Don't Ignore These Two Parts of Your PIE

Welcome back to The Power Coach, the bi-weekly newsletter* that skips “happy talk” and helps leaders ascend, one Hard Truth at a time.?

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If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you know that it takes more than hard work to get ahead. In my book, I focus on five sources of power, one of which is visibility and branding. What do other people say about you when you are not in the room? If you perform well, but know one knows about it or speaks highly of you, you are missing a huge opportunity to propel your career. Think about a simple PIE chart, split three ways: performance, image, and exposure. You need all of them to succeed, but most people focus only on performance. Image and exposure are important because other people promote you, and how they perceive you underpins how they make decisions.

This week, I’ve highlighted wisdom from guests on my podcast, 97% Effective. Follow their advice to ensure that your PIE chart has a healthy distribution.?

“Your job is to find the right people and get them excited about you.”?

Peter Belmi , Professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business .

Peter Belmi studies power, social class and inequality. We discussed how the beliefs we hold about ourselves – many formed by our class background – can perpetuate social inequality. We looked at how the world and organizations are not fair places, and where we have the power to do something about that. In his popular first-year MBA elective “Paths to Power,” Peter challenges how his students view visibility, emphasizing that at the end of the day, they are not the ones responsible for their career - their managers are. To advance our careers, Peter says, we have to manage key relationships. When it comes to getting promoted, you have just one job: identify the gatekeepers and to get them excited about you.?

“Trust-building happens when you are transparent.”

Marie Incontrera , Founder and CEO of Incontrera Consulting .

Marie isn’t shy about sharing some of her personal life online. While many of us avoid sharing anything personal about ourselves online - especially on professional sites like LinkedIn - the social media consultant knows that giving her followers a peek into her personal life has multiple benefits. While Marie doesn’t recommend airing your dirty laundry and reminds us to edit what we post online, she has found that sharing curated content in a transparent way can make her clients (and prospective clients) feel more comfortable and connected with her. This is especially true for coaches and consultants: “They work with you because you're an expert, but they also work with you because there's rapport, there's trust, there’s relationship building,?there's partnership, and what you put out there online is the foundation for that.”

“You need to be around people who have done better than you.”

Alex D. Tremble , Award-winning speaker and CEO, GPS Leadership Solutions

Alex is a case study in how visibility can accelerate your career. At 24, he rose to oversee organizational development in the US Government Department of the Interior, becoming the youngest federal employee to create and run three government-wide senior leadership development programs. He’s now an award-winning speaker, consultant, author, and coach who helps leaders build strong, strategic relationships. Alex advises that in order to rise, you need to be proactive – and visible to those in positions of power and influence. He provided huge credit to his mentor, who would bring Alex to every senior executive meeting that he could. “I wouldn't speak, I wasn't participating, I was just sitting in the room,… [My mentor] wanted people to know who I was. He wanted me to be synonymous with executive leadership.” Alex followed that up by proactively providing help and solutions to those leaders. This further led him to spend a lot of time in the office corridor where senior leadership worked. The visibility made a huge difference, and it forced him to raise his game. As he said, “You need to be around people who have done better than you.”

“Your visual brand starts with your profile picture.”

Deepti Pahwa , Chief Innovation Officer

In our conversation, Deepti shared that she didn’t always have a seat at the table. Early in her career, as a designer, she was often left out of leadership roles and decisions. Knowing the principles of design could be leveraged to create innovation in every field, she left her corporate job to reinvent herself, pursuing executive education at Stanford University Graduate School of Business ( Stanford LEAD and Stanford University Institute of Design / d.school ). She took advantage of her associations with the schools to create visibility, build mentors and land consulting work around the world, including at the World Economic Forum and MIT – which further boosted her visibility and brand. She shared her innovative work widely on social media, but revealed that a key to standing out started with her profile picture,? changing the background to bright yellow. That made her stand out, and has come to define her brand, which you can see on full display in her latest endeavor, her new book, Trailblazer Founders: Breaking Through Invisible Boundaries.?

We don’t give ourselves a promotion - others do - and people cannot promote who and what they don’t know. While it’s important to perform well to get ahead, don’t ignore the rest of the PIE: image and exposure.?By applying these mindsets and strategies, there’s a much better chance that your great work and impact will be rewarded.?

Powerfully yours,

Michael Wenderoth

I help leaders ethically leverage power and politics to ascend.

Are you ready to ASCEND? Make sure you never miss an issue by clicking the "Subscribe" button in the upper right corner of the page. For more tools, tips, and insights, connect with me here!

Click here to?download the first chapters of my book, Get Promoted:?What You’re REALLY Missing At Work That’s Holding You Back.?Based on research and the coaching practices that I’ve used to help thousands of global leaders get clarity and accelerate their careers, Get Promoted is available on Amazon.?

Subscribe to?my podcast, 97% Effective,?to hear what experts and leaders have to say about how to really build power and influence to better navigate work and accelerate your career.

On my website,?check out articles I’ve written for Harvard Business Review and Forbes?and benefit from my?videos?and other free resources.