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In this straight-talking guide, MBA Elizabeth Freedman—an expert in corporate etiquette—shares the rules of the workplace that only veterans know: survival secrets that will help you avoid the common mistakes that can sink careers at the gate. From getting a seat at the meeting table to dealing with a demanding boss, from talking salary in a performance review to what not to say at a business function, Work 101 tells you everything you need to know to master the (shameless) art of climbing the corporate ladder.
· Manage the manager—how to survive any type of boss, including the Boss from Hell
· Master the art of introduction—have them at hello!
· Create winning e-mails that actually get read—and tips for avoiding on-screen blunders and other career-ending disasters
· How to handle a “cube invader”
· What not to order, wear, or say at a business lunch
· The real rules for dressing business casual—what to wear and when
· How not to be clueless about promotions and (bigger) bonuses
· The five steps to employee-boss success—including the top-ten things to listen to and observe
· How to avoid burning your bridges (and other great exit strategies)...and much, much more!
· Manage the manager—how to survive any type of boss, including the Boss from Hell
· Master the art of introduction—have them at hello!
· Create winning e-mails that actually get read—and tips for avoiding on-screen blunders and other career-ending disasters
· How to handle a “cube invader”
· What not to order, wear, or say at a business lunch
· The real rules for dressing business casual—what to wear and when
· How not to be clueless about promotions and (bigger) bonuses
· The five steps to employee-boss success—including the top-ten things to listen to and observe
· How to avoid burning your bridges (and other great exit strategies)...and much, much more!
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Elizabeth Freedman, MBA, is an award-winning speaker, author, and owner of a corporate training and development firm. She works with organizations to transform their new professionals into successful employees, and her articles about work and life choices for students and young professionals are frequently featured on Collegeboard.com and TopMBA.com. She lives in Natick, Massachusetts, with her husband and son.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
The Unspoken Rules: Why Business Savvy Matters to Your Career
—Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist, This Is Spinal Tap
EVEN IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE HILARIOUS MOVIE This Is Spinal Tap, it’s worth mentioning that Nigel Tufnel, one of the lead characters, is about as dumb as a doorknob. But when it comes to learning the ropes at work, this aging, spandex-wearing rocker is right on the money: There really is a fine line between clever and stupid, between workplace intellect and ignorance, and ultimately, between career success and setbacks.
For instance, consider Marci, age 24, an entry-level analyst at a top-tier consulting firm. A magna cum laude college graduate, former student government president, and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Marci seems like an employer’s dream, right? Right...except that Marci was recently admonished for her “poor work ethic” and received a less-than-stellar performance review from her boss.
Turns out that Marci had arrived late at the office on a few occasions—only because things had been slow and there hadn’t been that much for her to do—and the boss had noticed. Too bad he hadn’t also noticed all of the times she’d stayed late at the office, come in early, and answered emails from her laptop at home.
Unfortunately, Marci learned the hard way that most supervisors still want you at your desk by 9:00 am, slow day or not. She didn’t know that even though she was terrific 90 percent of the time, it was the other 10 percent that her boss seemed to remember when it came time for her performance review. In other words, she learned that ultimately, there is a very fine line between success and failure in the eyes of her boss—after all, it only took a few late mornings to undo the goodwill she had been working hard to build up for so many months.
The “Fine Lines” of the Workplace
She’s not the only one to learn that lesson. The truth is that many of us make mistakes in the early stages of our careers. It isn’t until we’ve been overlooked for an opportunity, passed by for a promotion, or even scolded by a supervisor that we begin to get a clue—but by then, the damage is already done.
The reality is that the workplace is filled with “fine lines”—for instance, when do persistence and follow-up become pesky and irritating to the boss? When is our desire to improve things viewed by our coworkers as a criticism of the status quo or seen as arrogance on our part that we know better than they do? Knowing how to stay on the right side of these, and many other, equations requires an understanding of the rules of the workplace—and how to succeed within them.
What You Don’t Say Says Plenty
How can you begin to grasp some of these unspoken rules, and how can you successfully navigate them? Consider Silent Messages, a 1971 study conducted by Dr. Albert Mehrabian, a psychologist and UCLA professor and pioneer in the field of verbal and nonverbal communication. What he discovered was that people are influenced less by what we say than by how we say it, noting that 93 percent of our impact comes from things other than the words we use.
What does this mean for you and your career? It means that what you don’t say—including your dress, appearance, body language, and more—can actually say a lot about you. In fact, it can shout out loud and clear from the mountain-tops exactly who you are.
What does your business behavior—including your communication, dress, and interpersonal skills—really say? Does it reinforce who you say you are, or does it reveal something else?
