Take a bow, but share the spotlight while doing so!

Promotable and Fireproof

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.

Steve Degnan here, Advisor Board Member

and former Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO).

Relationships, Reputation and Results

are what I see as the driving forces in becoming

Promotable and Fireproof.

Let’s dig in to some quick take advice to make this real.

I’m glad you’re here. Let’s go!

Learn more on SteveDegnan.com

Relationships: Beware of the transactional relationship!

Transactional relationships are the ones that make most companies run – polite interactions mostly. I used to chuckle at the use of “Kind Regards” at the end of some of the emails I’d get from my European colleagues, as I felt that many of those emails were neither kind nor did they regard me as anything but a drone to be managed…..but that phrase exemplifies it – quite nice but lacking any serious meaning.

Most of us need more than transactional niceness at work. A confidant. A work best friend. A trusted venting partner. If you have been in a place for a while and have not managed to develop any deeper relationships other than exchanging daily greetings, it may be a signal to either try harder or consider your next gig, but don’t forget to say “Kind Regards” as you leave!

Reputation: If given the spotlight, share it.

This may seem counter intuitive, especially if it’s the first time you’ve been given an opportunity to present to certain executives, but in terms of reputation management, it’s smart. You don’t have to share half of your 10-slide presentation, but you can mention other team members by name while you are doing it.

As you get higher ranking, you CAN share some of your 20-30 slide presentation with others which not only shares the spotlight, but also the preparation work. Narcissists won’t get this, but I know YOU will.

Results: Activity over outcomes? Weak-sauce!

Recently an old friend told me his company was measuring AI related keystrokes as a measure of AI adoption. People were onto it and started getting on the preferred AI tool and asking silly questions like what famous birthdays happened that day or breakdowns of sports results the night before.

This ain’t hard, leaders. Go with outcomes over activities, meaning, in this case, collect and measure AI problem solving victories. Harder? Yes. Requires listening and qualitative critical thinking? Yes.

Your Quick Take Clip!

Be open to other solutions, there is more than one way to win. Recognize this and you may just form a relationship beyond a transactional purpose, you might just learn to share the spotlight, and you may find some real, measurable outcomes along the way.

There isn’t one, singular way to win - if you can practice and adopt this - promotable and fireproof results will come.

There is more than one way to win!

#ThatsWhatSteveSaid

“At this point in the evolution of AI, proven and credible results are still needed. I’d create a metric called ‘success stories’ that tracks real improvements in productivity or customer breakthroughs enabled by AI.”

Steve reflects on the evolution of AI and how even in light of the onset of artificial intelligence, proven and credible results are still needed - this credibility still needs to be earned story by story and dollar by dollar - he recommends grounding your metrics in narrative and anchoring them in numbers.