrandizing.  But if you want to advance your career in order to put food on the table, and do good in the world, you need to be willing to take off your invisibility cloak—because positive perception, visibility and influence are requisite. 

***

Have you ever struggled at work because the perception that others had of you was unfavorable?
Have you ever experienced the paradox of wanting to be invisible and visible simultaneously?
Who have you noticed wielding influence without power or authority?

P.S.  I look forward to your comments, and am grateful to Joel for his willingness to autograph and mail a copy of his book to one of you.

Comments

[Arindamd]

You are bang on. However, most start-ups begin their enterprise with a focus on the technology or service that they think could be sound business. I was one of such start-ups some 40 years back right out of college with a bank balance of $20.
It took a while to get used to the idea that the 'perception' is that of the customer. It came as a pretty rude shock.
As a fledgling start-up struggling to survive, I did not try for visibility, rather tried to keep a very low profile. Fortunately I had a mentor who pushed me in gaining whatever visibility I could muster. I remember hesitating in passing around my business card. I know it sounds so foolish.
Much later I worked with a government department as a consultant in establishing incubators in leading teaching institutions in the country. It was then I could push a lot of proposals and projects through the bureaucratic system with relative ease. As a matter of fact I built quite a reputation in that. Even today I get assignments from various teaching institutions and R&D centres without ever approaching them for one.

[cedric johnson]

Great review of the ways to strengthen and market one's brand.

I would add that one needs a clear picture of of what one can deliver for customers and that each contribution is custom made for each particular customer.

cedricj.wordpress.com

[Dscofield]

This is so true and for me, highlights the distinction between "output" and "outcome". We focus on the "output" of appearing selfish, arrogant, "it's all about me" if we seek positive perception, visibility & influence instead of the outcome of those: the ability to make a bigger difference and have a positive impact for change on many levels. Thank you Whitney for highlighting the issues and the distinction.

[Maria]

"Finally, I know this all seems a bit self-aggrandizing." Not at all, I am curious why it felt that way to you.

I constantly struggle with the paradox of wanting to be visible and invisible at the same time.

[Marc]

Thanks for the link!

[Kelly]

I found you from The Power of Moms website.
I have experienced the visibile/invisble paradox. There is a certain task I know I'd be great at doing, however the fear of rejection has held me back from stepping up to the plate.

[claudyne wilder]

Doing a talk tomorrow on how people need to take a seat at the table. What I know experience in myself is that the more I seize an opportunity even though nervous and part of me would rather not, the more I build the muscle to seize the next opportunity. We all need to build the muscle of speaking up. So I ask myself: You increased your kettle bell to 50 pounds. Did you increase your speaking up and business communications to 50 pounds? What would that mean?

[Kris]

Interesting how these are related. If you don't have the perception part right then it might be best to fix that before working on visibility and so on. Looking forward to the read.

[Elizabeth Keeler]

Managing perception is tricky when there are already pre-conceptions. I had the chance to start from scratch during my internship and I have never felt so powerful! (Sounds cheesy but it was awesome.) Coming back to b-school was difficult because I encountered the friction of a previous brand conflicting with the one I wanted. Anyone have any tips for how to change perceptions when strong pre-notions already exist? Interesting concept. Thanks very much Whitney!

[Whitney]

Congratulations to Kelly! You've won the giveaway. Will you e-mail me whitneyljohnson at yahoo dot com with your mailing address - and Joel will send off an autographed copy!

[joel garfinkle]

Kelly,

Your comment about "fear of rejection" holding you back from stepping up to the plate is a common issue I see with many of my clients. I recommend imagining everything you would do if you didn't let the fear of rejection stop you from taking action. Would you take on that project that everyone else is scared to accept? Would you assume responsibility that is beyond your comfort zone?

How exciting that you won the giveaway. I look forward to mailing you the book.

[Kelly]

I just received the book in the mail and wanted to say thanks! I'm anxious to learn and apply.