The Problem with Business Know-How
Here’s the problem: Unless some kind soul is willing to enlighten you, you often don’t know the answers to the questions I’ve just presented. And as a result, you don’t even know that you’re making mistakes in the first place. After all, you can’t possibly be as clueless as someone who wipes his hands on a tablecloth during a business lunch, or dresses up like a cowgirl for a job interview, for Pete’s sake! You’re not that bad, you tell yourself, so why worry?
More often than not, we never imagine that we could be the ones with the problem. We never think that we’re the cocky ones, the annoying ones, the ones who are anything less than fabulous. Whether it’s talking too loudly on your cell phone or hogging the left lane on the highway, the reality is that we’re remarkably clueless about our own deficiencies—and even more so when it comes to the workplace.
It’s time to take responsibility into our own hands and give ourselves the clue that nobody else will. Whether the problem seems small—like the fact that our table manners could use some work—or big—like the fact that we can’t seem to get along with our boss or we’re rubbing folks the wrong way during a job interview—the key is to identify what isn’t working and fix it. After all, with more than 39 million twentysomethings in the United States today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there is no shortage of competition, and it’s smart to use every opportunity to shine and give yourself an extra edge when it comes to your career. You don’t want to lose opportunities because you made people unsure, uncomfortable, or simply grossed them out over lunch at the office.
The Bottom Line on Business Know-How
Can having the inside scoop on business savvy really impact your bottom line? You bet your bottom dollar.
Within organizations, bad business mistakes—from poor communication, to mishandled memos, to inappropriate behavior—can mean disgruntled employees, lawsuits, and a damaged reputation...not to mention lost dollars, particularly for those companies that count on their employees to represent them and their brands in the marketplace. Law firms, accounting firms, consulting firms, advertising and PR agencies, and many, many more are selling the unique knowledge and expertise of their employees. When their employees botch things up, that means lost business. And in the $22 billion professional services industry, that can add up very quickly.
The Good News about Business Know-How
The good news is that figuring out what it really takes to succeed at work, like most things, can be learned to a large extent. In fact, if you can walk, talk, and read this very page, chances are you’ve mastered things much tougher than learning how to write an appropriate email or make small talk with the best of them at a company dinner.
Ultimately, your success on the job will boil down to one simple concept: building trust. When you handle yourself professionally, you help others feel as if they can count on you. You help other people get to know you, like you, and want to help you. When you’ve got business know-how under control, people will spend less time focusing on your table manners or wardrobe choices, and more time focusing on you. Now, that’s more like it.
Get ready to get smart, avoid mistakes, and jump into what it really takes to make your career count. Be warned, though: Some of this stuff can seem downright confusing, especially when you’re encouraged to follow up and be persistent when it comes to landing a job or a new project...but not to overdo it. It can get tricky, like when we dive into the nuances of how you ask your boss a question (there really is an art to it). And it can get nasty, particularly when we talk about spitting, slobbering, and drunken antics that have been witnessed at many an office holiday party.
But take heart. If you’re reading this book, you’re smart (obviously!), savvy, and interested in gaining a competitive edge in your career. But no matter how brilliant you may be, we all have things we can learn and ways in which we can improve. After all, you don’t want to take the chance that you’re the one who needs the breath mint, do you?
Let this book be your guide along your journey. Take notes in the margins, underline anything that seems relevant to your life (unless it’s the body odor section, in which case, please go out and buy some deodorant), and, most important, put into practice what you read. The world could use a few more business-savvy superstars. Join us, won’t you?
—Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist, This Is Spinal Tap
EVEN IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE HILARIOUS MOVIE This Is Spinal Tap, it’s worth mentioning that Nigel Tufnel, one of the lead characters, is about as dumb as a doorknob. But when it comes to learning the ropes at work, this aging, spandex-wearing rocker is right on the money: There really is a fine line between clever and stupid, between workplace intellect and ignorance, and ultimately, between career success and setbacks.
For instance, consider Marci, age 24, an entry-level analyst at a top-tier consulting firm. A magna cum laude college graduate, former student government president, and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Marci seems like an employer’s dream, right? Right...except that Marci was recently admonished for her “poor work ethic” and received a less-than-stellar performance review from her boss.
Turns out that Marci had arrived late at the office on a few occasions—only because things had been slow and there hadn’t been that much for her to do—and the boss had noticed. Too bad he hadn’t also noticed all of the times she’d stayed late at the office, come in early, and answered emails from her laptop at home.
Unfortunately, Marci learned the hard way that most supervisors still want you at your desk by 9:00 am, slow day or not. She didn’t know that even though she was terrific 90 percent of the time, it was the other 10 percent that her boss seemed to remember when it came time for her performance review. In other words, she learned that ultimately, there is a very fine line between success and failure in the eyes of her boss—after all, it only took a few late mornings to undo the goodwill she had been working hard to build up for so many months.
