Free Career Advice: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick
Posted on September 24, 2007 - Filed Under Business |
When I was in school I took consumer behavior from one of my favorite professors. I learned some valuable lessons from his class, especially the beginning portion of every lecture that he titled, free advice. He said that there are a lot of valuable things that you learn in business school, but that a lot of the things that get you promoted have more to do with how you manage people’s perception of you than how you actually perform on the job (spoken like a true marketer).
Anyway, I decided that I was going to steal a page from his book and pass on some of his knowledge, as well as pass on a bit of my own. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a little free advice.
So here is piece of free advice #1:
Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick: Learn to Manage Expectations
Think of the last time your boss asked how long it would take you to complete your current project. What was your first response? If you are a normal person who wants to impress the boss then your first response was probably to give a very optimistic estimate of the project completion time.
This situation is an example of how our normal reactions often defy logic and rationality. First of all, what happens if you give a ridiculously optimistic projection to your boss? You have to work your ace off to hit your goals and even if you get it done on time then you really didn’t accomplish anything extraordinary because all you did was meet your projections.
People on the fast track aren’t there because they met goals; they are there because they destroyed their goals. Also, if you give overly optimistic estimates to your bosses, what happens if you don’t meet your expectations? The answer is that you get labeled as the guy who cannot deliver. Nobody wants to be labeled as the guy who talks a big game and then chokes under pressure.
However, if you always underestimate your abilities, or at bare minimum, give your boss super-mega-ultra-realistic projections, then you will always look impressive when you destroy your projections.
It all ties back to President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous military strategy of “Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick.” Big Stick Diplomacy, as it became known, laid forth the idea that the US would not talk a big game or make overtly aggressive diplomatic threats, but that it would strike hard and fast when required.
I will not lie, the only reason that I remember that little tidbit of historical information is because I learned about in high school U.S. History class and the phallic innuendo was too funny for me to forget. But regardless of how or why I remember the saying, the important thing is to look at it for its strategic value. Remember, speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far.
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