Get Promoted Faster (How to earn more, be responsible for more, and impact more)

Tracey was bored. She couldn’t stand to be bored. As a clerk in her first job, she wanted to leave a good impression, but she also wanted to spend her time doing interesting things. So instead of going home early, she spent whatever time she had left from her primary job putting together a tri-fold marketing brochure and brought it to the marketing department.

The result?

They used it and asked her to do more projects. This was the beginning of Tracey’s career at Copyright Clearance Center, a non-profit that provides information solutions for copyright matters.

She started as a clerk at 21 years old in 1989 and became the CEO of the company in 2007 after 18 years of delivering results. She was 39 and she is still in charge after 17 years at the helm. Recently Tracey Armstrong also won the Big Innovation Award in 2024 by the Business Intelligence Group.

Tracey’s attitude has always been to do her best to solve problems and she took on challenges as they arose.

In 1996, when she was a customer service manager, her boss called her at home (she was on leave) and asked her to come in. There was a huge company project that was not on time and they wanted Tracey to manage it. Tracey had never managed a project like that before and she was home for family reasons. Instead of taking time to decide or being unsure - she said yes. The successful turnaround of this project required Tracey to point to the issues and speak truth to power (to the then CEO). It was a cornerstone of her trajectory.

Tracey became known as a problem solver and a dependable leader. That became her brand, her reputation.

Maybe the days of staying decades at a company are over. Maybe you don’t want to be the CEO. But the learning from Tracey and others like her is extremely valuable if you want to advance in your career.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you thought you were doing all the right things, putting your head down and delivering results, but seem to never get promoted? Keep on reading…

According to Gorick Ng, Harvard Career Coach and best selling author of The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right, there are two types of people who work in a company:

Outsiders and Insiders

Outsiders are new to the organization. They focus on trial and error. They do what they think is best and see what the results are. Often they leave before understanding what it takes to be successful.

Insiders have either spent time in the organization or they have mentors, coaches, even family members who can help them understand the dynamics and unspoken rules of the company.

Guess who are promoted more often?

You’re right. Insiders.

While you might not have allies on the inside, the secret is to uncover the hidden rules of what it takes to be successful. Those unspoken expectations are what governs who moves up and who moves out.

BASE PRINCIPLE

Uncover the hidden rules of success to get promoted.

WHAT IF?

What if you knew what to do to uncover the hidden rules of success at any company? What if you were given the opportunities that matched your desire and skill? What if you got promoted more often?

4 questions to ask every time you have an assignment to uncover the hidden expectations from your manager:

1/ Why is this important?

Understand the reason behind the task. What is the context around it?

2/ What is the deliverable?

What do you need to deliver? Is it a PPT? Is it a presentation? How will this task be graded as successful?

3/ How do you expect this to be completed?

If there is already an expected approach, you’ll want to know. Is research required? Is it done through a workshop?

4/ When should this task be done?

There are formal deadlines and there are informal deadlines. When do you ACTUALLY need to complete it?

Overtime, you will get a sense of what are the unspoken rules to win. That’s when you soar.

In addition to these questions, here are a collection of 13 principles derived from leaders like Tracey, publications like Harvard and Forbes, and personal experience that will boost your career (I was promoted 4 times in 8.5 years in my most recent job):

1/ Be a role model employee

Be on time, be prepared, exemplify the core values. Become a role model for others.

2/ Solve problems, don’t just point them out

Those who get promoted to the top behave like their at the top. Don’t complain about problems, fix them.

3/ Respect your boss’s time

Your boss have more responsibilities and ultimately a promotion recommendation comes from them. Don’t just ask for help, make attempts first. And always have a list of things to go through in every 1 on 1.

4/ Don’t be the squeaky wheel

The weakest link gets voted off the island. Adopt a can do, YES attitude. Always take things away from your boss’s workload, not add to it.

5/ Serve as a vault

Never gossip and be the keeper of confidential information. This is how you build a reputation of trust.

6/ Make your boss look good

Ensure your work represents your company and your boss well. When they look good, you look good. Make it easy for your boss to be your ally.

7/ Ask for advice

Ask for advice, especially those 4 questions in the previous section. According to research by Harvard Business School Professor Alison Wood-Brooks, “Individuals perceive those who seek advice as more competent than those who do not.”

8/ Speak up, be visible

Putting your head down and expecting people to notice your good work is terrible advice. You need to get noticed. Speak up, get out there. Be an advocate for yourself.

9/ Project confidence

Be a strong communicator. Through your body language and tone of voice, project a sense of stability and assuredness.

10/ Continue to learn

In order to grow, you have to learn. This can be through formal courses or books. The more your boss knows you are consistently trying to get better, the more you’ll seem ready to take the next job.

11/ Be adaptable

The only thing certain in business and life is change. When you can adapt to situations and make things work, you are better positioned as someone who can navigate the bigger challenges.

12/ Build relationships beyond work

Leaders who build real relationships beyond the work setting are better at motivating and coaching people to reach their full potential. That’s how you can build trust and be part of the inner circle.

13/ Ask for it

Last, but certainly not least, you need to ask for the promotion. Your manager needs to know that’s something you are shooting for and both of you have a plan to get there. It should not be a surprise, because if it is, your expectations of getting one is purely based on hope.

Getting a promotion is not 100% in your control, but you do have influence.

Good luck and here’s a pre-emptive congratulations on your next promotion!.

See you next Sunday.

Live your legend 🤘🏽,

Howie Chan

Creator of Legend Letters

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Sources:

1. Stettner, Morey, 15 CEOs Who Started on the Ground Floor, Klipinger - LINK​

2. Reynolds, Michele, How to Get Promoted at Work: 10 Things You Can Do, Harvard Business School Online, May 28, 2019 - LINK​

3. Clifford, Catherine, The Secret to Getting a Promotion, Forbes, December 12, 2018 - LINK​

4. Ng, Gorick, A Harvard Career Coach’s “Unspoken Rules” for Getting Promoted, Big Think YouTube channel, 2023 - LINK

5. How to Climb the Career Ladder: Advice from Recruitment Experts, Michael Page - LINK

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