The “Fine Lines” of the Workplace
She’s not the only one to learn that lesson. The truth is that many of us make mistakes in the early stages of our careers. It isn’t until we’ve been overlooked for an opportunity, passed by for a promotion, or even scolded by a supervisor that we begin to get a clue—but by then, the damage is already done.
The reality is that the workplace is filled with “fine lines”—for instance, when do persistence and follow-up become pesky and irritating to the boss? When is our desire to improve things viewed by our coworkers as a criticism of the status quo or seen as arrogance on our part that we know better than they do? Knowing how to stay on the right side of these, and many other, equations requires an understanding of the rules of the workplace—and how to succeed within them.
What You Don’t Say Says Plenty
How can you begin to grasp some of these unspoken rules, and how can you successfully navigate them? Consider Silent Messages, a 1971 study conducted by Dr. Albert Mehrabian, a psychologist and UCLA professor and pioneer in the field of verbal and nonverbal communication. What he discovered was that people are influenced less by what we say than by how we say it, noting that 93 percent of our impact comes from things other than the words we use.
What does this mean for you and your career? It means that what you don’t say—including your dress, appearance, body language, and more—can actually say a lot about you. In fact, it can shout out loud and clear from the mountain-tops exactly who you are.
What does your business behavior—including your communication, dress, and interpersonal skills—really say? Does it reinforce who you say you are, or does it reveal something else?
The Problem with Business Know-How
Here’s the problem: Unless some kind soul is willing to enlighten you, you often don’t know the answers to the questions I’ve just presented. And as a result, you don’t even know that you’re making mistakes in the first place. After all, you can’t possibly be as clueless as someone who wipes his hands on a tablecloth during a business lunch, or dresses up like a cowgirl for a job interview, for Pete’s sake! You’re not that bad, you tell yourself, so why worry?
More often than not, we never imagine that we could be the ones with the problem. We never think that we’re the cocky ones, the annoying ones, the ones who are anything less than fabulous. Whether it’s talking too loudly on your cell phone or hogging the left lane on the highway, the reality is that we’re remarkably clueless about our own deficiencies—and even more so when it comes to the workplace.
It’s time to take responsibility into our own hands and give ourselves the clue that nobody else will. Whether the problem seems small—like the fact that our table manners could use some work—or big—like the fact that we can’t seem to get along with our boss or we’re rubbing folks the wrong way during a job interview—the key is to identify what isn’t working and fix it. After all, with more than 39 million twentysomethings in the United States today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there is no shortage of competition, and it’s smart to use every opportunity to shine and give yourself an extra edge when it comes to your career. You don’t want to lose opportunities because you made people unsure, uncomfortable, or simply grossed them out over lunch at the office.
The Bottom Line on Business Know-How
Can having the inside scoop on business savvy really impact your bottom line? You bet your bottom dollar.
Within organizations, bad business mistakes—from poor communication, to mishandled memos, to inappropriate behavior—can mean disgruntled employees, lawsuits, and a damaged reputation...not to mention lost dollars, particularly for those companies that count on their employees to represent them and their brands in the marketplace. Law firms, accounting firms, consulting firms, advertising and PR agencies, and many, many more are selling the unique knowledge and expertise of their employees. When their employees botch things up, that means lost business. And in the $22 billion professional services industry, that can add up very quickly.
The Good News about Business Know-How
The good news is that figuring out what it really takes to succeed at work, like most things, can be learned to a large extent. In fact, if you can walk, talk, and read this very page, chances are you’ve mastered things much tougher than learning how to write an appropriate email or make small talk with the best of them at a company dinner.
Ultimately, your success on the job will boil down to one simple concept: building trust. When you handle yourself professionally, you help others feel as if they can count on you. You help other people get to know you, like you, and want to help you. When you’ve got business know-how under control, people will spend less time focusing on your table manners or wardrobe choices, and more time focusing on you. Now, that’s more like it.
Get ready to get smart, avoid mistakes, and jump into what it really takes to make your career count. Be warned, though: Some of this stuff can seem downright confusing, especially when you’re encouraged to follow up and be persistent when it comes to landing a job or a new project...but not to overdo it. It can get tricky, like when we dive into the nuances of how you ask your boss a question (there really is an art to it). And it can get nasty, particularly when we talk about spitting, slobbering, and drunken antics that have been witnessed at many an office holiday party.
But take heart. If you’re reading this book, you’re smart (obviously!), savvy, and interested in gaining a competitive edge in your career. But no matter how brilliant you may be, we all have things we can learn and ways in which we can improve. After all, you don’t want to take the chance that you’re the one who needs the breath mint, do you?
Let this book be your guide along your journey. Take notes in the margins, underline anything that seems relevant to your life (unless it’s the body odor section, in which case, please go out and buy some deodorant), and, most important, put into practice what you read. The world could use a few more business-savvy superstars. Join us, won’t you?
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- PublisherDelta
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 0385340753
- ISBN 13 9780385340755
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages273
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