The Promotable and Fireproof Newsletter
Your source for quick, actionable advice on maximizing your potential in the age of fast change, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and uncertainty.
Read time: 3 min.
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Promotable and Fireproof
Steve Degnan here, Advisor Board Member
and former Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO).
Relationships, Reputation and Results are the main ingredients to career success,and what I see as the driving forces in becoming
Promotable and Fireproof.
Together let's dig in to some quick take advice to make this real.
I’m glad you’re here. Let’s go!
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Relationships
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More is better.
Especially when it comes to work mentors and sponsors. If you over-rely on one sponsor your fate will be bolted to theirs. I witnessed many up-and-coming people who acted as if they were guaranteed some future big job because of who they worked for.
It worked out fine until it didn’t. Times change, CEOs change, business changes, and all of a sudden the chess board is overturned and that one person insurance policy is gone. Be sure to treat all with respect, cultivate multiple positive relationships with senior people, and yes, stay loyal to that sponsor that helped you too.
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Reputation
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| Personal brand? Don't go nuts.
The concept of a “personal brand” really took off in the late 1990’s and I remember at the time some people taking it too seriously, achieving impressive levels of phoniness in what they were trying to project in terms of dress, style, vocabulary, etc., especially around higher ups. I remember certain executives
even preaching that “you must have a distinct brand”.
While I don’t reject the concept, I do reject the phoniness it promoted and I still see it today on social media, as people post “glamour shot” photos of themselves, selfies, and other self-promotions.
Be careful with these things and remember that a little self promotion is okay, but constant “Yay Me!” posts can be counterproductive. Your brand is what others say about you more than what you say, so using today’s parlance, be sure to cultivate “influencers” to assist your brand, instead of crass advertising!
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Results
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Read, read, and read some more!
You signed up for this newsletter so that is a great sign that you don’t mind a little reading. “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers,” is a quote attributed to Harry S. Truman and the practice is certain to help you deliver results.
The Army Chief of Staff publishes an updated reading list - you can check it out here, While it’s obviously a list developed for military professionals, it’s a great example of reading for professional development. If you are not already doing so, find the most relevant newsletters for your function or industry and sign up for them to stay informed on current events in your discipline.
Compliment that by becoming a student of leadership, change, history, philosophy, the classics, etc. – so that your brain will see patterns that others miss, and you will become a more savvy, informed human being.
Bonus Point!
Do not over rely on AI to give you summaries of long emails and other documents. Those are good for awareness and general prioritization. None of us can escape the need to understand things in detail to avoid mistakes.
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