Greetings!
I've just finished a fascinating book, Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin, about the events of September, 2008, when Lehman Brothers failed, Merrill Lynch was absorbed by Bank of America, and Hank Paulson said he needed $780 billion to save the US economy. As the title suggests, there was a prevalent Wall Street and Washington DC myth about the infallibility of the US economy. "Too big to fail" was a myth.
So what are the career-busting myths that you believe that can lead to your down fall? What's the individual take away from this tale of self-deception?
I think most of us have the opposite problem, "too small to succeed." Perhaps you cling to one of the following career-busting myths:
Myth #1 If I am loyal to my company, I can trust them to look out for me.
Myth #2 The hardest working, best producing and most deserving always
rise to the top.
Myth #3 Good work speaks for itself.
The truth is you are responsible for your success and if you believe it's in the hands of others you thinking is "too small". Let's be honest. Is it really the ones who do good work that get ahead? Or is it the ones who are perceived as doing good work?
A healthy dose of genuine self-promotion is what's needed. Natural self-promoters use their social network and contacts to tout their accomplishments. Real self-promoters work at getting noticed and getting remembered. Self-promotion is an important aspect of modern career development. And ethical self-promotion is based on the realistic understanding that success is a combination of effective performance and effective promotion.
So stop thinking you are too small to succeed! Let me hear you roar!
Check out my new book, Step It Up: An Insider's Guide to Career Development, for more ways you can pump up your career. Here's to your success, Linda Linda Tiernan Sommer, MBA |
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L I N D A S O M M E R, M B A 
