The questions people ask me most frequently are:
- How did you get to where you are?
- How do I move from being known as the person who gets things done around here to the person who advises leaders, important people, and important groups on what to do next?
- How do I go around my boss who takes all the credit for what I accomplish?
My answer is . . . Build your own visibility.
Step 1: Follow Lukaszewski’ visibility success strategies. Remember that You’re On Your Own (YOYO), at least at the start.
First of all, observe Lukaszewski’s anti-griping rule, Stop Whining Around about this, or anything, 50% of those who hear you can’t, don’t, and won’t care; 25% of those who hear you have problems worse than yours; The remaining 25% are likely glad you have the problems you have. Quit your bellyaching.
Step 2: Join and become visible in professional organizations and associations
- American Society of Association Executives
- Business associations
- International Association of Business Communicators
- Local Chamber of Commerce
- Public Relations Society of America
- National Speakers Association
- Rotary
Join and participate in organizations and associations where you have special knowledge. Check out and, if you can, join the associations your bosses participate in and find ways to be recognized, to be visible.
All of these organizations are seeking content for their members. Writing things for association publications might get you invitations to speak before these audiences, if you care to.
- Talk, teach, and write about important subjects in your professional area, in your community, and current important topics already being talked about.
- Always talk about ways your audiences can achieve the golden aspirations they have, from their perspective.
Step 3: Get busy building your own visibility. It’s your destiny and you’re responsible for managing it. You’ll be surprised how many will help you work on it if you make yourself relevant to their lives.
- Be the table: act like it, believe it, live it, be it. Study Influencing Leaders.
- Begin and stick with the truth about you, your success, and everything else.
- Be earnest but unstoppable.
- Forecast what you are ready to do.
- Give more than you get.
- Help others get what they want from their perspective, they will help you get what you want.
- Start raising and answering tough questions. Work, talk, teach, publish.
- Learn how to answer four kinds of questions:
- Killer questions, the reputation busters, and some begging for answers.
- Questions you’d love to respond to if only someone would ask you. (Provide the questions to interviewers, editorialists, and others.)
- Questions out there that need answering, but one needs to step up.
- Questions from platforms you could offer good answers for.
- Publicly recognize others you respect and recommend. You will be honored and remembered in return.
- Find audiences for your thinking, business groups, trade associations, service clubs, and military groups through their Public Affairs offices.
- Preach, teach, and advocate to others how to be successful and solve problems like you can. Share everything you know how to do.
- Get really good at presentations in person and on Zoom, build your visibility on LinkedIn.
- Do senior-level seminars for other management teams, leaders, and other organizations in your industry.
- Get on podcasts and do webinars. Let management know about it. Send them the scripts.
- Write and publish helpful and predictive articles in trade association publications and business journals, local and national business magazines, and available websites and platforms seeking helpful leadership information.
- Speak up. Stand up.
- Be persistent. Keep suggesting. Keep proposing. Ask for help. Remember the Andy Anderson Success axiom, “No’s Are Just Short Stops on the Way to Yes!”
- Remember the YOYO rule for getting ahead in your world . . .You’re On Your Own. Make your own way, every day.
- What you want to start, stand for, and to do was and will always be up to you to accomplish.
- Remember the be-attitudes of success in a YOYO world: Be positive, be helpful, be useful, be hopeful, be honest.
- Assess your own progress at the end of every day: What did you learn, what was most useful, what was most helpful, what was most unusual?
- The bottom line: Have a great life getting more attention from a wide variety of people, your immediate boss and your boss’ boss included.
Good luck
Let me know how I can help.
203-948-7029
jel@e911.com
