The unfortunate reality is that if you don’t sing your own praises, you will miss out on opportunities in life. Most people don’t have the time to really pay attention to what you’re doing (bosses, interviewers, dating interests, etc), so you have to make them aware - or you’re just off in the corner being unseen.
Of course marketing on your own behalf is helpful, but I’ve found that the most successful people don’t brag about their achievements. Instead, somehow they get other people to talk about their merits within the organization.
Is this before they became successful or after? Once we reach a certain level of success, it gets much easier to get other people to talk about us. But when we are just starting and unknown, who is gonna sing our praises (assuming we are good at something) other than our moms? :P
>But when we are just starting and unknown, who is gonna sing our praises
What I've noticed is just conversing empathetically with others a la How to Win Friends and Influence People and having technical discussion is enough for others to sing my praises, from my time as intern through middle-manager. Basically, be interested in others over yourself. For more on the nuance of "interested" I'd suggest the above book.
Bragging is making your achievements known. Bragging poorly is doing this in a way that's too obvious & grating to the listener. If you're accused of bragging, this means you are bragging poorly.
"Working" is not sufficient. If you are not careful others will observe and take credit for your work. Especially in big companies that can happen easily.
I've seen some monumentally stupid decisions happen because work was politicized, whether it's unnecessary work being done or potentially valuable projects being declined.
The difference I've personally seen in getting my projects through is my relationship with stakeholders; e.g., if one executive isn't on-board the project is toast. I've taken to communicating personally with potential naysayers early to consult with them to get their feedback but mostly to get the first impression over with before presenting it to a larger audience.
Agreed. There's a real art in promoting yourself without resulting in everyone hating you. Not everyone manages that - or even tries to avoid the "annoying one's peers" part.
In business unlike socially it's actually part of the job - or it should be if you want to achieve certain goals: bonus, promotion, peer recognition. Even avoiding layoffs could come down to how well you communicate the good work you're doing.
This does not come naturally to many of us in this sector, but once you are aware of the need for it, there are ways to promote yourself authentically and without being too much of a show-off.
The timing of telling might be as important as the doing. If, for example, someone asks about X and you did X three months ago, and you only tell them now, after they mention it, you might put it into their heads "holy shit, this person did X, which I thought was hard, and either forgot about it, or forgot to brag, wow..."
Unless you're really lucky, that puts you at the peril of sociopaths who will just take advantage of you without rewarding you or giving you credit. Easy path to bitterness, unfortunately. People need to be able to stand out from the crowd in multiple ways, like it or not.
That's bullshit. If you don't promote yourself you will always wonder why others who aren't as good advance in life while you stand still and are taken advantage of.
It may work in smaller companies, but in corporations this often ain't true. Marketing beats raw skills easily, since those promoting/increasing salary are usually quite far from technical aspects of daily life.
