Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead_. But Gutsy Girls Do - Kate White [64]
• Share the glory—but not too much of it. The common wisdom today is that it's vulgar to hog all the glory for yourself. People will be far more supportive of you and happy for your success if you share the glory by using “we.” The memo you send starts off with “We did it,” rather than “I did it.” But, on the other hand, you want to make certain your boss knows the role you played.
• Never say, “I was lucky.”
HOW TO GET YOUR NAME ON THE RIGHT PEOPLE'S LIPS
Personal PR isn't just a matter of trumpeting your accomplishments. You want to pop to mind with the people that matter. In fact, all the strategies I talked about for improving the way you look and sound won't do you any good if you're sitting at your desk. You must be “out there.” A few strategies:
• Take advantage of any reason to deal with your boss's boss.
• Work on interdepartmental committees and projects. Jane Hedrick Walter, president of Career Development Consultants in Greensboro, North Carolina, says that it's so important to get visibility outside of your department that if you can't find an interdepartmental task force to take part in, start one yourself.
• Speak to key people in your company at office parties and conferences. Interestingly, they're often standing alone because employees feel awkward approaching them. Do not, however, put them on the spot by asking about company matters (“Will we really be relocating?”). Instead ask their opinion of industry news and trends that you've been boning up on.
• Get involved in industry organizations, but don't restrict your involvement to mingling and glad-handing at massive cocktail parties. Play a leadership role. Sit on a committee, organize an event, and, best of all, speak on a panel.
• Write a thank-you note to anyone who does you a favor in your business.
• Whenever you get a promotion, send a press release to industry newsletters.
• Write a forward-thinking piece for a company publication.
MAKE YOURSELF A LEGEND IN YOUR OWN TIME
When I was growing up, there was a memorable and much-parodied commercial on TV for a men's cologne with the tagline, “Give him British Sterling. Make him a legend in his own time.”
When I look at so many of the gutsy girls I've known, they've done just that: they've made themselves legends, creating a wonderful mystique about their personalities and their careers. They do this by perpetuating certain “truths” about themselves until an oral history comes into existence and is brought up whenever their names get mentioned.
Sometimes it's all true and sometimes the truth gels distorted—to their advantage. I had a funny lesson in this when I won the Glamour magazine contest. The application asked for a list of all the activities I had participated in during college, and wanting to win, I threw in everything I could think of. The last item I put on the list was something called the President's Ad Hoc Narcotics Committee. It was a do-nothing committee, organized by the president of the school, to evaluate how severe the drug problem was on campus. We only met three times, and nothing much was accomplished, but hey, it was something to put on the list.
Three months later I was on the stage at Lincoln Center, hearing myself introduced with the other winners to a throng of Glamour advertisers and trade press. And do you know the second thing they said about me? They announced I'd been on the President's narcotics committee, as if I'd been tapped by the President of the United States. I wondered if they'd strip me of my title if they found out the truth.
While you don't want to encourage or perpetuate any misconceptions, it doesn't hurt to put your own positive spin on your image. Two little tricks:
Write a Dazzling Bio of Yourself
There are plenty of times when people require information about you. Perhaps they need an introduction for