Rather than thinking of your career as a vertical ladder, think of it as a climbing frame. Rather than just going up or down, consider the opportunities that come from an occasional sideways move. You may find you need to go up, then sideways, perhaps into a different industry, then up again, in order to navigate your way to the top. Once you have found and started your perfect job, or at least the job that is perfect for you at the current stage of your career, your next priority is, of course, to ensure that you are as successful as possible. Organizational success and career success is a pie. Each slice of the pie is critical to standing out and building your reputation and success, so you will need to have a strategy for each slice of the pie from day one of your job. PIE stands for performance, image, and exposure. Performance is about the results you achieve in your job. Image is what other people think about you. Exposure is the amount of visibility that you have in your organization.
According to research, your image has three times more influence over your organizational success than your performance. This is because most people are good at their jobs and tend to deliver as expected, so performance alone is not enough to really differentiate you. Your performance is a critical starting point, but then it becomes more about your image, what other people think about you based on how you do your job, how you behave, how you work with others, and your attitude.
The secret to enhancing your image is to demonstrate the next level of leadership behavior and mindset, as it suggests that you have the potential to operate at a more senior level. According to research, the most valued leadership attributes in the workplace are confidence under pressure, decisiveness, emotional intelligence, a proven track record, and vision.
However, it's not just about having these attributes, it's about making them observable, proving your leadership capability as you do your job.
