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By Root 694 0

a speech you're giving or they're doing a profile of you for an industry publication. Over time I've come to see that, if required, they will put that information together themselves, but they are also just as willing to use what you give them—verbatim. You should have a bio to send to them. Not a résumé, but a fleshed-out one- or two-page biography that sums up your major accomplishments in crisp, punchy language. Whenever you go to hear a speaker or panel of speakers, you can be pretty sure that the ones who get the best intros are the ones who simply sent over the juiciest bios. And several conference organizers have told me lately that men are far more likely to provide a bio of themselves than women.

Sum up Your Reputation in a Word and Use It

I heard a speech lately by an editor in my field and she did the most brilliant thing. In discussing why she recently had been hired to overhaul a magazine, she said that she was known as a “rehab specialist.” In other words, she went into existing magazines and gave them a new face. I bet everyone in the room remembered that phrase, and you just knew that down the road people would say, “Well she is a rehab specialist ” If people come to think of you in a single, powerful word—like rainmaker, budget maestro, idea queen—it will serve you well. It just might be necessary for you to start people along that path.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Strategy #6: A Gutsy Girl Asks for What She Wants

Idon't think anything has ever been as hard for me as asking for what I want. There were plenty of things early in my career that I yearned for but never had the nerve to request— raises, a better office, a title change—and do you know what helped take the sting out of not getting them? The sheer relief I felt from not having made myself ask.

Asking doesn't come easily to most of us. There's no better evidence of that than Bill Carter's book, Night Shift: The Battle for Late Night TV. In it he describes how David Letterman had never asked for a clause in his NBC contract guaranteeing that he'd be given the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson retired. There was a clause that guaranteed him $1,000,000 if he didn't get it. But he hadn't asked for what really mattered to him. It's shocking to discover this because when you watch David Letterman every night, you assume he's one of the gutsiest guys alive.

Yes, asking for what we want is tough for most of us, including even gutsy girls. But what a gutsy girl accepts that a good girl doesn't is that she must ask anyway. A good girl's first mistake is convincing herself that asking isn't such a smart idea—for two reasons:

1. A good girl feels she shouldn't have to ask. She believes that her work stands for itself and she should be rewarded for her efforts without having to draw any extra attention to them.

2. A good girl thinks it looks greedy to ask. She believes that those who make demands may get what they want initially, but they are likely to be branded as pushy and perhaps overpriced. A good girl thinks that down the road, such greediness will backfire.

A gutsy girl knows that both points couldn't be more wrong.

MYTH #1: YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO ASK REALITY: THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE

One of the most frequent laments I hear from good girls is how disappointed they are over not being fairly rewarded for their accomplishments. A good girl I know was recently passed over for a major promotion, and afterward she told me, “I gave them my all, and they ended up handing the job to an outsider.”

“Well, what did they say when you asked for it?” I said, trying to get a grasp on the dynamics of her situation.

“I didn't specifically ask for it,” she said, surprised by my question. “They know what I can do They know I wanted it.”

This is typical thinking on the part of a good girl. What you've been told over the years is that cream automatically rises to the top. You believe that a boss knows who's doing a great job and who isn't and that when that boss is in a position to do something for the good performer, he won't hesitate. You may even